According to him, his visit to the island and the debut of the piece comes after more than 60 years of seeing Alicia Alonso dance in 1954 in London and after having an exchange of work with the dancer Carlos Acosta.
The famous artist, officer of the Order of the British Empire, described the Cubans as fabulous and good people; while he recognized the professional quality of the interpreters of the Caribbean nation.
The dancers are very talented and have received very good training. It is important to work with people like this, who have training and inspiration, said the current artistic director of the Texas Ballet Theater.
In a meeting at the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater of Havana, the creator witnessed the rehearsals of the show that the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) will take to the Avellaneda Hall of the National Theater for two consecutive weekends (June 10, 11, 12, and June 17, 18, 19).
In addition to the piece that has music by Amilcare Ponchielli, the version of Esmeralda pas de deux, Three Peludes and Mozart Requiem will be presented for the occasion, the latter becoming the only Stevenson creation that has been staged outside of his company.
On her part, Her Majesty’s ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, Sir George Hollingbery KCMG, praised the opportunity to celebrate from here the so-called Platinum Jubilee of the main diplomat of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. .
We are very happy to celebrate two special events together with the Ministry of Culture and the National Ballet of Cuba: the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II on the throne and the 120 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, he said.
In his opinion, the events could not be carried out in any other way than this seasonal program performed by talented Cuban dancers and devised by the excellent 93-year-old choreographer, one of the greatest figures in world ballet.
The delegation that accompanies Stevenson is made up of the associate director of the Texas Ballet Theater School, by Kathryn Warakomsky-Li; the artistic direction assistant, Li Anlin and the dancers Valentín Batista, David Schrenk and Henry Winn.
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