Fernando Alonso: The Father of Cuban Ballet

Introduction

121 Introduct]on As I began my research on the life and career of Fernando Alonso, I quickly discovered that there were few primary sources in print offering confirmation of the details of his life. Yet, simply mentioning his name to Cuban and non-Cuban dancers alike, or that I was writing a book about him, brought forth profuse and at times overwhelming praise for Alonso and his work. Without exception, each said the same thing: “It’s about time someone wrote about him!” The Cubans immediately began to share memories, and I realized that there was an abundance of oral history to be harvested from these captivating, thoughtful, and eloquent dancers. Several non-Cubans expressed surprise that there were “so many” dance families in Cuba—in actuality, six or seven instances where there are two generations of dancers from the same family. Sometimes that observation seemed to issue from a delight that Cuban dancers are following in their parents’ footsteps. At other times it seemed to impugn the Cuban system for fostering nepotism. To my knowledge, there are some dance families in Cuba, but not as many as there are, for example, in Europe, or even the United States. Whatever the perception may be, I thought it might be illuminating to examine Fernando Alonso’s contribution as seen by dancers from two different generations, as well as dancers from two generations of the same family. I was interested in what Lázaro Carreño, who trained at the Kirov as well as with Fernando, would say compared to what his nephew Yoel, who trained in Cuba more recently, during the twilight of Fernando’s teaching career, might have to say. My experience as a dance journalist has been that often the most substantial interviews are those that occur in conversation between two dancers—or between a dancer and a choreographer, or a dancer and a set designer—while the interviewer “drives.” So, I decided to interview a mother and daughter, Lorena Feijóo and Lupe Calzadilla, each of whom shared unique takeaways from their experiences under Fernando ’s tutelage, and then Lupe’s daughter, Lorna Feijóo, and Lorna’s husband , Nelson Madrigal, whose impressions of Fernando were more alike, because they developed in the crucible of the systemized method consoli- Part III. Recuerdos (Recollections) 122 dated under the secondary leadership of the school, their teachers having been those whom Fernando trained. The wish to reflect the entire span of Fernando’s teaching career prompted me to choose dancers from opposite ends of the timeline of his professional life, beginning with such recognizable stars as Donald Saddler and Alicia Alonso, with whom he had begun his career, and at the other end, the very youngest of his students, such as Grettel Morejón and Tania Vergara. I requested an interview with Morejón after having seen her dance in Napoli, staged by Frank Andersen, at the Twenty-First International Festival of Ballet in Havana. To me, she embodied the synthesis of what Fernando’s teaching strove to elicit: I saw a technically adroit dancer who knew her character down to each minute detail. Outsiders sometimes question whether Cuba is lagging behind the current contemporary dance lexicon. My interest in Tania Vergara stemmed from her decision to choreograph contemporary work and build a company around her oeuvre. In a similar vein, I chose René de Cárdenas because I observed him coach a pas de deux class and was impressed with the results he was able to pull from his senior-level students. I then learned that he, too, was from a dance family, choreographs contemporary works, and enjoys a successful career as a teacher and choreographer, both within and outside Cuba. Little is known in the United States about the careers of Cubantrained dancers whose work and reputations reach beyond the borders of Cuba—those who teach, choreograph, and produce shows on the island and abroad. Carlos Acosta is an international ballet star who is by far the preeminent ambassador for Cuban ballet in the world today, having accomplished the daunting task of bringing the Ballet Nacional to the stage of the Royal Opera House, and the even more impressive reversal, of bringing the Royal Ballet to Cuba. I was able to interview him for four hours for my book First Position : A Century of Ballet Artists, during which time he shared his opinion that Fernando Alonso had made a unique contribution to teaching ballet, in part by teaching...