CAMAGÜEY.- The Ballet of Camagüey started a season in the Culture Week with classic and contemporary works by choreographer Norbe Risco, former dancer of the company and current artistic director of the Kentucky Ballet Theater.

The concert program included five premieres, with the pieces Ondina and the Fisherman, Gitanos, the pas de six Esmeralda, Trio and My search; and the revival of The Merchant and the Slave and the pas de deux Dracula.

Norbe Risco has been collaborating with the Ballet of Camagüey since 2017, at the invitation of its general director, maître Regina María Balaguer, to whom he commented on his bond, in dialogue for the Mi Camagüey Streaming program.

“It has always been a pleasure for me to return to the company that trained me as a professional, because that is a very great motivation, it is like going back a little bit where you come from, not forgetting your roots,” he insisted.

The new repertoire is always an incentive for the dancers, in addition to being challenging the different way of working in the United States, and stimulating here the group's willingness to learn and its aspiration to versatility.

“Ballet has its classical, neoclassical and contemporary styles, and I always like to include such works so that there is no predilection on my part as director that I only like the tutu and the leotard. I like everything because in a certain way the profile with which the artistic work is focused is broader and better”, he emphasized.

Norbe Risco does not forget his time in this group, and considers that the fruits that Camagüey sees today are the result of what his teachers cultivated in him, therefore, gratitude is an essential step in his artistic projection.

“Every time I arrive you see new faces, because that's normal, but at the same time it's rejoicing to see how they are 'hungry to learn'. When we worked at the Ballet of Camagüey, Jorge Lefebre came from Belgium, and we were with that little bug waiting to see what new work he would come up with”, he recalled.

With its performances, the Ballet of Camagüey celebrates the 508th birthday of the foundation of the Villa de Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe, the land of its roots; and greet the company's 55th anniversary year.

“The boys are fantastic; they always work hard and it's a good thing because ballet is a lot of sacrifice. In order to achieve a technique and an artistic maturity they have to work every day of life. They are on the right path, but we have to keep pushing them”, concluded Norbe Risco.

The concert program for February 5 and 6 will remain on the billboard of the Teatro Principal on the 11, 12 and 13 of this month, at the usual times of the favorite space for the group.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez