The world's press is on fire covering the International Ballet Festival in Havana – except for The New York Times, that is. Ah yes, let's take a peek at what's on the NYT front page today: "Spider-man" Opening Delayed Again. Well, you can't say Arthur doesn't have his priorities.
But there is a veritable feast of coverage in today's world's media about the festival and in particular last night's performance by ABT, its first in Cuba in fifty years.
The U.K.'s Guardian wrote:
The Americans gave a technically brilliant performance, including an athletic rendition of the Corsaire pas de deux, which saw Herrera, in a delicate purple tutu, dancing with the Cuban-born José Manuel Carreño, who drew loud cheers from the audience every time he took the stage.
The paper published a picture of Hallberg, Cornejo, and Saveliev in mid-air in Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas.
The BBC wrote that "The US and Cuba are searching for common ground through culture" and reports that dancers from ABT and the Cuban National Ballet will share the stage in tonight's performance.
Two of the ballet theatre's lead dancers, Jose Manuel Carreno and Xiomara Reyes, are originally from Cuba and performed in Wednesday night's gala at Havana's Karl Marx Theatre.
Alonso was in the audience and took to the stage to receive a standing ovation at the end of the show, which included a 1947 piece choreographed especially for her.
She returned to Cuba after Fidel Castro took power and formed the Cuban National Ballet, which has sent star dancers to many leading troupes around the world.
Carreno and Reyes were among her proteges.
A second show is due to take place on Thursday night and will feature performances from dancers of the Cuban National Ballet.
The Express Tribune has a SLIDE SHOW of the performance with pictures courtesy of Reuters (we can always depend on Reuters to get the picture) including this beauty from the end of the performance.
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