Old-School Cuban BalletMaster classes in dance and guest artists teaching classes are a frequent occurrence here in Cleveland but we took more than usual notice when we learned recently that Laura Alonso was coming to town. Laura Alonso is the daughter of Alicia Alonso, the highly respected ballerina and choreographer who founded the National Ballet of Cuba in 1948.
Laura Alonso has danced, coached, and taught in Cuba and internationally. She’s had a hand in training and coaching a long list of remarkable dancers who have ascended to the highest possible levels. In 1990 she was named Best Coach at Jackson International Ballet Competition, the same year that her student, Jose Manuel Carreno, won that competition’s highest award for dancing. Carreno is currently one of the top dancers at American Ballet Theater.
Alonso has visited northeast Ohio several times before under the auspices of Cassandra Crowley of Canton Civic Ballet. This time she’s here with the Cleveland Foundation in cooperation with Case Western Reserve University with Dance Cleveland helping with project management. We asked Ronn Richard, President and CEO of that organization, what they’re working on. He replied at length.
“The Cleveland Foundation is extremely interested in developing a special relationship with Cuba,” Richard said. “As part of that we had Elmo Hernandez, one of the most famous art historians in Cuba, come several months ago to give a lecture here about the history of Cuban art. And we’ve brought Laura (Alonso) here twice now. We’re even in discussions – it would be a stretch – to bring the National Ballet of Cuba here.”
“What we hope to do is bring Cuba’s top painters and sculptors to give workshops at the Cleveland Institute of Art and around town. We’re trying to develop artistic, cultural, scientific, medical exchanges with Cuba and we have a dozen such things in the works right now. I think you’re going to see a parade of wonderful Cuban artists here, and hopefully a parade of Clevelanders going to Cuba – not just artists but architects, historical restoration experts… There’s much we can learn from Cuba and much we can teach Cuba.”
“We want a special relationship, a non-political relationship. As with every country in the world, Cuba is filled with warm, wonderful people. Whether it’s vaccine development — they’re working on new cancer vaccines – or incredible dancers, sculptors or painters, there’s just so much we can do that will improve the lives of Clevelanders. That’s why Laura’s here.”
We’d asked around the dance community about Laura Alonso and had been told repeatedly that she was “tough’ and “old-school,” that when she walks into the studio, it’s a wake-up call. Alonso herself addressed that issue in the beginning of her master class at Case on Wednesday morning, 4/7/10.
“As some of you know, I’m tough,” she began. “But how short is a dancer’s career? How long does it take to develop your technique? To say, ‘Darling, that’s wonderful. Now try it this way,’ takes too long.”
Direct and to the point as Alonso was during her class, it was all done with good humor that the dancers shared in, smiling as they sweated. During our interview, Alonso made an interesting point about the designation “old school.”
Laura Alonso: I’m not “old school.” The Cuban syllabus is the newest in the world. It was developed by my father, Fernando Alonso, and it’s really the new way of teaching. I’m only “old school” in that I demand respect.Cool Cleveland: And it works. We understand that you coached Ana Lobe, who many Clevelanders will remember from her days with Cleveland Ballet.
Laura Alonso: Ana was my student from the time she was a little girl. I’m not their only teacher but I prepared Ana and Jose for Jackson and I taught them on and off throughout the years. Do you remember Ramon Moreno, Maydee Pena, Patricia Perez? They were my students as well.
Wonderful dancers at Cleveland Ballet, all of them. We understand that you teach all levels of ballet, from the highest professional level to a mixed level class like this one to beginning level class.
LA: Yes, and if I were to teach a class for people who are not going to dance professionally, people who want to learn to appreciate ballet, then I would have taught a different class.
We’ve read about Pro-Danza, your Center for the Promotion of the Dance in Cuba. We understand that a performing company is attached but that it’s mainly a big school with over 1000 students and that it has a huge outreach program. Characterize, please, the program of Pro-Danza.
LA: Same thing. We have 2 levels. We have the level where we create the audience, and we have another level for the ones who are really going to dance. If you’re a dancer, you need an audience. Baseball, basketball, football does it. Why don’t we?
At this point in the interview, a number of local ballet teachers, who either took Alonso’s class or watched, came by to pay their respects. Alonso asked them a question of her own.
LA: I want to know, why are you guys enjoying it so much?
Courtney Laves, a local ballet teacher and Director of Cleveland City Dance, replied for the group, “You validate what we’re doing, you help us to know we’re doing it right.”
Alonso also addressed herself to the question of the ethnicity, size, and coloring of dancers. She began by rejecting the Balanchine aesthetic for dancers. “Why are we stuck in that aesthetic in which only the tall, blonde, long-legged can dance?” she asked. She went on to specifically endorse not only the use of different body types in ballet, but also the use of dancers of Asian and African ancestry. “Art should not have a limit,” she said.
So, when’s Alonso’s next visit? Will Cleveland Foundation succeed in bringing National Ballet of Cuba to Cleveland, long shot though that is? And who will be the next Cuban artist in the coming parade through Cleveland? All these questions are still in the air and neither Cleveland Foundation nor Cool Cleveland knows the answers — yet.
To learn more about Cleveland Foundation, start at http://www.clevelandfoundation.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. Elsa and Vic are both longtime Clevelanders. Elsa is a landscape designer. She studied ballet as an avocation for 2 decades. Vic has been a dancer and dance teacher for most of his working life, performing in a number of dance companies in NYC and Cleveland. They write about dance as a way to learn more and keep in touch with the dance community. E-mail them at vicnelsaATearthlink.net.