Anyelo Montero Promoted to Principal Dancer of the National Ballet of Cuba

January 25, 2025

The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), directed by prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés, announced a new evaluation of its artistic cast, as a result of meticulous work by its principal maîtres and instructors.

Of special significance has been the promotion of young dancer Anyelo Montero to the highest artistic category of the cast, that of Principal Dancer.

Born in Havana in 2001, he began his studies in the Workshops of the Dance Department of the National Ballet and continued them at the National School of Ballet under the guidance of the eminent pedagogue Ramona de Sáa and other distinguished instructors such as Lourdes Arnau and Marta Iris Fernández.

During his school years he performed in the Mexican cities of Cancún and Guadalajara, as well as in Costa Rica, as part of cultural exchanges between Cuba and those nations.

Upon graduating in the 2019-2020 academic year, he joined the cast of the National Ballet of Cuba, where he soon stood out for his technical and artistic qualities and disciplined dedication in classes and rehearsals. As a result, he was promoted to the rank of principal dancer in 2022, which he held until his recent promotion.

His repertoire includes, among others, Coppelia, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, and Sleeping Beauty, in the choreographic versions of Alicia Alonso; Theme and Variations by Balanchine, Carmen by Alberto Alonso, Suite Genesis and The Poem of Fire by Alberto Méndez, Love Fear Loss by Brazilian Ricardo Amarante, Concerto DCH by Russian Alexis Ratmanski and Seventh Symphony by German Uwe Scholz; Symphony for Nine Men by American James Kelly, Celeste by Belgian-Colombian Anabelle López Ochoa, and Lucile by Dane Johann Kobborg. With the National Ballet of Cuba he has performed in several countries in Latin America and Europe and as a guest artist with the Alicia Alonso Dance School Ballet in Madrid, Spain; at the Modern Theatre Gala in Grosseto, Italy and with the Russian Classic Ballet of Costa Rica, between 2022 and 2024.

The promotion of this young dancer is conclusive proof of the level reached by Cuban male dance, all these years, in which a pedagogical system, that of the Cuban School of Ballet, has made it possible to find and develop a wide range of talents and personalities. It was Alicia Alonso herself who, wisely, knew how to define the phenomenon, when she stated:

Cuban dancers, especially men, perform all over the planet and this arouses curiosity, because in the world of ballet dancers of such high quality are scarce. We have achieved this with hard work, very hard work, I would say, since it requires at the same time that this person be a high-performance athlete and an artist.

The concern for the development of the male presence in Cuban ballet was a constant in the work of the founding trio, Alicia, Fernando, and Alberto Alonso, who, without yielding, fought against countless social prejudices and economic obstacles that limited the presence of Cubans in the professional ballet scene.

The presence of brothers Fernando and Alberto Alonso at the Ballet School of the Pro-Arte Musical Society of Havana opened the way, with Alberto's entry in 1935 into the Russian Ballet of Monte Carlo, which made him the pioneer of this endeavor in our homeland, which Fernando would continue in the United States beginning in 1937.

"Strong pedagogical work at the National School of Ballet enabled the graduation and artistic development of a multitude of dancers, who since the first class in 1968 have guaranteed the male presence in Cuban ballet."

In the 1940s the names of Luis Trápaga and Enrique Martínez would be added, who also achieved the rank of principal dancers. These were difficult times and it was not until the creation of Alicia Alonso's Ballet Academy in 1950 that work with male dancers took a different turn. Joaquín Banegas from Santiago would be the finest result of those efforts, which led him to the highest category in 1960.

But it would not be until the triumph of the Revolution that the male presence would find its true path, with the creation of the Provincial Ballet School of Havana in 1961 and the National School of Ballet the following year, as part of the complex of the National School of Art.

In subsequent years, two talented dancers achieved the highest artistic category, but with unequal technical-artistic training, they were Roberto Rodríguez and Alberto Méndez. Strong pedagogical work at the National School of Ballet enabled the graduation and artistic development of a multitude of dancers, who since the first class in 1968 have guaranteed the male presence in Cuban ballet, worthy of the highest praise from world critics.

The recent promotion of Anyelo as Principal Dancer adds him to a prestigious list of 30 dancers who have brought prestige and continue to bring prestige to the Cuban School of Ballet.