Frank Fernandez wrote a piece for Alicia. He didn’t do it on a stave, but on his mind, he told me. “Do you think Viengsay Valdés would dare to dance a piece I dedicated to someone else?” Of course, I answered right away. “And who can make a worthy choreography for it?” Without too much gloating I suggested Tania Vergara, director of contemporary dance company Endedans, because her perspective on contemporariness takes the best from classic techniques, the language in which Frank considered fair to pay homage to Alicia Alonso.
He asked to meet with Vergara personally so that he could make a decision based on two qualities: the creator of the dance steps should be a spiritual and sensitive person. Tania came from Camaguey province with her characteristic warm smile and elegance. I few minutes sufficed the maestro to see something in her and he invited us to come into his studio. He said: Julito, start recording, to his sound technician. And with Tania sitting a few inches from him he said: Something like this is what I have been writing in my mind.
The piece was not rehearsed; it was just born out of the first try, in front of Vergara, sound technician Julio Pulido and this journalist, who felt an urge to snatch that wonderful piece, without imagining what would come next. Frank called Viengsay on the phone and she immediately arrived out of admiration and discipline. He made us sit in a circle and played for us so that we would criticize it afterwards. Could anyone do that? Tania and I were still speechless.
No one could comply with his request. Only he dared tosay that it was missing something and asked Pulido to play one of his pieces written for piano and eight cellos, a piece not very famed. Right in front of us, Julio copied a piece of that track and pasted it at the end of what Frank had just played. Still unsatisfied, he asked for a new detail: a touch of deep drums simulating heartbeats. Pulido seemed a magician in the computer. However, Fernandez demanded to listen to a fragment of Giselle’s second act, given that Alicia had become a legend with it, and again he played some notes at the piano in response to the melody, shortly, but passionately as he usually does.
The last request was a mix and after listening to the result, he made my dream come true. “Please, Julio, give them a copy in a CD for them to take it home and for Tania to make the choreography”, he stated. The dancer, the choreographer and the journalist walked out from that studio in Miramar as the guardians of a treasure, and nervous with such commitment.
Since the beginning Frank requested us to become part of a plot. At the halls of the National School of Ballet Vergara unleashed her talent and Valdes skillfully interpreted the spirit of the dance evoked by the musician. They even rehearsed on Sundays; they asked a dancer to lift Viengsay occasionally, a modest participation. Frank agitated the school when he went there to see one of the secret rehearses. Their dreams intertwined, efforts bore fruits, and he left the school for the Cuban National Ballet to request the inclusion of the piece in the gala to pay homage to Alicia on the occasion of her 90th birthday to take place on December 20, on the eve of her birthday. “Martica remember this is a birthday present”, he told me.
Another idea by the composer finished the piece, at the end dancers will remain still looking at images of the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta in Giselle, during the fragment from that ballet inserted in this creation, so he gave the task to designers Trujillo, Raonel RJ, Alejandro Segui, Víctor Juan and Osmel Lorenzo, a team that edited the images very quickly because the show was about to begin. A curtsy from Viengsay to the great diva would put an end to the plot.
The choreography by Tania Vergaraand well as Viengsay’s interpretation masterly convey all my intentions, noted the famous pianist, which entitled the piece Par Alicia in allusion to Par Elisa by Ludwig van Beethoven, who he admires deeply.
Yet, with its international premier in 2010, this dream didn’t come to an end but gained a new scope. The day after the gala, Frank suggested filming the piece professionally, but it is not an easy task to find an available shooting team. Years, tours, concerts, galas and awards went by and every time Frank met with Viengsay or me anywhere he tried to convince us on the need to shoot an audiovisual.
In 2011, while I worked as correspondent for Prensa Latina in Nicaragua, I got an email from Tania telling me about a great concert maestro Frank Fernandez would give in Camaguey. At the end of the show, in the midst of compliments and appreciation, he caught her once again to convince her of documenting Par Alicia.
A few weeks ago we found out that the Mariana de Gonitch National Singing Academy would pay homage to Frank on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Viengsay and I were in Havana and, of course, we didn’t want to miss the party. What we didn’t predict about the activity was Frank’s persistence. He, the great pianist, arranger, composer, maestro, perfectionist, intransigent, stubborn, would shot right at us once again about that unfinished business.
In the midst of restlessness, that same afternoon, an idea came up. Viengsay called a friend over the phone, producer Alejandro Perez, an excellent director of photography that had worked with her years ago in the shooting of a video clip with Buena Fe. The plot was not finished, it gained a new scope. Perez wanted Alicia to participate in the shooting and he didn’t stop until Viengsay talked to her.
Frank Fernandez, the first dancer and the filmmaker shot last April 2 the homage to Alicia Alonso with the involvement of Alicia and it exceeded all expectations given that the prima ballerina adorned the musical piece with movements of the arms, the head and even slight movements of the feet.
“If I weren’t wearing heels I would have already stood up to dance”, pointed out Alonso from an armchair after the first shot and applauded with excitement Fernandez’ and Valdes’ performances.
“This ballet is filled with all the love and respect I have for Alicia, as part of her audience and as collaborator, the piece is about the spirit of dance some human beings have And Alonso is one of them”, said Frank before sitting at the piano.
Fernandezmade it clear that he decided to call Viengsay to participate because she is one of the greatest dancers that has continued the dancing tradition represented by Alicia.
Alejandro Pérez undertook this project as video art and chose the blue hall of the Cuban National Ballet as the stage because he wanted to portray the teacher and the student in the place where they both grew professionally, in the intimacy, without an audience, only accompanied by the pianist.
“I wanted to record that moment between two great dancing figures as a legacy of the teacher and the student and at the same time as a gift from the student to her teacher”, he expressed.
Camera in hand, Perez stated that this union of talents was a historical fact and for that reason he called several friends to take part in this personal shooting.
According to Viengsay, the different shades in Frank’s music favor interpretation and virtuosity, while Vergara’s choreography smartly combines classic techniques with contemporary movements and makes the most of the moods suggested in the music.
“We have all put our hearts, feelings and passion and having Alicia in the room, in the shooting, has been an incredible honor. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most beautiful pieces I have interpreted” affirmed Valdes while lacing up the laces of her ballet shoes for repeating a shot.
At the age of 93, Alicia insisted repeatedly during the shooting that music had made her want to dance and noted on the significance of this piece. Viengsay, thorough observer of her teacher, ratified the obvious: “it is inevitable for her not to move”.
