Fernando Alonso: The Father of Cuban Ballet

Appendix B. La danza eterna Interview

192 Append]x B La danza eterna Interview The following interview with Fernando Alonso was recorded in the National Capitol of Havana, Cuba, on September 18, 2008, and aired on October 8, 2008, as one episode in a three-part series called Patriarchs of the Cuban Ballet. The other two episodes were devoted to the work of Alberto Alonso and Alicia Alonso. The series was presented by La danza eterna [Dance for All Time] on Televisión Cubana’s Educational Channel, as a tribute to the founding of the Cuban National Ballet on its sixtieth anniversary. La danza eterna is a one-hour weekly program that, since its inception in the summer of 2003, airs every Wednesday evening, broadcast by the Educational Channel of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. Reprinted here with permission. Ahmed Piñeiro: What a pleasure it is to welcome the ballet master Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonso: It is a tremendous pleasure to be here with you tonight , as we leave everyday dance for dance for all time. And then as I look at my surroundings I remember this place as it was when I was three years old, when I used to come to visit the construction work being done on in this beautiful Capitol building of ours. It gives me great pleasure to be here with all of you and to remember those times in my life, so many, many years ago, but here we are still, with cyclones, hurricanes, everything . . . But we keep going forward with everything we have. AP: Maestro, here we are in the Capitol. And I have been given to understand that your grandfather and an uncle of yours were very much involved in the construction of the National Capitol building. FA: That’s right. My grandfather proposed a whole series of plans regarding the construction of this Capitol, because they wanted it to resemble the Capitol in Washington, up to a certain point, but also to maintain a special 193 Appendix B: La danza eterna Interview characteristic with a somewhat Italian touch to it. There were many Italian visitors in those days, a wave, we might say, of Italian architects, and among them was my uncle Eugenio Rayneri, who was one of the principal builders of the Capitol. We came here quite often. And we would meet here, and we would see how this architectural marvel was emerging. AP: So the child Fernando who dreamed to the tune of the Triumphal March from Aida, because his mother Laura played it on the piano, also felt like a warrior in these rooms? FA: Well, what I basically wanted to be was a fireman, because my grandfather was captain of the volunteer fire department. In those days, it was a very important position. And so I, by way of imitation, put on his helmet, and began to march, wanting to be a fireman, not a dancer. I knew nothing of what it was to be a dancer in those days. AP: So, maestro, at what point in his life did Fernando Alonso decide to devote himself to dance over and above everything else? FA: After I saw my brother dancing in a ballet and looking so elegant, looking so virile. I liked it very much and I’m telling you, it was stupendous! In those days he was already dancing with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and it seemed to me that studying ballet, learning ballet, dancing ballet, and traveling to different countries was a career that attracted me as if I were marching around in my fireman’s helmet. But later I went to the United States to pursue a career, because I was supposed to be a public accountant and I didn’t want to be that. So then I needed to look for some other way out somewhere else. I left for New York, no less, and there began to study ballet, and when I was already dancing with a professional company, then I sent for Alicia to come. I went first, and then I brought Alicia there. But whenever we had vacation we came back to Cuba to help our fellow ballet dancers at Pro-Arte Musical, which was becoming a place where there were many students interested in studying ballet. The number of students at Pro-Arte Musical kept growing, and they were always giving end-of-course performances , and we would go. We would join the groups, dance the principal roles, and that represented...