Pretoria, 4 July, 2019.- The Embassy of Cuba and the Director of the International Ballet Competition of South Africa, Dirk Badenhorst celebrated a Cultural Gala with the performance of young South African and Cuban Ballet dancers at the Lyric Theatre of Johannesburg.
The show was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Cuba and South Africa cooperation, particularly in Ballet, and the 25th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations.
In his welcome words, Badenhorst made recognition to the Cuban Ballet institutions and the Cuban Ballet teachers who have shared their expertise on classic ballet with South African teachers and students to ensure that good ballet training becomes accessible to all South Africans.
Rebeca Hernández, representative of the Embassy of Cuba, delivered a speech in whichaddressed the significant relations of friendship between Cuba and South Africa and highlighted South Africa as one of the countries that have given strong support to Cuba in important circumstances, including support for Cuba in the rejection of the growing aggressiveness of the United States government. She also expressed the recognition to all those who have been involved in the project of teaching ballet with the Cuban methodology.
At the end, Mr Vusumusi Mkhize, the Department of Art and Culture (DAC) Director-General thanked the cooperation of Cuba to the teaching of Ballet in South Africa and assured that this will be an area in the cultural cooperation that will have the support of the DAC to continue expanding.
The young South African and Cuban dancers, who performed, honoured the Cuban ballet and showed the success of this noble project as an example of cooperation between brothers’ countries.
