By: Yeneily García García
The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) and the 24th International Ballet Festival of Havana have joined to pay tribute to Cuban writer Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1814-1873) on occasion of the celebrations for her bicentenary in 2014.
Besides book presentations, lectures, spaces for interchanges and declaration of the house where Gertrudis was born as national monument, the people could enjoy the revival of Tula, a ballet work in two acts by prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, to recall this Cuban poet who was able to stay ahead of her time and defend the right of women to freely create and give their opinion.
During the performance carried out on Monday evening, November 3 at the Avellaneda Hall of the Teatro Nacional in the Havana capital, the young Cuban prima ballerina of the Cuba’s National Ballet Amaya Rodríguez played the leading role of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda; and Víctor Estévez, main dancer of the Cuban company, played the role of José María Heredia.
Rodriguez stood out during his performance, especially in the second act, in which they recreate episodes of the intense and hectic love life of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda or Tula, her pain due to her truncated motherhood, and her successful return to Cuba, where she was awarded by her compatriots with a laurel wreath.
In the first Act, Alicia Alonso decided to make an allusion to the genres that the Gertrudis Gomes de Avellaneda cultivated in her literary career: drama, comedy and tragedy, including familiar characters of the Avellaneda work such as Leoncia, Baltasar, and Flora.
As reference to the Alonso choreographic work, Tula was premiered on October 29, 1998. The prima ballerina made emphasis on the captivating personality of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, considered one of the most important female figures of 19th century in Cuba and Spain.
"Interest in Gertrudis Gomes de Avellaneda (Tula) - after being condemned to obscurity, is now growing. (…) The valuable work of this writer, which is still not sufficiently treated at the present times, reveals crucial keys related to personal circumstances. That is why we have focused on the personality of the poet through this ballet work which we dedicated to the public with affection and admiration", said Alicia in the premiere program 16 years ago.
Source: Cubarte
