The Alma Mater Award, highest distinction given by the Federation of University Students (FEU) was given on Thursday to prima bellerina assoluta Alicia Alonso at the Ignacio Agramonte Plaza at the University of Havana.
With a gala, carried out by the Cuban National Ballet company with some of its main ballet dancers, the historic day in 1956 were remembered as marked by the constant clashes between Alicia and Fernando Alonso with officials that represented the dictatorship.
The University of Havana once again opens its doors to the ballet troupe, allowing us to feel the emotion of the encounter with history and people because it has its bases in cultural and patriotic values, expressed Alicia Alonso.
This time, we are celebrating one of the greatest feats in history: the 60th anniversary of that event as a homage, full of love and courage in which the university students has known how to save this moment as the most beautiful memories of life, said a document issued by the FEU.
During the evening, students and audience assisting saw fragments of the Las Silfides ballet, as well as pieces like Percusion Para Seis hombres and Suite of Don Quijote represented by figures like Annette Delgado, SAdaise Arencibia, Dani Hernandez, Victor Estevez and Viengsay Valdes.
Also assisting the event were Olga Lidia Tapia, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party; Abel Prieto, Minister of Culture; Miguel Barnet, President of the Union of Artists and Writers and representatives of the Federation of University Students, the Young Communist League and Higher Education.
In 1956, the Cuban National Ballet company, accompanied by the FEU, offered a historic presentation against the Batista dictatorship in the University of Havana Stadium. (Taken from Cuban News Agency)
