National Ballet of Cuba

Cuban National Ballet

General information
Name	Cuban National Ballet
Local name	Ballet Nacional de Cuba
Year founded	October 28, 1948
Founders	Alicia Alonso Alberto Alonso[Fernando Alonso]]
Principal venue	Great Theatre of Havana 458 Paseo de Prado esquina a San Rafael Havana Cuba
Website	www.balletcuba.cult.cu
Artistic staff
Artistic Director	Alicia Alonso
Resident Choreographers	Alicia Alonso Iván Tenorio Eduardo Blanco
Artistic Staff	Ballet Masters Loipa Araújo Aurora Bosch María Elena Llorente Svetlana Ballester Carmen Hechavarría Ana Leyte Félix Rodríguez Mercedes Vergara Consuelo Domínguez Javier Sánchez Régisseurs Ocilia Pedrera Lydia Díaz Miguel Rodríguez Mijaela Tesleoanu Tamara Villareal
Other
Associated schools	Cuban National Ballet School
Formation	Principal First Soloist Soloist Coryphee Corps de Ballet

The Cuban National Ballet (Spanish: Ballet Nacional de Cuba) is a classical ballet company based at Alicia Alonso Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba. Founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet School.

The company was founded by Alicia Alonso, her husband Fernando and Fernando's brother Alberto on October 28, 1948 as Alicia Alonso Ballet Company. Two years later, a school was established to promote the talents of young Cuban dancers.

Although the school was thriving artistically, it struggled financially. When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, he committed to leveling the social structure and to make the arts available to everyone. “The old government was out and the new hope was coming for the arts and the ballet in Cuba,” recalled Margarita de Saá, former BNC ballerina. The coming of the Revolution, marked the beginning of a new stage for the Cuban ballet, Castro gave $200,000 to Alonso, a supporter of the revolution. With state funding, suddenly the ballet became important to the country and its identity. That year, as a part of a new cultural program, the company was reorganized and it took the name of National Ballet of Cuba. Significant improvements in traditional repertory, unique and diverse choreographic advances, have established works that are recognized routinely as visionary achievements in the contemporary choreography. The BNC has choreographed and performed completely new versions of classics such as Giselle, The Swan Lake or Coppélia. These masterpieces are sometimes accompanied with works coming from the renovating movement of Sergei Diaghilev Russian Ballets Petrushka, or Afternoon of a Faun; and ballets created by Cuba's national choreographers.

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