"The virtuosity of the artists", members of the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), was recognized with intense applause when they performed at the Ho Guom Opera House in Hanoi, said Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, ambassador of the island in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The prestigious company, led by prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes, performed a few days ago in China, from where it began a tour, which reached Vietnam and then continued to Laos.
The Ho Guom Opera theater received the BNC and its director, "who is already known to the local public, since in August 2016 she performed here accompanied by Patricio Revé, and was given a standing ovation by those who came to see her, braving heavy rains and strong winds associated with Typhoon Dianmu," Prensa Latina reported.
The BNC will offer in Hanoi and in the city of Hai Phong two programs representative of its repertoire, with selections from Don Quixote, Nutcracker and Carmen, and well-liked pieces such as Spring Waters and Majissimo, announced a note issued by the Ballet's Press Office.
The text also refers to the performance, along with the Cuban dancers, of Tran Gia Huy, Vu Khanh Bang and Nguyen Duc Hieu, from the National Opera and Ballet of Vietnam, and Le lan Chi, from the Dance Academy of the Indochinese nation.
"The first presentation in Vietnam of the BNC, then led by prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, took place in mid-December 1964, as part of its second tour of socialist countries in Europe and Asia, and at a time when the country was plunged into a growing armed conflict," Prensa Latina reported.
"On that occasion, the company had the privilege of sharing with President Ho Chi Minh, who, according to testimonies gathered by the press, assured that the Vietnamese people would make it possible, in a not too distant time, that the artists of the bnc could perform not only in North Vietnam, but in the whole country, since the Homeland would be liberated in all its confines," the press agency commented.
"Almost three decades later, in 1978, when the National Ballet of Cuba was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its foundation and the 35th anniversary of Alicia's debut in the role of Giselle, the company made its debut on February 17 in the southern metropolis, by then already called Ho Chi Minh City," Prensa Latina noted.
