[:es]Cuban ‘Giselle’ Ballet Wins the US Again After 40 Years[:]

If on May 30, 1978, was Alicia Alonso, director of the renowned company, which embodied the character at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, last night corresponded to Sadaise Arencibia, the group’s first dancer, to star in that piece in the same place.

The challenge for Arencibia was great, as the artist herself told Prensa Latina because it is a ballet in which ‘Alicia is an icon.’

In addition, she said, Giselle ‘has given the BNC a lot of prestige due to the characteristics of this version,’ which features Alonso’s choreography on the original by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot.

I think it is a great responsibility for me to now be the face of Giselle at the Kennedy Center, the protagonist said last night, who surely felt up to that challenge when at the end of the show the audience stood up in long ovations to her interpretation and that of her colleagues.

The first dancer was transformed into a delicate and ethereal presence on the stage of the Opera House of the cultural space, combining technique and action to transmit, first, happiness and innocence, and then, the torment and passion of one of the best-known roles of universal dance.

Next to her, Raúl Abreu was a very convincing Albrecht, who combined gallantry and histrionics in each of his movements.

It has been a very nice experience, the dancer told Prensa Latina, and he was proud to play a character ‘who many great figures of the BNC have embodied.’

We carry a huge weight on our shoulders, being up to what the company has always shown the world, and bring to the American people the art we have harvested throughout all these years, the young artist added.

Ginett Moncho also stood out as Queen of the Willis, and Ernesto Díaz as the tormented ranger Hilarión, who received individual praises from the audience present in the theater.

Special mention deserves, in addition, the dance group of the company, which in the first and, above all, in the second act, got ovations with the synchronization and harmony of their movements.

In addition to the performances of the dancers, the Opera House shuddered again with the cheers of the audience to Alonso, who at 97 years took the stage to greet the audience.

BNC presentations at the Kennedy Center are part of the festival Artes de Cuba: from the island to the world, which opened on May 8 and will conclude next Sunday with the last of five Giselle performances.

Before the staging of this Thursday, the dance group presented Don Quixote on the nights of Tuesday and Wednesday.

This Friday, meanwhile, the role of the young peasant will be assumed by Viengsay Valdés, who will assume that role again in two days, while Patricio Revé will assume the role of Albrecht. (Prensa Latina)