• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 11 / 29 / 2010

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November 26, 2010. BY HEDY WEISS Dance Critic / [email protected]. The Joffrey Ballet may be the latest U.S. cultural institution to participate in cultural diplomacy efforts with Cuba.

During a news conference at this year’s Havana International Ballet Festival, where both American Ballet Theatre and stars of the New York City Ballet performed earlier this month, an official with the event, which is held every two years, said he hoped to have the Joffrey Ballet appear as part of its 2012 season.

“I very much want us to go,” said Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey, who said the whole intiative was in the very earliest stages. “It would be a great experience for the company, and I also think it would be very important for Cuba’s dancers to see the work of the current generation of choreographers now creating new dances in this country.”

The issue, not surprisingly, is raising the money required for such a visit.

“I haven’t brought it up officially with the Joffrey board yet,” said Wheater. “But it certainly would be a great honor for the Joffrey, and for Chicago, to be part of such a project.

“As it happens, one of our dancers, Miguel Angel Blanco [who was born in Havana and formerly danced with Alicia Alonso’s Ballet Nacional de Cuba], can go back and visit there now. So things are definitely moving and changing, and it would be a terrific opportunity to be part of that festival.”

The New York Philharmonic is planning to visit Cuba in 2011. And earlier this year Chicago hosted both Havana’s Teatro Buendia (at the Goodman Theatre), and the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba company (at the Auditorium Theatre).

Source: www.suntimes.com/entertainment/weiss/2923318,joffrey-ballet-cuba-112610....