Rosario Suárez

Charín is a classical dancer who emerged from the Cuban School of Ballet. After dancing for 26 years with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, she emigrated to the United States and founded Ballet Cubano de Miami, which became Ballet Rosario Suárez in 1997. She was considered the most important figure of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba after Alicia Alonso

She began her studies at the Provincial School of Ballet in Havana and graduated from the National School of Art (ENA). In 1968 she joined the Ballet Nacional de Cuba as a professional dancer, directed by Alicia and Fernando Alonso. She remained there for twenty-six years and achieved the rank of Prima Ballerina. Among her most prominent teachers were: Fernando Alonso, Joaquín Banegas, José Parés, Ramona de Sáa, Karemia Moreno, Menia Martínez and Adolfo Roval.

In her successful career as a dancer, she has received important recognition and awards: Gold Medal in the Youth Category of the V Varna Ballet Festival, Bulgaria, 1970; Medal and Certificate of Honor at the "Katia Popova" Laureates Festival, Pleven, Bulgaria, 1972; Medal at the I International Ballet Competition of Japan; Bronze Medal at the International Ballet Competition of Moscow, 1981. She belongs, along with Ofelia González and Amparo Brito, to the brilliant generation known as The Three Graces, a term coined by the late renowned English critic Arnold Haskell. To an extraordinary technique, she has always added great acting abilities.

During her tours of the United States in 1978 and 1979 with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, she was unanimously acclaimed by specialized critics from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, among others, for her outstanding performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in theaters in other cities such as Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1983 she performed Odette-Odile from Swan Lake at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Her art is recognized internationally.

She danced and received praise in other cities such as Paris, London, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Madrid, Barcelona, Melbourne, Tokyo, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, among others. With the Cuban company she traveled to more than thirty countries, where she received unanimous recognition from critics and applause from audiences. Her interpretations of the great ballets of the classical repertoire, contemporary pieces and those created especially for her are points of reference for new generations of dancers, due to their perfect and passionate execution. She has performed all the major roles in world ballet: Swan Lake, Giselle, Coppelia, Les Sylphides, The Sleeping Beauty, La fille mal gardée, Diana and Actaeon, Don Quixote, Grand pas de quatre... As well as ballets by Cuban choreographers: Afternoon in the Siesta, Cecilia, Rara avis and A escena

In late 1986, she founded, along with dancers Caridad Martínez and Mirta García, the Ballet Teatro de la Habana, an innovative theatrical proposal that was a genuine landmark in the Cuban artistic world of that time. On September 17, 1994, after a historic performance of Giselle at the Teatro Albéniz in Madrid, she requested political asylum in Spain. This marked her departure from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

At the height of her career as the leading figure of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Rosario Suárez decided to seek new horizons, not without uncertainty. "I left everything behind with great sadness," she recalls. "I thought I would never dance again. In her vital and dazzling art, she is an early myth. Muse of her generation, each return of Suárez to the stage becomes a privilege for the senses. The VI Miami International Ballet Festival (its dates were changed due to the terrible events in New York and Washington, to October 19, 20 and 21), directed by Pedro Pablo Peña, offered her a stage.

Both performances were surrounded by the enchantment that accompanies irrepeatable interpretations. "Charín dances," on the lips of her numerous devotees, is the announcement that precedes these sporadic public appearances. It is two pieces, a barely known Pas de deux by choreographer Petipa, titled Talisman; and The Dying Swan, by Fokine, she says. "It is the first time I am performing them in Miami. Simple, down to earth, Charín for everyone, directs a ballet academy on Calle 8, assisted by her inseparable daughter Paola, recently graduated from New World School of the Arts. Nothing in her measured and quiet conversation reveals the telluric force she unleashes on stage. Fame has not dimmed her personality one bit. "My mother called me Charín since I was little, when I didn't even dream of dancing ballet, but rumba. Later, some neighbors, who today are famous composers, the Diego sisters, convinced me to attend a ballet school that was just opening in Havana.

In the year 2000, within the framework of the Madrid en danza festival, she starred in the premiere of the intimate Italian choreographer Anna Cuocolo's work, "Anna Pavlova, dialogues of the soul," accompanied by Toni Candeloro and the Balletto di Puglia. Charín danced classics such as Arlequinade and the famous Fokine's Dying Swan. A beautiful tribute to the legendary dancer.

In 2002 she created her choreography Cecilia Valdés, which she premiered with great success at the Miami Dade County Auditorium. In 2010, at the Byron Carlyle theater in Miami Beach, she starred in the premiere of the theatrical piece The Last Performance, where she gave voice to texts written for her by the renowned Cuban writer based in Barcelona, Abilio Estévez.

Without fully retiring from the stage, Charín, as she is affectionately known by her admirers, is also a distinguished teacher and conducts her teaching work at the Miami Conservatory of Ballet and The Thomas Armour Youth Ballet directed by Ruth Wiesen. She has worked as a guest teacher in cities such as Cincinnati, New York, Barcelona, Oslo, Lausanne, Madrid, York, Barcelona, Oslo and Madrid.

Behind her success, her virtuoso technique, her interpretive quality and her charisma, lies an unbridled passion. Difficulties, honesty, the constant search for freedom and, of course, her mystery, have made her one of the great myths of Cuban art.

Her acting abilities were demonstrated in The Last Performance, a work premiered in September 2010 at the Byron-Carlyle theater in South Beach, Miami, with text by Cuban writer Abilio Estévez and the company of actor Julio Rodríguez.

Rosario Suárez was married to Cuban writer Eliseo Alberto and to actor Jorge Luis Álvarez. She has a daughter, Paula Roque.

Professional Experience

2002-2006: Director and Dancer of Ballet Rosario Suárez.

1999-2006: Director and Dancer of Academia Rosario Suárez.

1990: Guest Artist with the National Dance Company of Mexico.

1987-1990: Prima Ballerina of Ballet Teatro de La Habana.

1968-1994: Prima Ballerina of Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Tours with Ballet Nacional de Cuba

More than 31 countries

Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Colombia, Costa Rica, United States, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Great Britain, France, Greece, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Soviet Union, Turkey, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, among others.

Awards

1997, ACCA Award for the creation of Ballet Cubano de Miami. Miami, USA.

1997, Best Solo. Éxito Magazine. Miami, USA

1997, Award for Artistic Excellence. The Miami Herald. Miami, USA.

1996, Jorge Lefevre Award. ACCA. Miami, USA

1991, Order for Cuban Culture. Havana, Cuba.

1991, Glass Medal from MINON Concerts Association. Tokyo, Japan.

1981, Bronze Medal -Senior Category- IV International Ballet Festival of Moscow, Soviet Union.

1976, Medal and Diploma I Japan World Competition of Ballet. Tokyo, Japan.

1972, "Katia Popova" Medal Festival. Pleven, Bulgaria.

1970, Gold Medal -Youth Category-. V International Ballet Festival of Varna, Bulgaria.

Reviews

July 25, 1970. Varna.

In the group of juniors, the priority of the Cuban team was indisputable. Completely deserved was the high award to Rosario Suárez, affectionately called Charin by the audience.

1978. New York Times, New York, by Brendan Fitzgerald.

We are in the presence of an especially rare talent; she can only be compared to herself. When she dances a role, it is as though the role did not exist until that moment. She adds intensity, psychological insight and a majestic stage presence.

1978. New York Times, New York, by Anna Kisselgoff. About the character of Soledad from Afternoon in the Siesta.

The passion and anguish of the third solo was performed by one of the most impressive figures of the Cuban company, Rosario Suárez, who had already given a beautiful demonstration of her art in the waltz of Les Sylphides, showing extraordinary extensions.

1979. Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Los Angeles. by Donna Perlmutter.

A gorgeously supple Rosario Suárez could demonstrate the most luxuriant arabesque penchees in her solo and then go on to personify the steely, authoritative Myrtha.

1979. Los Angeles, by Martin Berheimer.

Rosario Suárez danced Myrtha like it has not been seen in Los Angeles since the times of Dana Begma, steely, cold, malevolent, virtuoso, from another world.

1980. Saint Petersburg.

Among them is Rosario Suárez, who captivated Soviet audiences with her impeccable technique and the polish of her dance, with her grace and emotion. "Fleeting visions in l'air" as captured in his work by Victor Gritsiuk.

1984. Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Pour la danse. Paris. Le Ballet National de Cuba, l'âme et la danse. Marie Hamon. Photo Guy Delahaye. What more can be said... except that within this perfection an exceptional spark emerged: Rosario Suárez. Through a simple waltz, she stole a brief instant of eternity. The gaze, after she left the stage, could not help but follow. She dances with quiet confidence, glides in her balances, develops deep arabesques, traverses the space in a few jetés of impressive height. A radiant face, an unstudied ease...she performed this well-known waltz with a spirit and talent that renewed it and with such possibilities that one awaits with impatience her performance of The Swan Lake.

1985. Ángel Fumagalli, ballet historian of the Colón theater in Buenos Aires: "She has a stage presence of the kind that comes once every 100 years. That the efforts of Alicia Alonso and the Cuban school have produced a dancer like this is already a glorious reward".

November 10, 1986. Teatro Mella. Havana. Roger Salas for El País. X International Ballet Festival of Havana. The Night of the Miracle A "sold out" sign appeared daily, like a ritual, at the ticket office of Havana theaters. On the evening of the 6th, Cuban Rosario Suárez awakened all possible expectations by dancing, outside the scheduled program, the pas de deux Diana and Actaeon, accompanied by Fernando Johnes. The theater, standing, chanted her name for more than five minutes, something not seen in Havana for many years. RS video

November 11, 1986. Teatro García Lorca. Havana. Roger Salas for El País. X International Ballet Festival of Havana.

...In the same performance Rosario Suárez again received a dozen bouquets of flowers from admirers. Her popularity exceeds any known precedent, and thus a new legend of a universal dancer begins to be woven...

November 19, 1986. Roger Salas for El País. X International Ballet Festival of Havana. The Cuban Rosario Suárez, in her brief appearances during this edition of the festival, proved to be the most brilliant product of the Cuban school of ballet. The most remarkable thing about Rosario Suárez is her versatility. She has demonstrated having an exceptional category, both technically and artistically.

May 5, 1987. Lima. Alejandro Yori for El Comercio.

Rosario Suárez, the sensational dancer making her debut in Lima, is one of the most talented and brilliant dancers of the present day. It is a pity that until now our audience has not been able to applaud her in some classical pas de deux of such first-rate virtuosity.

February 16, 1989. Centro cultural de la Villa. Madrid. Julio Bravo for ABC.

Rosario Suárez offered an extraordinary solo, not fully understood by all the audience. In this choreography, complex in both content and form, Charín displays a wide range of her expressive possibilities and achieves impressive work.

November 21, 1992. Teatro de la Zarzuela. Madrid. Gala Spanish School of Dance and Ballet. José Ángel Vela del Campo for El País. The Persistence of Spanish School of Dance.

...A second block consisted of great classical duets tailored to the stars. They were Arantxa Argüelles and Peter Schaufuss in Don Quixote or Toreador, and the Cubans Rosario Suárez and Lienz Chiang in Paquita, who ignited the enthusiasm of admirers of perfect execution of steps and movements...

November 3, 1992. Teatro García Lorca. Havana. Mauricio Vicent for El País. Success in Havana of Goyo Montero's ballet about Mariana Pineda. Rosario Suárez premiered the choreography.

Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero and dancer Rosario Suárez impressed the Cuban and foreign audience that attended Thursday's world premiere of Mariana. The seats of the magnificent García Lorca theater, central venue of the XIII International Festival of Havana, vibrated during the 45 minutes that Charín spent recreating the life and sufferings of the Spanish heroine Mariana Pineda. Like Rosario Suárez, Mariana was a luminous ballet, where communication and feeling took precedence over technique. She, who rises like an angel on the tips of her pointe shoes, knew how to stay well grounded to the earth, like the flag that cost Mariana Pineda her life, said the choreographer of the work, Spaniard Goyo Montero.

1992. "The Week-end". Melbourne, by R. Gravet.

I must say that the Giselle's second act by Cuban National Ballet is splendid, simply the best I have seen, and Rosario Suárez materializes out of her grave and instantly she is possessed by delirium.

August 22, 1992. Teatro Albéniz. Madrid, by Roger Salas for El País. The Great Night of Rosario.

...Today, without any doubt, she is at the head of the Caribbean company as one of its most solid values. Her Giselle is a product not only of her gifts, but of hard work. She has her natural profile in strength and character, however, she manages to convince and move, transformed into a nocturnal phantom...

June 17, 1994. Teatro de la Maestranza. Seville, by Carmen del Val for El País. Mythic Night. Gala Greco-Latin Traditions in 20th Century Choreography.

Rosario Suárez and Ángel Rojas added Spanish flavor to the temperamental work of Juan Carlos Santamaría where tap dancing coexisted with neoclassical modernity.

August 31, 1994. Teatro Albéniz. Madrid, by Roger Salas for El País. The Swan is Sad.

...The white act is the style manual of academicism, and Rosario Suárez is the only Cuban artist today possessing that maturity as well as the temperament to bring to life a swan tormented by enchantment and fate, by the evil surrounding her from which she finally frees herself. Her Odette is theatrically very sad, deep and powerful at once, in rebellion against the night to which the sorcerer wants to condemn her. The strength of her white swan lies in her sincerity and her love for that dance which can be both life and death at once. Rosario-Odette shows herself indestructible, victorious...

September 19, 1994. Teatro Albéniz. Madrid, by Roger Salas for El País. Light and Progress.

What in Rosario Suárez was once natural ease is now intelligence, emotional embroidery, detail, dramaturgy; if in her youth she generated praise from critics of the caliber of Clive Barnes, Walter Terry, Irene Lidova or Bengt Häger, and from the ballet-loving public of the Metropolitan in New York or the Paris Opera, today, in her maturity she offers us the precious gift that is her arduous and serious work of dance...Rosario is the last worthy survivor of an era of Cuban ballet, in her the master hands of Fernando Alonso, José Parés and Joaquín Banegas are still present, and from that comes the artistic excellence of her work.

September 20, 1994. Teatro Albéniz Madrid, by Julia Martin for El Mundo. The Jewel of Cuba. Giselle.

Rosario Suárez finally had a night for herself and took advantage of the occasion to demonstrate all the greatness that dance has and she has, performing a Giselle that will not be erased from memory. The audience stood and applauded the best Giselle that has been seen in Madrid for years and left with admiration in their eyes and hearts accelerated by the emotional pulse that Suárez conveyed to the rest of the company...

November 11, 1996. Miami Herald. Miami, by Laurie Horn. New company fulfills promise of Cuban ballet. These are artists who - for whatever reasons political, geographic, aesthetic or just plain human - have cultivated both an intensity of emotional expression, a precision of technique and a musical acuteness that reanimates the classics. Not surprisingly, the Guzmán audience responded repeatedly with bravos and choruses of rhythmic clapping.

December 24, 1998. Roger Salas for El País. Eternal Petipa. Christmas Gala. RS Suárez and Candeloro have given a lesson in what should be the communication and complicity between two capable and mature soloists in an Arlequinade that we will not easily forget, as this extremely difficult duet is a rare jewel worth seeing and analyzing. The Cuban dancer still had in store for us a great surprise in the second part by revealing all her constant technical potential within a complex system of musical and stylistic restraint. Russian Dance is a heroic dance in itself, brilliant in its texture and carrying great risks in its polish, and that in the foundation and form is the eternal Petipa, the genius of a choreographer to create diversity where others create monotony.

June 17, 2000. Roger Salas for El País. Wandering Stars. MADRID EN DANZA FESTIVAL - 'ANNA PAVLOVA'

This world premiere was one of the most anticipated of this festival. It was a theatrical experiment full of risks, since Anna Pavlova is a myth, idealized as a woman and dancer, as a star and as a symbol of an entire era. Cuocolo and Candeloro were not mistaken in choosing Rosario Suárez to embody the evocation of the Russian dancer. Without attempting absurd comparisons, both are stars and messengers, each of their time, of something intangible and beautiful: dance; both also fled from the human and professional tyrannies of a great ballet and preferred their small companies. They are stories full of pain and beauty, of successes and wandering paths...

2002. Orlando Taquechel for El Nuevo Herald. Premiere of Cecilia Valdés.

...Rosario Suárez, Cecilia and Roig --three monuments of Cuban culture-- were the great triumphers of this weekend at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium where the premiere of a new ballet adaptation of the story of the famous Havana mulatta took place. A full theater presentation that was followed with interest from beginning to end, interrupted on several occasions by enthusiastic applause from the attending audience and concluded with a great ovation...

2003. Luz García Ortiz for Danza en español. VIII International Ballet Festival of Miami.

...The company of Rosario "Charín" Suárez, the dancer that Miami-Dade residents adore, presented their newly formed group in an pleasant piece by Pugni-Saint Leon, titled "Markitenka", with Maité Díaz Portela and Venezuelan David Fonnegrade as soloists, surrounded by an attentive quartet of well-trained disciples of Charín...

2005. New World School of Arts. Orlando Taquechel for El Nuevo Herald. Rosario Suárez is the living expression of talent devoted to the art of dance.

...a dancer capable of delivering a performance constructed completely in the foreground and doing so without demanding adoration and reward. As she moves from one illuminated area to another, Suárez stops and treasures with emotion each additional instant of scenic life. The effect is precise and moving, because it reveals the essence of talent devoted to art...

January 11, 2008. By Maritza Gueler for Danza en Español. The renowned and admired Cuban dancer, Rosario Suárez, went against the current in the midst of a dance market where "pyrotechnics" and "athleticism" predominate over style and the dictates of music. The reconstruction of the famous "Pas de Quatre," one of the masterpieces of Romanticism, deserves special mention within the context of the Vail International Dance Festival. Suárez has done formidable research work to bring this emblematic work of indescribable beauty and delicacy of style, created by Jules Perrot in 1845...With this work, Suárez and her dancers have recovered an "incunabula" of dance in the best way and by the best path: hard work and persistence. A task that should receive substantial support to allow the recovery of these kinds of ballet jewels that are part not only of the history of dance but have been the basis for later evolution. Bravo!

September 2, 2011. Rosario Suárez in The Last Performance. By Antonio O. Rodríguez special for EL NUEVO HERALD. Rosario Suárez's training in pantomime is evident in the precision with which she manages to transform herself into a little girl --whose lightness and playfulness recall the Lisette of La fille mal gardée--, into a seductive woman or into an elderly woman devastated. The bravery of her performance, which becomes almost visceral in the demanding mirror scene, is the greatest attraction of this investigation into the dancer's conflict with her body and the passing years.

Galas and Festivals

February 16, 1989. Dance Gala Havana in Madrid. Centro cultural de la Villa. Madrid. Scenes from Alberto Alonso's ballet Carmen, Adagio from the second act of Swan Lake with Jorge Esquivel and Solo by Caridad Martínez.

October 28, 1990. Cervantes International Festival. [Teatro Juárez. Guanajuato]. Mexico. La Sylphide and the Scotsman with Maximiliano Guerra and the National Dance Company of Mexico. Version by Terrence S. Orr, according to the original by Auguste Bournonville. Closing Gala. Pas de deux of the Black Swan with Maximiliano Guerra.

November 20, 1992. Gala. Spanish School of Dance and Ballet. Teatro de la Zarzuela. Madrid. Spain. Paquita with Lienz Chiang.

June 2, 1994. Tribute Gala to Vicente Escudero. Valladolid. Spain. Escudero. World Premiere. With Angel Rojas, choreography by Juan Carlos Santamaria.

June 15, 1994. Gala The Night of Dance. Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. Itálica International Dance Festival. The Muse and the Shield, with dancer Ángel Rojas, choreography by Juan Carlos Santamaría.

August 10, 1994. Gala The Balanchine-Tchaikovsky Night. Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria. Santander. Spain. Second act of Swan Lake with Carlos López and the Ballet of the Paliahvili Opera Theater in Tbilisi.

January 7, 1995. Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria. Santander. Spain. Adagio from the second act of Swan Lake with Ricardo Franco.

November 9, 1996. Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. Miami. United States. Ballet Stars Gala. Pas de deux of the Black Swan. Swan Lake.

December 6, 1998. Teatro de Madrid. Madrid. Spain. Closing Gala of the XV Fall Festival. Russian Dance Swan Lake according to Marius Petipa.

December 24, 1998. Christmas Gala. Valladolid. Spain. Arlequinade with Toni Candeloro. Russian Dance Swan Lake according to Marius Petipa.

July 30 - August 7, 2008. Vail International Dance Festival. Colorado. Grand Pas de Quatre. Ballet Rosario Suárez.

Books

Abilio Estévez in The Sleeping Navigator, Andanzas Collection, Tusquets Publishers, page 234 ( ISBN: 978-84-8383-068-0 )

...Sometimes, one would arrive at the García Lorca theater for some ballet performance, because although lately he had become bored with ballet, he had discovered a principal dancer, very young, named Rosario Suárez. He had seen her for the first time in the character of Moyna, in the second act of Giselle, and he knew that a dancer with that strength and charm could one day become a revelation...

Eliseo Alberto in Two Cubalibre: Nobody Loves Cuba More (2004, Península). Articles and interviews. (ISBN: 978-84-8307-626-2). Spoken Portrait of Rosario Suárez. For Paula ...Triumph on the island, in the world and in exile. Havana, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Madrid, New York, Miami showered her with tulips. And she triumphed, first and foremost, because here or there, in good times and in the worst, in the euphoria of fame or in the deepest hollow of sadness, stubborn companion of loneliness, her prodigious body never ceased to exercise her spirit. For us, her many admirers, seeing her dance was and is and will be an orgy of the senses...

Film

1983. Woman Before the Mirror. Cuba. Marisol Trujillo. Documentary, 35 mm, Color, 17 min.

1993. Two Gladys for You. Cuba. Aaron Yelin In production:

2016 Lonely Dancer Seeks Company. Orlando Rojas. USA.

On November 27 at the Grand Prix held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he came one step away from being included in the medal count after falling to Chinese Guo Kai in two partial rounds in the quarterfinals of the competition. However, the Caribbean fighter finished in the fifth through eighth positions and earned 2,720 points for this tournament category, which will help him improve his 60th position in the world ranking and for Olympic qualification.