Alfonso Catá

Alfonso Catá (3 October 1937 – 15 September 1990) was a Cuban ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director, active in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and France.

Born in Havana, Alfonso Catá was the son of a diplomat in service to the government of Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba from 1933 to 1959. When Alfonso was a boy, his father was posted to Geneva, Switzerland, and he was educated in private schools there, adding French and English to his native Spanish. Details of his early life are obscure, but he may also have begun his ballet training with Swiss teachers. In any case, when his family moved to the United States about 1950 and settled in New York City, his interest in dance was strong enough to cause him to enroll at the School of American Ballet. There, he was trained in the principles of classical ballet technique developed by George Balanchine, to whom he would remain devoted for the rest of his life.

During his career as a dancer, Catá performed with several major ballet companies in Europe and America. In 1956, at age 19, he joined Roland Petit's Ballets de Paris, which performed in various cities in France and on tour to neighboring countries. Catá danced minor roles in many works in the company repertory, appearing on stage with Zizi Jeanmaire in Petit's Carmen and with Violette Verdy in Le Loup. After a time with this company, he left to join the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, also based in Paris, where he appeared in the company's famous 1960 production of The Sleeping Beauty, staged by Bronislava Nijinska and Robert Helpmann and starring Nina Vyrubova and Serge Golovine. In, 1961, Catá left France and moved to Germany, where he joined the Stuttgart Ballet, then being re-formed by South-Africa-born John Cranko. He took with him his Brazilian girlfriend, Marcia Haydée, who would become Cranko's muse, prima ballerina of the company, internationally known star of Cranko's narrative ballets, and his eventual successor as artistic director of the company.

Upon returning to New York, Catá resumed his studies at the School of American Ballet and at the Joffrey School, where he improved his technical mastery. In 1964 he was among the first group of young professionals organized by Robert Joffrey into a company, along with Robert Blankshire, Wilhelm Burmann, Zelma Bustillo, Diana Carter, Luis Fuente, Hilda Morales, and Trinette Singleton. The newly named Joffrey Ballet made its debut at the New York City Center of Music and Drama in 1965, but Catá did not remain long with the troupe, soon leaving to join the corps of New York City Ballet, then resident at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. Although happy to be dancing the Balanchine repertory, he decided, at age 30, to retire from the stage. In 1967, he left New York City Ballet and opened a boutique, called Yasny ("You ain't seen nothin' yet"), on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where he sold dresses he had designed and Latin American pottery and jewelry. Gregarious and charming, he attracted patrons to his shop from a wide surrounding neighborhood, including Balanchine, who would sometimes stop by for a chat.

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