Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively ...
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The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively by Cubans and ballet insiders: that of Fernando Alonso, Alicia’s first husband, and the architect of a teaching method that has produced a bevy of classical ballet box office favorites the world over. Alicia and Fernando danced in Broadway musicals and were founding members of New York’s groundbreaking Ballet Theatre. Returning to Cuba, they joined Fernando’s brother Alberto to build a national ballet company on the eve of Batista’s fall. The triumph of the 1959 revolution brought with it long-awaited support for ballet and the encouragement Alonso welcomed to share the method he created on Cubans with the world. Readers will welcome Fernando Alonso’s rich reminiscences and those of such ballet luminaries as Alicia Alonso, Carlos Acosta, Menia Martínez, Jorge Esquivel, Lorena and Lorna Feijoo, and Yoel and Lázaro Carreño. Singer’s interviews transport us to the Cuban ballet studio and stage, just as the Buena Vista Social Club brought us the bountiful legacy of Cuban music.Less
The Cuban names we know best are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the exquisite ballet star, Alicia Alonso. Yet there is another Cuban whose fascinating story has until now been circulated exclusively by Cubans and ballet insiders: that of Fernando Alonso, Alicia’s first husband, and the architect of a teaching method that has produced a bevy of classical ballet box office favorites the world over. Alicia and Fernando danced in Broadway musicals and were founding members of New York’s groundbreaking Ballet Theatre. Returning to Cuba, they joined Fernando’s brother Alberto to build a national ballet company on the eve of Batista’s fall. The triumph of the 1959 revolution brought with it long-awaited support for ballet and the encouragement Alonso welcomed to share the method he created on Cubans with the world. Readers will welcome Fernando Alonso’s rich reminiscences and those of such ballet luminaries as Alicia Alonso, Carlos Acosta, Menia Martínez, Jorge Esquivel, Lorena and Lorna Feijoo, and Yoel and Lázaro Carreño. Singer’s interviews transport us to the Cuban ballet studio and stage, just as the Buena Vista Social Club brought us the bountiful legacy of Cuban music.
Maya Plisetskaya
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088571
- eISBN:
- 9780300130713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088571.003.0039
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya reflects on how she came up with the idea for Carmen Suite, a ballet created in 1967 by Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso, using music written by her husband Rodion ...
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In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya reflects on how she came up with the idea for Carmen Suite, a ballet created in 1967 by Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso, using music written by her husband Rodion Shchedrin. In 1964, Maya asked composer Dmitri Shostakovich to compose a ballet on the story of Carmen, an opera by Georges Bizet. After dancing the old repertoire, from Swan Lake to Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty over and over again, Maya wanted something new, something she could call her own. She had always wanted to dance Carmen. In 1966, she met Alonso when the Cuban National Ballet came to Moscow. Alonso agreed to develop the libretto while Rodion Shchedrin, Maya's husband, promised to write music for the ballet. The rest is history: Maya danced Carmen Suite about 350 times, including 132 times for the Bolshoi Ballet alone.Less
In this chapter, Maya Plisetskaya reflects on how she came up with the idea for Carmen Suite, a ballet created in 1967 by Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso, using music written by her husband Rodion Shchedrin. In 1964, Maya asked composer Dmitri Shostakovich to compose a ballet on the story of Carmen, an opera by Georges Bizet. After dancing the old repertoire, from Swan Lake to Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty over and over again, Maya wanted something new, something she could call her own. She had always wanted to dance Carmen. In 1966, she met Alonso when the Cuban National Ballet came to Moscow. Alonso agreed to develop the libretto while Rodion Shchedrin, Maya's husband, promised to write music for the ballet. The rest is history: Maya danced Carmen Suite about 350 times, including 132 times for the Bolshoi Ballet alone.
