National Ballet of Cuba will celebrate a gala for Viengsay Valdés' 30 years of artistic life

September 2, 2024

The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) will offer on Saturday, September 14 a gala celebrating 30 years of professional artistic life of prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés, general director of the company, who will perform several works alongside other figures such as premier dancer Dani Hernández and principal dancer Ányelo Montero.

The performance will take place at 20:30 in the Avellaneda room of the National Theater. Tickets will be on sale there starting Tuesday, September 10 and can also be purchased on that venue's website.

The program will include the waltz and adagio of the rose from Sleeping Beauty in the Forest, choreography by Alicia Alonso based on the original by Marius Petipa, with music by Tchaikovsky, and After the Flood, choreography by Alberto Méndez with music by Camille Saint-Säens.

Also featured will be the solo Non, je ne regrette rien, by Ben van Cauwenbergh, with music by Charles Dumont; the pas de deux Loss (The Loss), and the finale of Love, Fear, Loss, by Ricardo Amarante, also with music by Dumont.

Other pieces on the National Theater stage will be the suite from the ballet Don Quixote, choreography by Alicia Alonso (artistic-choreographic direction), Marta García and María Elena Llorente, based on the original by Marius Petipa and the version by Alexander Gorski, with music by Ludwig Minkus.

The prima ballerina and general director of the BNC was born in Havana, began her studies at the Alejo Carpentier Elementary Ballet School and completed them at the National Ballet School, currently Fernando Alonso, where she graduated in 1994 with a gold medal.

That year she joined the National Ballet of Cuba and immediately gained public favor through her brilliant performances, in both classical ballets and contemporary works.

In 1996, Valdés was promoted to the ranks of coryphée, soloist, and principal dancer, and in 2001 to prima ballerina. In 2019 she was named artistic subdirector of the BNC and in 2020, general director.

In 2019, she obtained a degree in Ballet from the Faculty of Dance Art at the University of the Arts of Cuba (ISA), graduated with a gold medal, and the prestigious institution selected her as the most outstanding student of her class.

Together with the BNC, Viengsay has performed in numerous countries and has been invited as the lead figure of the emblematic ballets of the Bolshoi and Mariinski theaters in Russia, as well as other companies.

Among the awards and honors received, both during her student and professional career, stand out the distinction For National Culture, the Alejo Carpentier medal, and the Félix Varela Order, which is awarded by the Government of the Republic of Cuba.