CULTURAL NOTES

- The Cuban version of the famous ballet Giselle choreographed by Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso, is being staged at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

The staging pays tribute to the Cuban ballet ensemble’s 60th anniversary and Alonso and her company’s debut in Caracas with the same piece on November 12, 1948, 60 years ago. Venezuela was the first Latin American country that the Cuban diva visited and danced in, as part of her efforts to bring that arts to the continent and show that the region’s artists could make a contribution to the world of ballet.

Venezuelan dance fans are enjoying the romantic ballet on August 2, 3, 8 and 9 in a co-production by the Cuban National Ballet Company and the Teresa Carreño Theater Ballet. The main roles are being danced by Cuba’s Yoel Carreño and Javier Torres and Venezuela’s Cristina Gallardo and Cristina Amaral.
 

- Cuban National Ballet School student Osiel Gouneo Martínez won the silver medal in the junior category for boys at the 23rd International Ballet Competition Varna 2008 in that Bulgarian city. This year's edition ran from July 15th through 30th. The festival is one of the most prestigious such events in the world and important dancers who have later become ballet stars have participated or won awards in it for four decades.

Gouneo, 17, was accompanied by Dariela González Peraza, 18, who also participated in the gathering as a contestant. The duet's competition program included classical pieces, such as Fille Mal Gardee, Corsaire and La Bayadere Pas de Deux and two contemporary choreographies: Zero by Cuba's Miguel Altunaga and Mojito Criollo by Eduardo Blanco.

Cuba made its debut at the competition in 1964 with Mirta Plá and Josefina Méndez, who were later known as two of the so called "Four Jewels" of the Cuban National Ballet Company. In 1965, Loipa Araujo -who later became one of the "Four Jewels"- obtained the Gold Medal in Varna. Important figures from the Cuban ballet ensemble have also made up the prestigious ballet gathering's jury on several occasions.

The 23rd edition of the International Ballet Competition Varna 2008 was attended by some 150 competitors from more than twenty countries from all continents. No gold medal was given in the "junior" category for boys, according to observers, due to lack of funds.

- The Cuban Chamber Orchestra Camerata Romeu will participate in the 36th International Cervantino Festival in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. The festival is one of the most important events of its kind in the world.

For 19 days, beginning October 8th, the festival will gather thousands of performers from all over the world, including Spanish singer and composer Joan Manuel Serrat, who is scheduled to open the cultural fiesta; Mexico's Symphony Orchestra and Barcelona's Gelabert Azzopardi Dance Company.

The Camerata Romeo will play pieces by Cuban maestros Alejandro Garcia Caturla, Leo Brouwer, Guido López Gavilan, Carlos Fariñas, and Argentina’s Astor Piazzolla and Egberto Gismonti.

In addition to Guanajuato, a World Heritage Site, the Cuban music group will visit the cities of Aguascalientes, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Guadalajara, Cuernavaca, Querétaro, San Juan del Río, Hermosillo and the Federal District.

The cultural gathering’s guests of honor this time will be the Spanish community of Catalonia and the state of Campeche.

- The Cuban children's theatre group La Colmenita represented the Caribbean island at the Tenth World Children's Theater Festival in Moscow from July 17th through the 25th.

Under the slogan "Children Performing for Children," the Cuban ensemble -- directed by Carlos Alberto Cremata -- participated along with representatives from 20 countries, including Britain, Germany, Singapore, Italy, Burkina Faso, Israel, Bangladesh, India, Byelorussia, Indonesia, Russia, Faroe Islands and Croatia.

This was the fifth time that La Colmenita has taken part in the largest children's theater event in the world. They have also performed in Toyama, Japan (2000), twice in Lingen, Germany, and in Havana, Cuba.

"Cinderella... According to the Beatles" is the show the Cuban children's theater ensemble staged at the Tenth Festival, which was not only performed in its bilingual English-Spanish version, but 20 percent of it was presented in Russian, as a special present to Russian children.

La Colmenita -- a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador -- is the only children's theatre group in the world that has been able to participate consecutively in the last five festivals, held every two years.

The festivals are organized by the International Amateur Theater Association under the auspices of UNICEF and this time it gathered the 21 most outstanding such theater groups from all over the world.
 

- The historic section of the eastern Cuban city of Camagüey was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The decision is based on the originality of the city's urban design and the complex of religious buildings that make it apart from other cities in Cuba and the new contient.

Sources from the Paris based United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization -UNESCO- say that Camagüey stands out for its narrow and unequal streets with many plazas and small squares that make it an exceptional urban area worth of profound study and analysis.

The registration of Camagüey was made during the 32nd Meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Commitee underway in the Canadian city of Quebec.

Other sites chosen by the international organization include Le Morne Mountain, known as a slave refuge in Mauricius; an earth house complex in China; an archeological site in Saudi Arabia and the Armenian Monasteries in Iran.

The condition was also granted to Melaka and George Town, two historic cities in the Strait of Malaca in Malasia-; the old agricultural area of Kuk in Papua New Guinea; Stari Grad Plains, in Croacia; fortresses in Vauban, France; and Mantua and Sabbionetta, in Italia, among others.

- Cuban choreographer Tania Vergara won the 6th Ibero-American Choreography Prize for her piece A los confines de la tierra (At the Ends of the Earth.)

The jury was headed by Alicia Alonso and made up of leading figures from the international dance world, the Cuban National Ballet and Spain's Authors and Editors Foundation.

The panel praised Vergara's work for her choreography and creative use of space, as well as the piece's integrity and originality, emphasising the harmony between the languages of music and dance, including the incorporation of set design in the piece.

The jury also gave special recognition to two Spanish pieces: Made in Spain by José Cruz, and 10 minutos de pareja (Ten Minutes of a Pair) by Mudit Grau.

More countries took part in this year's competition, which included entries from Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico and Spain.

The prize covers the production costs of the winning piece, and At the Ends of the Earth is set to premiere later this year at the 21st International Ballet Festival in Havana.


- Cuban director and choreographer Lizt Alfonso won Canada's Performing Arts Dora Award in the category of outstanding Choreography in a Play or Musical for her show Vida!.

The award is called annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts since 1978 to honor the best Canadian theater and dance productions and named after Dora Mavor Moore who helped establish professional theater in the country.

The prize, which consists of a a bronze statue by John Romano, was presented in a ceremony at the Toronto Winter Garden Theatre on June 30th .

On this edition of the Dora Prizes, Lizt Alfonso was also nominated for Outstanding New Musical and outstanding Direction of a Musical, sharing the honors in these two categories with the show's co-director, Canada's Kelly Robinson.

- Oscar Award Laureate and twice Palm d’Or Winner, legendary British actress Vanessa Redgrave, is expected in Cuba on July 24 with her son, film director Carlo Nero, to premiere their most recent film The Fever.

In the Fever, Redgrave who has acted in movies and parts, such as Isadora Duncan, Julia, Camelot and Crime in the Orient Express, plays the role of a woman who gets involved in politics without any knowledge on politics.

The film, directed by Carlo Nero, the son of famous Italian actor Franco Nero, is also starred by Angelina Jolie, Michael Moore, Joely Richardson (daughter of Vanessa and the deceased Tony Richardson) and the excellent Rade Serbedzija (Snacht, The marksman).

This is the famous actress’ second trip to Cuba. The first one was in 1961, with her former husband, Tony Richardson.

Vanessa Redgrave was born on January 30, 1937 in London. Her parents were Michael Redgrave (1908-1985) and Rachel Kempson (1910-2002). Like her brother Corin Redgrave and her sister Lynn Redgrave, she inherited a certain taste for the world of acting and progressive ideas, including a long life of political militancy, affiliation with Marxist organizations, social work and support for the Palestinian cause, against oppression and fascism.

In 2002 she declared that the illegally occupied Guantánamo Naval Base in eastern Cuba was a concentration camp. The following year, angered by the Iraq War, she refused to attend the Oscar ceremony to receive homage to all the award-winning actors and she stayed in the United Kingdom to set up The Peace and Progress Party with her brother Corin Redgrave.

Cuba is a country Vanessa Redgrave has always defended, and when she was already rich and famous she is said to have sung the Guantanamera to pay tribute to Che Guevara on the streets of London.

- Over 500 pieces by the late Cuban sculptor Gilma Madera, who made the famous Christ of Havana, are on display at the San Cristóbal Museum in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

In the collection other pieces can also be seen, including the original prototype of the bust of Cuban National Hero José Martí, located at the Pico Turquino, the highest mountain in Cuba, and the death mask of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), the thirtieth second president of the USA.

The Roosevelt’s death mask exhibited in the museum was used by the Cuban artist to model the president’s sculpture that was later located at the Washington Memorial in the US capital city.

The majestic, impressive and famous Christ of Havana is located at Havana´s La Cabaña Hill, on the other side of the bay. The work is 15 meters high and has a 3 meter base.

The monument was located there in December 1958 and, since then, has become one of the symbols of the Cuban capital.

- The musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame is on the stage of Old Havana´s Amphitheatre since June 21, as part of efforts to revive musical theater in Cuba. The cast is made up of both known figures and young talents, who are performing under the direction of Alfonso Menendez.

This musical, based on the novel by Víctor Hugue, is running each Saturday and Sunday until September 7. The leading roles are played by Jose Luis Perez –Quasimodo-, Jose Siveri Monteros -Claudio Frollo-, Christyan Arencibia –Esmeralda-, Yoe Rodríguez Valdes -Febo de Chateaupers-, Esther Somodevilla –Chopin-, and Guelmi Silva Paz- the Poet.

The revival of musical theater began in July, 2006, with the Havana premiere of The Phantom of the Opera and the staging of The Merry Widow in June, 2007.

The famous novel by Victor Hugue (France, 1802–1885) has many theater, musical and film versions. All of them have been revised by Director Menendez, who has acknowledged the cooperation of a large number of people, specially that of soprano Maria Eugenia Barrios, who gave him the recording of the musical Notre Dame of Paris presented at France´s Palace of Congress, with music by Richard Cocciante and script by Luc Plamondon.

During his research work, Menendez made an even more exciting discovery. Byron Janis, considered one of the greatest concert pianists of his time, had also been seduced by Victor Hugue´s novel. He wrote a musical theater play based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame that Janis wanted to premiere in Cuba with the Rodrigo Pratts Opera Ensemble from eastern Holguín province, but the project never materialized.
 

- The fiesta of the Cuban recording industry -Cubadisco 2009- will be dedicated to children and Puerto Rico, according to its President Ciro Benemelis.

The 2009 edition will also provide a special space for the works of South American countries and the presidency of honor went to outstanding Cuban musician and band director Adalberto Alvarez.

This year Cubadisco paid homage to Africa and its Diaspora and closed with a ceremony and concert at the Amadeo Roldán Auditorium Theater, starring the Cuban National Symphonic Orchestra.

- Cuba´s 2000 National Dance Prize Laureate, Maestro Fernando Alonso has been granted the Benois de la Dance Award in the Life in Arts category, in recognition of his long artistic career as a ballet profesor, dancer and choreographer. The announcement was made on Bolshoi Theater´s new stage in Moscow.

The jury granted Alonso the award -considered the Oscar in the world of dance- for the historical importance of his foundational work at the Cuban National Ballet Company, the National Ballet and Arts School, its role as the director of the Camaguey Ballet and more than 50 years as a teacher in various countries.

The Cuban maestro, who is an essential and emblematic figure in the world of dance and ballet in Cuba, received the recognition along with Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta, from the Royal Ballet of London, for his performance in the part of Spartacus in Moscow´s Bolshoi Theater.

- US-born Cuban dancer, choreographer and professor Lorna Burdsall won the 2008 Cuban National Dance Prize.

Born in Preston, Connecticut, Burdsall has been linked to the creation, development and promotion of dance in Cuba, Latin America and the Caribbean for more than 50 years.

In 1959, along with Professor Ramiro Guerra, she founded the National Modern Dance Ensemble, an institution that became a landmark in the history of contemporary dance in Cuba.

She also contributed to the island’s amateur dance movement and designed the curricula for the National School of Arts.

She has worked as a choreographer and professor with dance companies in Mexico and Ecuador and many of her dance works have been performed by companies from several countries.

Since 1987, she is a Permanent Professor at the Cuban Higher Institute for the Arts.

- Renowned Cuban ethnologist and writer Miguel Barnet was selected President of the Cuban Writers and Artists Association –UNEAC- during its closing session held in Havana’s Conference Center. Barnet is better known as the author of "Biografia de un Cimarron" -Biography of a Runaway Slave- and "Oficio de Angel" -Angel’s Trade-.

Barnet was an aide to first UNEAC president, Cuba’s National Poet, Nicolás Guillén, and has an extensive career as a researcher in the area of Afro-Cuban culture and its relations with the Spanish speaking and Caribbean world. He is also the Director of the Havana based Fernando Ortiz Foundation, dealing to such investigations.

The former president of the organization’s Fine Artists Association, sculptor José Villa Soberón, was selected UNEAC’s first vice-president. Soberón has made fifty medium and small format pieces put up in public spaces in 15 countries. In Cuba his best known and most famous sculpture is the one dedicated to John Lennon in Vedado.

Delegates also selected five vice-presidents, including writer Senel Paz, theater critic Omar Valiño, musician Roberto Valera, music expert Caridad Diez and TV director Rudy Mora, as well as the organization’s executive secretaries, actress Eslinda Núñez and writer Omar Felipe Mauri.

National Literature Prize laureate, poetess Nancy Morejón was chosen as the president of UNEAC’s Writers Association, while journalist Rosalía Arnáez is heading the Film, Radio and TV Association and actor Carlos Padrón was reelected at the head of the Stage Artists Association.

UNEAC groups the country’s artistic avant-garde, with more than eight thousand members from all cultural specialties.

More than 400 delegates from all over the country participated in the organization’s congress in Havana from April 1 through 4.

The 414 congress delegates included 102 writers, 75 musicians, 59 filmmakers and movie industry staff, 73 fine arts artists and 78 theater artists, the provincial branch presidents and others.

- Cuban film director Juan Carlos Cremata (Viva Cuba or Long live Cuba) wound up shooting "El Premio Flaco", a film based on a theater play by drama and theater director Héctor Quintero.

Filming took place in Havana and starred theater actress Rosa Vasconcellos and Carlos Gonzalvo.

The plot of Quintero's work is set in the 50´s, when Iluminada, a woman in a simple neighborhood, finds a prize capsule in a soap, which makes her the winner of a new house.

Co-directed by Iraida Malberti and photographed by Oscar Valdés, the long fiction film marks the return of Broselianda Hernánez (Barrio Cuba), Alina Rodríguez (María Antonia) and Luis Alberto García (La Vida es Silbar) to the movie industry.
 

- A plaza honoring Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer opened on Monday evening, January 28th, at the University of Computer Sciences (UCI) in Havana, coinciding with the 155th anniversary of the birth of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti.
The 670 square meter sculpture complex was designed by Niemeyer himself, who gave it to Cuban President Fidel Castro as a present on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

At the opening ceremony, Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto said that Niemeyer is a great artist who has always been faithful to his principles and in solidarity with the just causes of the world, particularly, with the Cuban Revolution.

For his part, UCI rector Melchor Gil Morell noted that the Brazilian architect, who will be 101 years old this year, always wanted to present the Cuban people with a personal gift, a dream that materialized with these sculptures and the design of other buildings of the University of Computer Sciences.

Also during the ceremony, Brazilian intellectual Frei Betto told some anecdotes of the close relationship between Fidel Castro and Oscar Niemeyer and said that he was convinced that the Cuban Revolution is indestructible.

The Niemeyer Plaza joins two others at UCI: the Wifredo Lam Plaza, used for cultural activities, and the Jose Antonio Mella Plaza, used for political events.

- The movie Guanajay, by Cuban director Humberto Solás, will be shot during the second semester of 2008. The new movie is among the film projects that the Cuban Film Institute -ICAIC- is undertaking this year.

Humberto Solás, better known as the director of legendary Cuban movie Lucía, filmed in 1968 and ranked among the top ten Cuban and Latin American movies of all times, is one of the most outstanding Cuban directors. Two of his most outstanding films include Cecilia and Un hombre de éxito.

Guanajay will end the trilogy made up of Miel para Oshún or Honey for Ochún (2001) and Barrio Cuba or Cuba Neighborhood (2005). This movie will be financially supported by the ICAIC and the Ministry of Culture.
With a Carlos Lechuga's screenplay, the new movie will tell a story of people whose lives take place in today's Havana. In addition, this is an entirely national and low-budget film.

In 2008, ICAIC expects to end or begin the production of at least 20 films, which include 14 fiction movies. Some of these are expected to be premiered during the year. The main characteristic of these projects is the theme and stylistic diversity, apart from the quality of the scripts and the promising union of experienced movie makers with others who will start their careers as full-length film directors.

This is complemented by the gains achieved in cartoon production, the introduction of new technologies in some areas, the restoration of movie and video theaters, especially in the Eastern provinces and the country's capital, and a program to restore and preserve the island's movie heritage.


- Rebeca Chavez finished shooting her first feature film. The movie re-created the violent atmosphere in the city Santiago de Cuba in 1957, at a time of rebellion.

After six weeks of filming in the Cuban capital, the last shooting stage of the film Rojo Vivo by Rebeca Chavez took place in Santiago. The director recreated the environment of the 1950's in the famous Enramada St., the former Moncada barracks, and Granma Cay among other locations.

This new Cuban Film Industry (ICAIC) production is inspired on the novel "Bertillon 166" by Santiago de Cuba writer José Soler Puig (1916-1996). For it, the author was awarded First Prize in the fiction category by Havana's Casa de las Américas cultural institution in 1960. The book tells passages of the underground struggle against the Batista dictatorship, in which Chavez herself was a protagonist.

The political thriller takes place in 24 hours. With Daniel Diaz as producer, the cast includes Larisa Vega, Carlos Enrique Almirante, Yoraisy Gomez, Alberto Pujol and Fátima Paterson.

The movie entitled Rojo Vivo is one of the nine feature length films, among Cuban productions and co-productions, scheduled to be premiered in 2008.

Born in Santiago de Cuba and a graduate in art history and journalism, Rebeca Chavez took her first steps in film in 1974 as a movie critic. She worked eight years with renowned Cuban documentary maker Santiago Alvarez as a researcher, scriptwriter and assistant director. In 1984, she began her own career as a documentary maker and director and has produced more than 20 films so far, many of which have received awards at different events.

- Havana, Santa Cruz del Norte, Santa María del Rosario and Bejucal are some of the locations in which Juan Carlos Tabío is shooting El cuerno de la abundacia (The horn of abundance), a full length feature film co-produced by the Cuban Film Institute and the Spanish production house Tornasol Films.

Tabío, who is the director of important movies, such as Strawberry and Chocolate along with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Plaff, Waiting List and others, is back in the world of comedy, this time starting from a script that he himself wrote along with writer Arturo Arango, one of his usual collaborators.

Some of the more than thirty actors that were called for the film are also regulars in his movies: Jorge Perugorría, Enrique Molina, Laura de la Uz, Annia Bú Maure, Tahimí Alvariño, Paula Alí, Vladimir Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, Bárbaro Marín and Patricio Wood. Photography will be by Spain's Hans Burman.

- Executives from the Cuban Film Institute -ICAIC- announced the premiere of nine Cuban films for 2008, including 30 national projects and co-productions dealing with different themes.

About four new films will be screened in the first semester of 2008: "Kangamba" by Rogelio Paris, "Los dioses rotos" by Ernesto Daranas, "Te espero en la eternidad" by Enrique Pineda Barnet, and "El viajero inmovil" by Tomas Piard.

Another five films are expected in the second semester, including "Omerta" by Pavel Giroud, "Rojo vivo" by Rebeca Chavez, "El cuerno de la abundancia" by Juan Carlos Tabio, "Cuatro hechizos" by Esteban Garcia, and "El premio flaco" by Juan Carlos Cremata.

New co-productions include the collection of films on American freedom fighters and regional leaders by filmmakers Fernando Perez, Rolando Almirante, Julio Acanda and Alejandro Gil, among others.
 

The digital animated film "Menique or Poucinet, based on the homonymous tale written by French Laboulaye, is currently being produced. It's screenplay is by Ernesto Padron and is also based on the Spanish version of the tale by Cuban National Hero, writer, poet and journalist Jose Marti.

Animation films on TV include the production of another three chapters of the detective girl Fernanda, already known by the Cuban children, while the premiere of "Captain Plin" is expected for the big screen.

The series "Pubertad," is currently being produced in coordination with the National Sexual Education Center, featuring essential moments of the first years of adolescence and part of a book of research published by the institution.

-A national network of artists, producers, musicians and script writers from the United States urged President George W. Bush to lift restrictions imposed by Washington of cultural exchange with Cuba.

In a letter revealed on Wednesday, the US-Cuba Cultural Exchange Network urged W. Bush to lift the restrictions between both countries.

"One of the best ways we can deepen our friendships with the people of all countries is for us to better understand each other's culture by enjoying each other's literature, music, films and visual arts, " said First Lady Laura Bush in September of 2006 during the launching of the Global Initiative on Culture, recalled the US activists.

The text of the letter added that in consequence with this commitment and in compliance with the established international protocols, the US government should promote a "respectful dialogue" with Cuba.

They also urged for an end to the travel restrictions to the island and allow Cuban artists and academics to visit the United States.

US intellectuals also urged Bush to begin, with Congressional aid a process that would facilitate the normalization of bilateral relations.

The idea of sending a letter to President W. Bush came after the Director of the Cuban National Ballet Company and UNESCO's Good Will Ambassador Prima Ballerina Alicia Alonso sent a letter to US artists and intellectuals also urging for cultural exchanges between both sides.

Alonso urged US artists to work together "for Cuban artists and writers to travel to the US and have Washington authorize their US counterparts to visit Cuba and exchange cultural experiences between each other".

- The Organizing Committee of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Cuban National Ballet Company on October 28th, 2008, has been announced in Havana. The Committee is presided over by Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto and Company Director and former ballerina Alicia Alonso.

Other Committee members include deputy Culture ministers Rafael Bernal, Fernando Rojas and Abel Acosta; film promoter, Alfredo Guevara; Havana City Historian, Eusebio Leal; maestro and company founder, Fernando Alonso and Cuban Film Institute President Omar González.

Upon announcing the committee, the Director of the Cuban National Ballet Company said that the festivity coincides with the 21st International Ballet Festival of Havana, which will bring the staging of the entire ballet the Sleeping Beauty, which has not been seen in Cuba for many years, and the joint work by renowned Cuban artists inspired by Alicia Alonso.

Other personalities of the island's arts and cultural scene make up the Committee, scheduled to organize an ambitious program that includes film screenings, TV shows, fine arts exhibits, literary activities and other cultural expressions.

For the anniversary, renowned Cuban historian and National Social Sciences Prize Winner, Eduardo Torres Cuevas, is preparing the most extensive and rigorous bibliography about legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso.

Other committee members include the president of the Havana-based Casa de las Américas cultural institution and renowned poet Roberto Fernández Retamar and the president of the Hermanos Saíz Association, Luis Morlote; Cuban actor and president of the Organinzing Committee of the Writers and Artists Association Congress, Sergio Corrieri; and renowned writer and president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, Miguel Barnet.

At the same time, the committee is made up of Havana's General Vicar, Monseigneur Carlos Manuel de Céspedes García- Menocal; Cuban University Students Federation President, Carlos Lage Codorniú; National Performing Arts Council President, Julián González; and Moraima Clavijo, Director of the National Fine Arts Museum.

During the ceremony, outstanding company dancers, professors, trainers and professionals were awarded.

Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto presented National Ballet Company principal dancer Bárbara García with the Alejo Carpentier Medal, granted by the Cuban Council of State.

Prieto and Deputy Culture Minister Fernando Rojas also presented the National Culture Decoration to 11 company members, including premier soloist Ivette González, mistresses Lydia Díaz, Mijaela Tesleoanu, and trainers and supervisors Consuelo Domínguez, Miguel Rodríguez, Rolando Sarabia and others.