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CUBA
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Cuban dancers plan to ask for political
asylum
MIAMI, 21 - Two young Cuban dancers plan
to ask for political asylum after they defected
while the Cuban National Ballet waited to
perform this month in Florida, one of their
lawyers said Tuesday.
Gema Diaz, 21, and Cervilio Amador, 20,
slipped away from the dance company and
jumped in a taxi en route to Miami on Oct.
11, a day before they were to perform in
"Don Quixote," immigration attorney
Nelson Rodriguez-Varela said.
He said Diaz and Amador were not available
for comment Tuesday.
Amador said last Wednesday that the ballet
company's tours through the United States
and Europe inspired him to defect.
"I began to see how people around
the world live, what their individual capacities
can achieve in an atmosphere of freedom,"
Amador told El Nuevo Herald.
Rodriguez-Varela did not know when they
would formally request asylum, but most
Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to
stay and seek permanent residency.
Lazaro Herrera, a spokesman for the Cuban
Interests Section in Washington, declined
comment on the defection.
The ballet company is on a seven-week,
20-city tour.
Cuba Controversy At Travel Agent Convention
Wed Oct 22. WPLG Click10.com.
Travel agents, in Miami for a convention,
have strong opinions on allowing Americans
to travel to Cuba, and some say their bottom
line is out of line with many South Floridians.
Popular opinion among a majority of South
Floridians is that the Cuban embargo should
stand until Cuba becomes a Democratic country.
But members of the American Society of
Travel Agents say they are often asked why
Americans are not allowed to travel Cuba.
This past weekend a group of travel agents
violated the embargo and traveled from Cancun,
Mexico, to Cuba, and said they were "welcomed
with open arms."
Richard Copland, president of ASTA, the
largest travel organization in the world,
says he had the same experience when he
went to Cuba on business last April.
"Castro welcomed us," Copeland
said. "He's not so bad."
For Copeland and many others, it boils
down to dollars and cents.
Many ASTA members are hoping a bill that
is now before the Senate will be approved.
The measure would block the U.S. Treasury
Department from enforcing a ban that now
prevents Americans from spending money in
Cuba.
President George W. Bush recently said,
"U.S. law prohibits Americans from
travel to Cuba for pleasure. That law is
on the books and it must be enforced."
The president has promised to veto the
bill that the Senate is considering.
One ASTA member, whose agency was confiscated
in Cuba by the Castro government, says it's
wrong for us travel agents to make money
from tourism in Cuba. He says the reasons
are obvious -- "the lack of human rights,
and the killings."
ASTA's world congress and travel show began
Tuesday in Miami Beach. For the next three
days, Cuban-American travel executives who
support the embargo and are against travel
to the island will reach out to some 3,000
colleagues. They will hand out brochures
(pictured, above left) that point out nine
Cuban jails and list the names of 75 political
prisoners who are incarcerated in the areas
of Cuba not often visited by tourists.
ASTA says its agents, both for and against
the embargo, agree that if the ban is lifted,
Cuba will become one of the hottest destinations
for travel and it could mean billions of
dollars in business for Americans in the
travel industry.
Cuban Dancers Display Talent in N.Y.
Run
By Jocelyn Noveck, Associated
Press Writer. Tue Oct 21.
NEW YORK - Don't just think baseball stars
when you think of Cuban exports. The ballet
dancers coming out of Havana are just as
good.
Their talent was on full display over the
weekend as the Ballet Nacional de Cuba completed
a five-day run at New York's City Center,
highlighted by the full-length "Don
Quixote," a warhorse of classical ballet.
(The City Center run followed appearances
in Florida, during which two dancers defected,
a lawyer for the dancers said Tuesday.)
This is an exuberant production that allows
dancers to show off, and the Cuban dancers
had plenty to show - especially a razor-sharp
technique. There was barely a second of
sloppiness in the ballet's three acts, and
the final pas de deux was as good as those
usually seen on the bigger stages of the
Metropolitan Opera (news - web sites) House
and the New York State Theater.
But there was something more than just
good technique that made these dancers stand
out. They really did seem like they were
having a lot of fun - all of them. From
a group of matadors in bright yellow, furiously
swirling their red capes, to a gathering
of twirling, leaping gypsies, it was that
mix of spirit and high quality that made
the company so appealing.
In Saturday night's performance, the stars
were Laura Hormigon as Kitri, the innkeeper's
daughter, and Oscar Torrado as Basil, the
handsome barber she loves.
As is so often the case in such plots,
the blissful romance is threatened. Basil
is dirt poor, and Kitri's father has arranged
a marriage with a rich and pompous French
nobleman. (Of course, we know from the beginning
that this marriage will never take place,
but that's not much of a hindrance. The
plot is always secondary.)
After a first act of buoyant and spirited
flamenco-inspired dancing, featuring Hormigon's
up-to-there extension, the second act opened
with a lively gypsy scene (Kitri and Basil
have fled to a gypsy camp to avoid the arranged
marriage). Here, the corps de ballet had
a chance to showcase its most athletic leaps
and turns, with Adriana Almeida especially
impressive.
Things then took an abrupt turn for the
traditionally classical, as Don Quixote
hallucinated about his love, Dulcinea, who
appeared to him in a dream along with the
Dryads and their queen. This interlude in
classic 19th-century Russian-style tutus
seemed a bit jarring, but it did provide
a chance for some excellent classical dancing.
Everything got tied up very quickly in
Act 3. If you sneezed, you would have missed
the plot device in which Kitri and Basil
thwart Kitri's forced marriage (it involves
a faked suicide attempt, humorously executed
by Torrado, especially his fumbling efforts
to touch her breast as he is supposedly
dying).
And then it was time for the lovers, now
married, to celebrate with their grand pas
de deux, justifiably loved by ballet fans
for its competing virtuoso solos, which
Hormigon and Torrado pulled off with panache
- especially Hormigon's multiple balances
on one leg, which would have given a lesser
dancer a tough time.
The Ballet Nacional de Cuba is directed
by Alicia Alonso, now 82, one of Cuba's
most famous dancers and a former star with
American Ballet Theatre. Under her influence,
a number of Cuban dancers have emerged as
stars in the United States, such as ABT's
Jose Manuel Carreno - whose half brother,
Joel, is in the Cuban company and starred
in "Don Quixote" on Wednesday
night, along with Viengsay Valdez.
Alonso has also attracted dancers from
other countries to come to Cuba: Hormigon
and Torrado are Spanish, but based in Havana.
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