CAMAGÜEY.- She could not become a prima ballerina, however she had the star that Fernando Alonso was looking for. When the then director of the Camagüey Ballet entrusted her with the role of coordinating a promotion center, she accepted without hesitations but she never heard from him exactly what was what he saw in her.
María Herminia Martínez de la Torre has been happy in the 30 years in the Ballet and Dance Promotion Center Fernando Alonso, where she earned the life condition as a main figure in the heart of so many children, and therefore, of the families, that have cultivated the taste for this stage art, with steps as professionals or with the excitement and the knowledge as audience.
“Children remember me as they grow up. Not all of them become dancers but the experience remains for their integral formation in life. That is my greatest satisfaction”, told the teacher popularly known as Minita to Adelante Digital.
“The maestro Fernando Alonso said that I danced a lot but I did not have the ideal conditions to become one of the prima ballerinas. I settled for a corps de ballet, from there I lived with great personalities, among great choreographers, in a time of national and international rising of the Camagüey Ballet. That has kept me to pass my knowledge to the new generations”, added.
Her aunt Vicentina de la Torre, to whom it is owed the foundation of the Camagüey Ballet on December 1st 1967, and whose name identifies the Arts Academy located in this city, was key in his calling for teaching
“When I was little, I went with my aunt Vicentina to the classes and I started forming by watching the rehearsals, the classes, and that left me as a tireless cultural promoter. I have always had students and they have trusted in our work. The prize has been abnegation, the sense of belonging, commitment and enjoyment of the work”, emphasized.
Minita has only kind words for the first Choreography and Performance Contest Fernando Alonso In Memoriam, that is developed since December 4 at the Principal Theater.
“Fernando insisted a lot in artistic creation, in keeping the movement of choreographers. This contest is a motivation, an impulse for the new talents. Choreographers develop and the companies nurture. Not everybody can be a choreographer, but those who have the gift, can develop it”, commented.
Although the awarding will be today, the event will end on Sunday with a concert program with pieces of classic ballet, Spanish classical dance and modern dance, the specialties of the Ballet and Dance Promotion Center Fernando Alonso.
“The center has a stable audience because we work to offer a quality product even when the children are not chosen by a professional level. I think that there is not a family from Camagüey that has not have a child in the center, since one finds them everywhere and they send messages from all over the world. Camagüey loves its promotion center”, concluded.
- Translated by Elianna Díaz Mendieta