Four days of classes and three performances seemed few to Russian star Vladimir Malakhov and Cuban dancers who shared their dream of returning Cuba to dance. That desire took them three years to materialize and not only dancers worked for its consummation, but something joined all: dance, which lived with humility and respect, and shared rather than lived, generates infinite possibilities of multiplying large-scale art .
For the success of that energies conspiracy, Malakhov will return to Holguin in a few months with his sweet and restless baby face. Surely all those who enjoyed the classes of the current director of the Berlin Ballet Opera and his performances on December 5, 6 and 7 at Eddy Sunol Theatre will also want to return to that city from the east of the island.
“This has been a great week , but it rained today,” the guest said from the stage at the end of the last gala, the audience fell silent when listening to him. “These are tears of happiness. This is not the end but the beginning of our friendship. My heart is yours now. I do not say goodbye, but see you soon, “he noted with a gesture of kiss to the auditorium.
The ballet language universality allowed the Ukrainian origin star to seamlessly communicate with artists of the Ballets of Camagüey; Endedans, from the same province, Ad Libitum, from Santiago de Cuba, Danza Fragmentada, from Guantanamo; and Holguin’s Codanza and Chamber Ballet.
Students and teachers of different provincial art schools admired his very outward rotated feet and the great conditions of this artist, who is 45 and after a decade at the head of a German company will now direct from the coming month of August the Tokyo Ballet, a Japanese city where he is worshipped.
For four days, the leading dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, from United States , and invited to other major companies in the world, proposed several flexibility exercises and others making emphasis on body control.
With joy and humility, on the first day of work, open to the press, Malakhov applauded the performance by Camagüey Ballet’s soloist, Oscar Valdes, due to his many twists ended up in perfect equilibrium.
In addition, the master insisted on musicality, the right accent of each academic step and gave great value to the development of the jumps, a feature of his Bolshoi Russian School that has given the world incredible dancers.
While classes took place inside the theater, hundreds of Cubans were queuing outside to buy tickets for the performances in the hope of seeing the artist dancing Voyage, by Renato Zanella, and The Dying Swan, by Mauro Di Candia, two plays with which he reaped applause again, as in all festivals in the world.
Initially Malakhov thought in Havana as home for this dream, but the National Ballet of Cuba and Contemporary Dance rejected the possibility of sharing with him, despite his willingness of not to receive financial compensation.
For this reason the project took the name of “A Gift from Malakhov”. Several human obstacles deviated it from geographical locations, but when arriving at a city hitherto unknown to the dancer and seeing so many people wanting to know him, the nerves assaulted him as in his beginner stage, he confessed at a press conference .
He also said that the warmth of the guests helped him to relax right away. To honor the multi-award winning artist, Holguin Lyric Theater shone in the courtyard of a traditional Cuban household, in the light of the moon, some emblematic areas of operettas and operas as The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow , La Traviatta, Cecilia Valdés and María la O, with a voice power missed today at the National Lyric Theater.
24 hours later, the extraordinary gala which starred various dance companies from eastern and central Cuba to honor the Malakhov also left him wanting more.
“Too short program, I want to see more,” he claimed to dancers and directors from Camaguey, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. The Benois Dance Award (1998 ) thanked each participant with a kiss, signed autographs and shared photos with all who wanted to collect memories of his presence in that city at about 700 kilometers from the capital.
Codanza dancers did not lack anything; they conjugated sufficient plasticity and theatricality in all the sets . In Happy ending, by creator Norge Cedeño, they impacted with the singing, acting and spectacular nature of contemporary technique. The host company, directed by Maricel Godoy, performed ¨Muerte prevista en el guión, ¨by Argentine Susana Tambutti, a reenactment of the death of famous people in the history of ballet, that will live as well as the classics exist. At the current stage, Codanza may be all they want: ironic, light, hilarious, lyrical, spectacular.
Geisha, choreographed by his interpreter Yanosky Suárez (Ad Libitum, from Santiago de Cuba), surprised by the so sensual way to express repressed feelings. ¨En el espejo del alma¨ showed dance as graphic type of the heart in the style of Martha Graham, one of the personalities of modern art in America. Lidice Correoso (Danza Fragmentada; Guantanamo) played the piece by Alfredo Velasquez with the precise containment and gestures design.
The talent of one of the main Cuban choreographers, Tania Vergara, was exposed in two plays of different requirements : The death of the man and a fragment of S easons, danced by Holguin Chamber Ballet. The first piece uses poetry as necessary shelter against boredom, principle of being and resurrection of the spirit, very much in keeping with the Endedans director’s vision of life. The dancer René Montes de Oca achieved that idyllic perspective of the teacher, he convinced the public.
Seconds later, the Ballet of Camagüey made clear its great size performing a fragment of a new version of the classic Don Quixote, made by Cuban choreographer Gonzalo Galguera and bravely danced by two wonderful soloists from the company: Laura Rodriguez and Oscar Valdés.
Rodriguez immediately captivates by her beautiful lines, natural extensions, certain candor in dancing and a prodigious axis for twists. While Valdés is a great dancer, very competitive without sacrificing cleanliness and collector small details that build virtuosity.
It is not at all surprising that Malakhov to stay eager that dance to be multiplied for hours, as he stated at the end of that gala of spiritual gifts.
The dancer formed by the Bolshoi Russian School exuded poetry in The Dying Swan and Voyage, the two days he performe d to packed house. The 836 seats of Eddy Sunol were bought in the early hours of the start of the sale. The audience stood up applauded the mastery of this man with ideal physique for ballet, who at 45 maintains admirable flexibility and fluidity.
In the opinion of the professor and art critic Ismael Albelló, Malakhov showed that there is not age for dance and that after traveling all roads in this art, he now more maturely expresses feelings. Meanwhile, the first ballerina and teacher of Cuba ’s National Folkloric Ballet, Silvina Fabars, highlighted the gestures care, technical cleanliness and the work of hands, used to simulate different characteristics of the swan. She considers this superb dancer an example of who loves dance will always project well his body.
The director of the contemporary company Codanza, Maricel Godoy, in addition to Malakhov´s technical and interpretative qualities, also praised his nobility and sensitivity. “When I asked him, what do you feel being a star? He denied the label and claimed he just try to give the best of him at all times, so I think he is a person worthy of being loved by all, she said.
Vladimir, as some already familiarly call him, donated his ballet shoes to the theatre, the government of Holguin conferred him in that scenario the condition of illustrious son of the city and the promise of return was set out for the last week of September 2014. Lots of Cubans congratulated him in Russian, while he tried to say a few words in Spanish and some phrases in English. Malakhov never imagined such an experience and honestly, Cubans neither. Holguin pampered him rather as an adorable child than as magnificent dancer.
