Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is artistic director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary dance company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally. She was dubbed the “punk ballerina” in the 1980s. She earned a Tony nomination for her choreography of the Broadway musical Hair.
Alicia Alonso was a Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer whose company became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best known for her portrayals of Giselle and the ballet version of Carmen.
The Cuban National Ballet is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet School.
Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015. In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank which reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in Carmen, which he both choreographed and starred in.
Gran Teatro de La Habana is a theater in Havana, Cuba, home to the Cuban National Ballet. It was designed by the Belgian architect Paul Belau and built by Purdy and Henderson, Engineers in 1914 at the site of the former Teatro Tacón. Its construction was paid for by the Galician immigrants of Havana to serve as a community-social center. Located in the Paseo del Prado, its facilities include theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, a video screening room, as well as an art gallery, a choral center and several rehearsal halls for dance companies. It hosts the International Ballet Festival of Havana every two years since 1960.
The Teatro Nacional de Cuba is a theatre building in Havana, Cuba, on Plaza de la Revolución.
Viengsay Valdés is a Cuban ballerina. Since 2003, Valdés is the Prima ballerina and since 2019 she is the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Cuba.
Danza Contemporanea de Cuba is a contemporary dance company based in Havana, Cuba, combining modern American theatre, Afro-Caribbean dance styles and classical European Ballet.
Vicente Balbino Nebreda Arias was a choreographer and dancer who was considered a Venezuelan pioneer for dance during the 1940s. He was part of the Cátedra de Ballet del Liceo Andrés Bello, the first attempt at a formal dance school in the country. Later on, he danced with Ballet Nacional de Venezuela, the first long term professional company. Nebrada was also one of the first Venezuelan dancers to have an international career, he worked with Roland Petit’s company in France, the Joffrey Ballet, the Harkness Ballet in the United States, and Ballet Nacional de Cuba. His extensive career as a choreographer began in 1958, when he began his professional career, and ended with the creation of his version of The Nutcracker in 1996. He created 61 original choreographies and adaptations of universally classic repertoires for diverse companies all over the world.
Ann Marie DeAngelo is an American choreographer, director, producer, teacher, consultant and former dancer - an expert in all areas of dance. She was leading ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet, where early on she was pegged by Time magazine as "one of America's most outstanding ballerinas" and where she later served as associate director at the time of the company's move to Chicago in 1995.
Cuban culture encompasses a wide range of dance forms. The island's indigenous people performed rituals known as areíto, which included dancing, although little information is known about such ceremonies. After the colonization of Cuba by the Spanish Kingdom, European dance forms were introduced such as the French contredanse, which gave rise to the Cuban contradanza. Contradanza itself spawned a series of ballroom dances between the 19th and 20th centuries, including the danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha. Rural dances of European origin, such as the zapateo and styles associated with punto guajiro also became established by the 19th century, and in the 20th century son became very popular. In addition, numerous dance traditions were brought by black slaves from West Africa and the Congo basin, giving rise to religious dances such as Santería, yuka and abakuá, as well as secular forms such as rumba. Many of these dance elements from European dance and religious dances were fused together to form the basis of la técnica cubana. Cuban music also contributed to the emergence of Latin dance styles in the United States, namely rhumba and salsa.
Tamaz Vashakidze is an artist, premier dancer of the State Georgian Ballet, choreographer, holder of the Order of Honor of Georgia (2001), founder and awardee of the Chabukiani-Balanchine International Festival of Ballet Art, founder of the New Georgian Ballet Theatre of Modern Dance, holder of Special Award of Balanchine's Family, and founder of the Foundation "Chabukiani-Balanchine".
Havana, Cuba, is a host city to numerous events and festivals.
Edward Clug is a choreographer in the field of contemporary ballet born in Romania
Luis Manuel Molina de Varona is a Cuban musician, concert guitarist, composer, arranger, musical director, broadcaster and radio producer.
Carlos Molina is a Cuban guitarist and professor.
Silvina Fabars is a Cuban folk dancer and ballerina who is the principal dancer of the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba and a noted folk dance instructor throughout Latin America and Europe. She has won numerous awards and recognition throughout her career including the Vanguardia Nacional, the Distinción por la Cultura Nacional, and the Alejo Carpentier Medal. In 2014, she was honored as the recipient of the National Dance Prize of Cuba.
Goyo Montero Morell is a Spanish ballet dancer, a ballet director and a choreographer.
Pontus Karl Johan Lidberg is a Swedish born choreographer, dancer and filmmaker.
Javier Torres is a ballet dancer from Cuba known for dancing for Ballet Nacional de Cuba and Northern Ballet.
