According to a press release from Cuba’s diplomatic mission on its Twitter account, the show was an expression of achievements in ballet, visible in the South African children trained with the method of the Cuban School of Ballet, characterized, according to experts, by a theoretical-methodological design of efficiency.

The project includes the preparation of local teachers by academics from Cuba, involves more than 100 children and consists of performances by renowned Cuban dancers in South Africa.

The performance was also a celebration of the 28th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, commemorated on May 11, and 13 years of joint collaboration in ballet.

Since 1959, ballet teaching in South Africa has been supported by the Cuban Government and the leader of the Revolution himself, Fidel Castro, who closely followed the initiatives taken by Alicia, Alberto and Fernando Alonso.

On June 22, 2001, Fidel Castro said, “It is not just anything to create a ballet company (…) the quality of a work of this type, of a cultural and artistic work like this, is not a matter of two years, or three years, or ten years, it has been a matter of dozens of years to achieve the prestige that our ballet has today.”

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