Cuban Men: The Future
The access granted to invited guests of the Internacional Festival de Ballet de La Habana is incredible. I just came from a morning in the Nacional Ballet de Cuba studios: men’s class taught by Lazarro Carreno, followed by Viengsay Valdes and Dayron Vera rehearsing the adagio of José Paris’
Bach x 11. Former BNC principal Marta Garcia was coaching. (Cameras and video are welcomed at these informal events, so I got footage of all of this for dancemedia.com. Stay tuned.)
You can see the future in Raúl Mazorra, Yonah Acosta (Carlos’ nephew), Dayron Vera, and Joel Carreño (Jose Manuel’s cousin). These young men stood out in class as the next generation of Cuban men to follow in the footsteps of Carlos Acosta and Jose Manuel Carreño.
Lazarro conducts an exciting class—Vaganova based—and demonstrates his combinations full out. Even the accompanist on piano played as if she were giving a concert.
