Cuban National Ballet Takes Guarani Legend to Brasilia

Havana, Jun 16. -The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) will stage "La leyenda del agua grande" (The Legend of the Big Water), in July in Brasilia, a ballet that recreates the Guarani myth of the origin of the Iguazu Falls.

Choreographed by Eduardo Blanco, the company will first perform the ballet in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahia and Sao Paulo in a July 19-30 tour.

With music by Miguel Nuñez, the ballet tells a love story of a Taroba warrior and the beauty Naipi, who was to be sacrificed to Mboi Tui, one of the monsters of the Guarani mythology.

Staged by the Cuban companyâ�Ös general director, prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, the two-act ballet was first staged in May 2010 at Havana's Gran Teatro, a performance warmly received by the audience.

Sponsored by the Brazilian Cultural Cooperative, the ballet pays tribute to the Guarani cosmogony and Iguazu Falls, declared a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in 1984. (Prensa Latina)