CubaPLUS Magazine

 For the first time, the headquarters of the National Ballet of Cuba received the public as part of the Open Doors initiative, an event promoted for the third time by the Regional Office of Culture for Latin America and the Caribbean.

A press release issued by the institution adds that the event allowed researchers, art historians, architects, diplomatic corps accredited in Cuba and the general public to visit the interior of ten residences in Havana's Vedado area during the day of January 25.

Prior to this, on the afternoon of the 24th, the general director of the National Ballet of Cuba and first dancer, Viengsay Valdés, together with the company's historian, Dr. Miguel Cabrera, received those who would be the guides of the open doors.

In a relaxed exchange, those present were able to learn details of the history of this building, a low house of the complex type with a hall, built in the last decades of the 19th century (1889).

The details of the building are known thanks to the research carried out by the architect Madeline Menéndez in her book "El Vedado. Tradición y modernidad en la arquitectura habanera" (El Vedado. Tradición y modernidad en la arquitectura habanera), which includes references to the headquarters, acquired in 1943 by Laura Rayneri, promoter of the Sociedad Pro Arte Musical and mother of the maestro Fernando Alonso.

According to the information released, this property was acquired with the objective of stably consolidating the teaching of dance that had been imparted since 1928 in the adjacent Teatro Auditórium (current Amadeo Roldán), a training effort that continues today within the walls of the headquarters of the National Ballet of Cuba.

Visitors were able to tour different areas of the residence, located at 510 Calzada Street, in the El Vedado neighborhood, including the central courtyard, the rehearsal rooms - the white room and the blue room - as well as the office of the general management of the institution, where the prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso worked for decades and where the prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés works today.