25 Marzo 2010

US/Cuban relations class, History of Cuba class, a quick nap and then perhaps the Ballet tonight?

We did indeed go the National Cuban ballet, which I really enjoyed. The performance was a selection of pieces directed by Alicia Alonso before her death. My favorite thing about the Cuban Ballet is that any Cuban can attend. In the United States, the Ballet is considered a high art form, and really only a ‘sophisticated’ minority of the population attends performances of the professional companies. Ballets in Boston are about 20 dollars for a ticket with a student discount. Here we paid fifty cents. Cuban nationals pay even less, though of course, this is all on a relative scale.

2/21/10 Later

February 21st was fairly uneventful in the morning, I slept in and then made myself some tea and French toast for breakfast. In the evening, however, Katie and I decided to go to a gala performance of the National School of Ballet. We presented our student discount cards at the door, and our FEU cards and got our two tickets for five pesos, aka, 25 cents in total. When the curtain opened, we groaned. The stage was FILLED with tiny girls and boys doing simple plíes and arm positions. However, for the remaining hour and 45 minutes of the two hour show we enjoyed performances by students with seemingly professional skills. Watching the dancers really made me miss dancing on point. The school had a huge number of students, and I think we were the only two tourists in the entire audience, which was nice. I still would like to get myself to the national theatre to see the Cuban Ballet perform. This just wet my appetite. Also- shout out to my parents, i can only guess they must have felt through all of my recitals as i was growing up!