Fernando Alonso: The Father of Cuban Ballet

René de Cárdenas

153 René de Cárdenas René de Cárdenas, whose parents are both dancers, danced with Ballet Nacional de Cuba for three decades and has been a guest dancer, ballet master, and choreographer in Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Poland, Colombia, and Spain. He has created approximately a dozen short pieces that entered the repertoires of several Cuban dance companies. His best-known piece is Sonlar, performed by his own dance company, La Companía René de Cárdenas. International critics have compared Sonlar with Broadway productions such as Stomp and A Chorus Line. In 2005, his compilation of short stories, Hatania de los remedios , was published in Cuba. I was able to interview Rene de Cárdenas at the Academía de Ballet building on March 19, 2008, after he taught partnering class to students at the Encuentro de Academías. What specifics of technique did you learn from Fernando Alonso? For me, the starting point is love and respect for the career of dance. I always wanted to be by Fernando’s side—that’s the first thing that comes to me. The outstanding thing about him, the star he was born under, was his mastery of teaching. It’s especially outstanding for a good dancer whose career was short. From childhood on, I always knew him as a teacher. More than anything else, I had the opportunity to work with Fernando on achieving a professional career. While in the school, I used to work from two positions of the hands where I both held and raised them at the same time. He told me that holding the hands higher, even if they were not as visible , would create an aura of inner magic and mystery. In a rehearsal, I had my hands way in front, and they are so big, so he said, “No, no, no, back!” So, I was obliged during my career to be aware of this. Fernando has always inspired in me respect for and dedication to my career: to dance is greater than to love! As a student, what were the big lessons that you learned from Fernando Alonso? I began to study from the age of eight years old, and as soon as I graduated I joined the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and participated in the Varna Competition in 1978. I won First Prize there for partnering. The good work I did with a North American dancer set a precedent for young couples in partnering. I danced a good thirty years with the BNC and different com- Part III. Recuerdos (Recollections) 154 panies here, as well as in Latin America and Europe. Then I was a teacher and a choreographer, and now I’m here [at the Encuentro de Academías], to teach pas de deux. I have a company that has done two productions. The first, Sonlar, is a dance and percussion show that we have mounted for the last two years in Spain, France, and Portugal. Now we are about to go to Italy with it, and are already working on the possibility of the next production, the next creation. Whenever I’m in Cuba, I always join the school faculty for pas de deux technique class, as well as when the company invites me to give company class. The maestro lays the foundation for the pas de deux and pointe technique in physics. I lean a little bit more in the direction of a practice in which I have incorporated Fernando’s masterly corrections from beginning technique, based on the same principles. As we heard during the Encuentro, it is not how it’s done so much as how it’s taught to be done that is so important. We are never done finding a point of departure or, rather, the place from which we continue—even after fifty years—of reviewing our partnering technique. A book with his program, with his methodology, is our starting point. The maestro has taught us much about how to observe in order to see the technical details, and that has enabled me to look for the essence of every movement in every step. My parents were my teachers, and I was well trained by them in my home, and because of that I enjoyed looking for ways and means to make things understood. When I give a class I try to offer various examples, but never bad ones. The maestro Fernando Alonso taught me this. Rather than point out what’s incorrect, give the...