Award-winning ballet student in international online competition

March 24, 2021

Student Mónica Cristina Tapia Tamayo from the Fernando Alonso National Ballet School (ENB) achieved third place in the Senior Category, awarded by the jury of the online Dance Open America competition in the United States.

According to information provided by Zulema Armas, subdirector of Communication and International Relations of the National Center for Schools of Art (CNEArt), the 17-year-old student, who is in her second year at the ENB, was awarded among the 39 selected contestants out of a total of 169.

Mónica Cristina competed with two regulation pieces, the most special of which was the Swanilda variation, which she dedicated to Master Ramona de Saá, director of the ENB, who rehearsed it with her when she was still in elementary level and for that reason she remembers her with great affection and respect.

The international dance competition took place through the website www.danceopenamerica.org registered in Miami, Florida, United States.

According to its Facebook profile, this organization constitutes a bridge to connect dancers from around the world, a platform of expression to promote and discover talents, a safe space to conquer dreams through the joy of dance.

In its second edition, Dance Open America took place online between March 18 and 21 and concluded with the final gala and awards ceremony.

The first edition took place in December 2020 and in it two Cuban ballet students obtained first and second place, also in the Senior Category.

According to the subdirector of CNEArt, this is the second award that the schools of art have received in 2021 and the 38th, since June 2020 when Cuban students began participating in online competitions.

With this recent award, our students once again uphold the value of our artistic education system, she expressed in her profile on the same social network.

CNEArt constitutes one of the most transcendental and beautiful works of the Cuban Revolution and its system of schools of art with the specialties of ballet, music, dramatic art, plastic arts, dance and circus.

The ENB is the largest specialized educational institution of its kind in the world and the most important in the country; from it the prestigious Ballet Nacional de Cuba, the Ballet de Camagüey and other companies from the largest of the Antilles and the rest of the world are nourished.