Diplomatic dance: U.K.'s Royal Ballet in Cuba
Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 11:44 AM
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Havana, Cuba
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – From the moment London’s Royal Ballet came to town, observers dubbed it a "diplomatic dance" and predicted the tour would generate the same ground-breaking excitement as the grand old cultural exchanges during the Cold War. This would be, after all, the first visit by an international dance company to the communist island in over 30 years.
Maybe true, but ballet lovers here see no political subtext to the tour except the experience of some exceptional summer entertainment at prices everyone can afford.
At less than a dollar for admission, box offices ran out of tickets in lightning speed.
Crowds packed Havana’s faded, but still majestic, Gran Teatro to watch the company’s both classical and avant-garde productions, some of which the likes have never been seen on a Cuban stage.
And on Friday, the 5,000-seat Karl Marx Theater will be filled for the week’s final performance: Kenneth Macmillan’s dramatic rendition of "Manon." London is well-known for its passionate and daring interpretation of that part full-length ballet.
And those disappointed Cuban fans who weren't fast enough to score tickets?
Thousands spent their evenings watching the performances projected live on gigantic TV screens from the steps of Havana’s "El Capitolio," a domed building that served as the seat of the legislature in Cuba’s pre-Revolution days.
‘The Flying Cuban’
Many strained to catch a glimpse of native son Carlos Acosta, today one of the world’s top male ballet artists.
Six years ago, the Cuban-trained dancer earned himself a place as a principal with London’s Royal Ballet. Celebrated for his combined strength and grace, Acosta’s true power lies in his astonishing leaps that have led critics to compare the 36-year-old to legendary ballet stars Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Watching him soar this week in a rehearsal studio and on stage, one could see how he earned the nicknames "The Flying Cuban" and "Air Acosta."
The son of a truck driver who grew up in one of Havana's poorer barrios, Acosta’s talent and international fame have made him "the pride of the nation," said acclaimed Cuban writer Miguel Barnet. "This is a great event for the Cuban people because we have an expertise in ballet. When we applaud, we know what we're applauding."
And, applaud they did.
From the first moment Acosta walked onto the stage for a pas de deux performance of "El Corsario," the audience leapt to its feet as the auditorium exploded in cheers.
"The ovation was deafening. I couldn’t even hear the music," Acosta told NBC News. "It was a state of ecstasy."
Acosta compared the praise he received this week to "the kind when you score a goal in the World Cup. It’s fantastic that a ballet performance receives that kind of welcome."
Diplomatic dance
Perhaps Acosta deserves the adulation as much for his skillful brokering as for his dancing. For more than two years, he negotiated to bring to life what he describes as "the most important dance event in Cuba in 50 years."
Acosta admits it was exhausting parleying between Havana and London, carrying proposals between the Royal Ballet, Cuba's National Ballet Company and the government's Culture Ministry.
Dame Monica Mason, the Royal Ballet’s director, said "Carlos was very keen that we managed to make it work before he felt he was perhaps past his prime and he is still so much in his prime."
In light of the cash-strapped times ballet, like all arts, is facing, it is all the more miraculous that the trip worked out. "It was clearly not going to be a money-making venture, so it was up to us to find ways to make it work," Mason said.
The company not only performed for no-fee, but incurred heavy out-of-pocket expenses. While the Cuban hosts covered local expenses for the 150-member troupe of dancers and crew, the endeavor cost the company over $1 million, paid for in part by the company’s own resources and by private donations.
According to Mason, it is money well spent. "It’s about the art, dance and it’s about being able to visit places that you’ve never visited before. And places, particularly here in Cuba, [that] have not had the chance of seeing international companies. Dance crosses all barriers."
Mason may also have been motivated by a sense of historic symmetry.
"We always hoped that we might be able to go back to Russia with Nureyev, but we were never able to do that," she said. "I think it’s a mark of the times that we’re able to come to Cuba with Carlos. I think it’s very special." (Nureyev began his decade-long career with the Royal Ballet in 1962, shortly after he defected from the former Soviet Union).
‘Dance speaks to everyone’
One dance that made Cuban audiences sit up and take notice was the avant-garde production, "Chroma." Performed on their first night in Havana, the modern, minimalist piece had dancers moving in parallel on a set comprised of one stark white cube.
"We weren’t sure the Cubans would accept it. They’ve never seen anything as modern as that," confessed Royal Ballet principal Sarah Lamb, originally from Boston and a 1998 recipient of a Presidential Gold Medal. At first, the audience sat in silence but, by the finale, most were entranced by both the music and the movement.
Lamb believed it proved that, "Culture is universal and dance speaks to everyone. You don’t need language or a common culture or the same political system. If people see something done well they are going to appreciate it."
