The Ballet Nacional de Cuba (BNC) joined the series of official tributes for the centenary of Fidel Castro Ruz this Sunday with a special gala in the Avellaneda Hall of the National Theater of Cuba, under the general direction of Viengsay Valdés, at 5:00 p.m.
The program included four pieces: Afternoon in the Siesta, choreography by Alberto Méndez with music by Ernesto Lecuona; Vital Song, by Azari Plisetski with music by Gustav Mahler; scenes from the second act of Swan Lake in Alicia Alonso’s version of the original choreography by Lev Ivanov; and the final movement of Gottschalk's Symphony, also choreographed by Alonso.
Regarding the choice of Swan Lake to honor Castro, Cancio Isla commented with irony: "Dancing scenes from Swan Lake for Fidel Castro is, truly, a sort of macabre reunion with Von Rothbart, the character that fits him best among the host of evil sorcerers and manipulators in classical ballets."
In the seats of the Avellaneda Hall, the usual officials were present. According to the state channel Canal Caribe, the event was attended by Elier Ramírez Cañedo, deputy head of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso Grau; and the president of Uneac, Marta Bonet de la Cruz. The presence of the party's ideological leader at a ballet performance says a lot about the true nature of the event.
On stage, students from the Ballet Chair of the Company and the Fernando Alonso National Ballet School paraded alongside more experienced dancers, all to demonstrate, according to the voiceover from the state channel, "the continuity of the Cuban School of Ballet, its technique, and tradition." A tradition that, in this context, seems inseparable from the obligation to perform for those in power.
The journalist and cultural critic Wilfredo Cancio Isla labeled the event on his social media as "Fouettés of Obsequiousness" and sarcastically described that the BNC "wasn't going to fall behind after the show by La Colmenita at the Teatro Karl Marx to pay tribute to the Patriarch," noting that the company had "pulled off a special gala for the centenary of Fidel Castro, Chief Dancer."
The gala is part of the year declared by the regime as the "Year of the Centennial of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz," which included the I International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future" — held from August 10 to 13 at the Palacio de Convenciones in Havana with more than 1,500 delegates from 63 countries — and for whose closing Raúl Castro made a public appearance at the Teatro Karl Marx.
While the regime mobilizes artists and officials for the centenary celebrations, the Cuban population faces a radically different reality. This Sunday, the government announced another day of blackouts with forecasts of disruptions exceeding 2,000 MW. So far this August, the country has recorded an electricity deficit of 2,411 MW —recorded on August 4—, seven total collapses of the National Electric System in 2026, and outages lasting more than 80 consecutive hours in some areas of Matanzas. The BNC itself had to suspend Giselle performances last June due to a lack of air conditioning in the theater.
Cancio Isla also noted a coincidence that encapsulates the divide between the two shores: exactly at 5:00 p.m. on the same Sunday, the closing gala of the 31st International Ballet Festival of Miami was starting at the Fillmore Theater in Miami Beach. "As if to show that the relationship between Havana and Miami continues to be a realm of opposing symmetries," the journalist wrote: in one city, ballet serves art; in the other, art serves worship.
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