Ivonne Lemus, ballet mistress of Next
Generation Ballet (NGB), the Straz
Center’s pre-professional ballet company,
studied with Alicia Alonso and performed
as a soloist with Ballet Nacional de Cuba.
Paired with Balanchine and Jerome
Robbins repetiteur Philip Neal, who served
as a principal dancer for New York City
Ballet and runs our NGB program, Lemus
brings Alonso’s technical and artistic
perfectionism to Neal’s mastery of the
Balanchine and Robbins techniques and
styles. Together, they offer a truly unique
history of ballet encoded into their bodies.
“In Cuba, they demand perfection,”
Lemus says. “There is so much respect,
so much reverence for ballet dancers.
The people know ballet there. People go
to the ballet, and they know if you didn’t
fi nish your fouette. They know if you don’t
complete your steps. The commitment
to ballet is deep. I bring that here, to
the students. That tradition I have. Alicia
always told us, ‘you learn the art in one
place but you have to share it with the
world.’ I have to say thank-you for Alicia
and all my training in Cuba. That’s how I
can be here, doing what I do.”
The Ballet Nacional de Cuba company
will hold a master class for NGB Trainees
in the pre-professional track during their
Straz engagement. “Our students have
the Balanchine training. They have the
background of Robbins,” says Neal. “I
want them to be sponges in the master
class, soaking up this extraordinary
opportunity. The master class is for them
to take in more information about their
craft. Cuban
dancers
are so
passionate,
so dramatic.
It will be a
chance to
push our
dancers
out of their
comfort
zones. It’s
amazing to
work for a place that gives young dancers
opportunities like this. I didn’t have these
opportunities when I was learning, and
hosting a master class for our students
with BNC shows how seriously The Straz
is committed to giving the best possible
arts education imaginable.”
Lemus staged a BNC-inspired Giselle for
the NGB dancers in 2016. Lemus, who
danced in the corps for Giselle (Cuba,
unlike America, has three levels of corps
instead of one), so the dancers already
have some familiarity with what BNC is
bringing in this exclusive engagement.
“In Cuban ballet, everyone, everyone,
is in the ballet at all times. All the corps
members have characters who have to
be engaged at all times,” Lemus says.
“You never see anyone standing around
waiting to go into steps. They are playing
their part all the time. They are expected
to be perfect.”
“And they usually are,” Neal adds with a
nod and a laugh.
Exclusive from INSIDE magazine
Next Generation Ballet performs Cinderella on May 5-6.
Ballet Nacional de Cuba performs Giselle on May 23.