Cuban ballet dancers remain in Canada

Cuban ballet dancers remain in Canada
By VICTOR SWOBODA, Freelance March 2, 2011

A principal dancer with the Cuban National Ballet, Elier Bourzac, is one
of five company members who declined to return home with the troupe
after its triumphant first appearance in Montreal last month.

All five are seeking to stay in Canada in the hope of joining Canadian
dance companies. Among their first acts in the week following their
decision to stay was an audition with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de
Montréal.

"My reason for staying is artistic," Bourzac, 26, said in a telephone
interview Monday from Toronto, where he took a regular class with the
National Ballet of Canada as part of an audition process. "I went as far
as I wanted to go in classical ballet - in Cuba, it's exclusively
classical dance - and I'd like to continue to perform ballet, but now
I'd like to explore contemporary dance, too, and work with international
choreographers. As far as Canada goes, I like Canada's way of life
better than that of other countries where I've toured."

In two appearances in Montreal in the ballet Giselle, Bourzac displayed
brilliant technique in the lead male role of Albrecht, partnering with
the company's eminent ballerina Viengsay Valdés. His repertory includes
leading roles in Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Corsaire and other major
classical works.

Three of the other four Cubans also took part in the Toronto audition,
including Bourzac's wife, Patricia Gonzalez, 24; Jorge Villazon, 32; and
Hugo Rodriguez, 20. All were members of the Cuban National Ballet corps.

The fifth Cuban, Yadil Suarez, 22, remains in Montreal. In December,
Suarez, a company first soloist, partnered with Valdés in a duet, For
Alicia, at a gala in Havana in honour of the 90th birthday of Cuban
National Ballet founder Alicia Alonso.

Over the past decade, the Cuban National Ballet has lost other dancers
while on foreign tours. In 2008, three dancers left the company after
its appearance in Hamilton, Ont., and eventually settled in the United
States.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Cuban+ballet+dancers+remain+Canada/4370292/story.html