First Cuban Male Dancer Highlights Welcome at Ballet Nacional de Panamá

September 1, 2023

The first male dancer of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba Dani Hernández highlighted today the welcome given by the similar dance company of Panamá directed by maestro Gloria Barrios.

Applauded several times at the Teatro Nacional, in Casco Antiguo, in this capital, during his participation as a guest artist at the Gala for the 51st anniversary of the Ballet Nacional de Panamá, Hernández stated in statements to Prensa Latina that he feels at home, before a very special audience.

The Caribbean artist performs the Pas de Deux The Black Swan alongside the first ballerina of the Panamanian nation, Ana Lorena Boyd, whom he assured he met in person here but managed to establish a close relationship that allows for this beautiful experience to be offered.

In classes and rehearsals I was able to exchange my knowledge with Panamanian dancers, some of whom I knew from Cuba and other venues, but it has been a very gratifying and enriching experience, he noted.

It is not the first time I have visited this country, he recalled. In 2019 I participated alongside Cuban first ballerina Grettel Morejón at the International Ballet Festival of Panamá, when we performed the pas de deux from Carmen.

Regarding the Ballet Nacional de Panamá, Hernández opined that it combines training that comes from the Cuban school, like Maestro Juan Carlos Costoya, from whom he feels honored by this invitation, but also the Russian and other academies where its dancers have trained, and which then manages to imprint its own mark and style, which should distinguish this type of company.

Ranked by Revista Danza Europa as one of the 100 best dancers worldwide, Hernández revealed that on this occasion he has had to rethink what he has been doing in his version of Swan Lake, but that enriched him as an artist.

He announced that in September he will begin a tour of República Dominicana where he will perform this fairy tale-ballet with music by Piotr Ilich Chaikovski in the second and fourth acts alongside the first ballerina and general director of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Viengsay Valdés; and also with his life partner, first ballerina Anette Delgado.

The Ballet Nacional de Panamá was created in 1972, and is currently directed by maestro Gloria Barrios.

The program for the anniversary of its founding included special moments and scenes such as Raymonda, with Melissa Gaona and Edgar Santamaría; the Grand Pas Classique, with Manu Navarro and Yahir Castro; La Fille Mal Gardée, with Julieta Del Castillo and Isaac Chávez; Diana and Actaeon, with Satoko Konishi and Pedro Paternina; and A Rose Against the Wall, with Julieta Del Castillo, among others.