Bolshoi Ballet Coming Soon to Cuba

By Circles Robinson

Alicia Alonso at last year's performance of the Royal Ballet of London in Havana. Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES, Feb. 5 — After a 30-year absence from Cuban stages, the Russian Bolshoi Ballet returns to Havana for a performance on February 13th at the 5,000 seat Karl Marx Theater.

The occasion for the return of the world famous dance company is the 19th Cuba International Book Fair which has Russia as its guest of honor.

The 2010 Book Fair runs from Feb. 11-21 in the Cuban capital before extending to other provinces.

The main figures from the Bolshoi ballet and The Cuban National Ballet will share the stage in “a blend of styles and schools, a harmonious dialogue embroidered by the dancers,” Alicia Alonso the 89-year-old director of the Cuban Company told Prensa Latina.

Andrienko, Ruslan Skvorsto, Ana Antonicheva, Dimitri Belogolovstsev, Galina Stepanka and Vladimir Neporozhnil, are among the lead dancers of the Bolshoi expected to perform at the Havana gala.

The last presentation of the Bolshoi in Cuba was in 1980 for the Havana International Ballet Festival when it presented Spartacus and Romeo and Juliet, noted PL.