Cuba to be Represented at Intl. Ballet Festival of Cali

HAVANA, Cuba, May 29 (acn) A valuable representation of Cuba's National Ballet Company (BNC) will attend the 9th International Ballet Festival of Cali, to be held in that Colombian city between June 7 and 14.

The Festival, since its creation in 2007 by tireless professor Gloria Castro, has been attended by prominent members of the Cuban company, which this time will be represented by prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes and leading dancer Victor Estevez, principal dancers Dayesi Torriente and Luis Valley, as well as by historian Miguel Cabrera, who, during the previous two weeks will direct the didactic show entitled "An encounter with dance, art, expression and styles," to be held in student centers, communities and popular districts of the city, accompanied by students of the Colombian Institute of Ballet (Incolballet).
The duo composed of Viengsay Valdes and Víctor Estevez will perform a varied repertoire, consisting of a suite of the ballet Carmen, by Alberto Alonso, and the pas de deux of The Black Swan and Don Quixote; while Valle Torriente will assume the challenges of the pas de deux of Raymonda and Foreword for a tragedy, and the premiere of Duet, specially created for the occasion by Ely Regina, a young choreographer of the BNC.
The opening gala will take place at the Cañaveralejo Bullring in Cali, with a capacity for 18,000 people, while the closing gala will be held at the open-air theater Los Cristales, capable of receiving about 15,000 people, the two of them admission free.
The Festival will also be attended by other valuable troupes, like the Contemporary Dance of Cuba, several of Argentina, Holland, Mexico and the United States, and representations of the ballet of the Colon Theater of Buenos Aires, the ballet of the San Carlo theater of Naples, the ballet of Magdeburg, Germany; the ballet of Santiago de Chile and the National Ballet of Uruguay, directed by Julio Bocca.
The International Ballet Festival of Cali, following the footsteps of the International Ballet Festival of Havana and the Cervantine International Festival of Mexico, has won a reputation that places it as one of the most important meetings of Latin American dance.