National Ballet of Cuba to Encore in O.C.

When the National Ballet of Cuba presents an excerpts program, it’s not just “mixed repertory night.” It’s billed as “La Magia de Alonso (The Magic of Alonso),” a tribute to Alicia Alonso, the artistic director who founded the company in 1948.

The ballet returns to the Orange County Performing Arts Center for the first time since its debut there in 1998, when it performed Cuban choreographer Pedro Consuegra’s “Cinderella.” This time, the company will be closing out the Center’s 2001 International Classic Dance Series with a double bill of programs choreographed by Alonso.

Thursday and Friday evenings, “La Magia” will be presented--repertory highlights with scenes from several full-length classics including “Giselle” (scenes from Act II, choreographed by Alonso after Coralli and Perrot), “Sleeping Beauty” (scenes from Act III, choreography by Alonso after Petipa), “The Nutcracker” (scenes from Act II, choreography by Alonso after Ivanov), “Don Quixote” (scenes from Acts I and II, choreography by Alonso after Ivanov) and Alonso’s own choreography set to Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Symphony No. 1, “A Night in the Tropics,” a classical composition with Cuban folk percussion.

Three performances of Alonso’s full-length production of the comedic ballet “Coppelia,” after the original by Arthur Saint-Leon and Marius Petipa set to music by Leo Delibes, will close the run on Saturday and Sunday.

“La Magia” is the ballet’s way of honoring its founder--both the memory of her career and the fruit of her artistic vision.

Alonso will turn 80 this year, and although her diminished eyesight and arthritic hips limit her involvement, she still offers valuable insight to the company, says principal dancer Lorna Feijoo, who will be performing several repertory works, including scenes from “Giselle,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” this weekend.

“Alicia is so important for the company. She is our example of discipline, because of her past as a dancer and because she is working all the time,” explains the Cuban-born Feijoo, who was staying with her sister, San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Lorena Feijoo, while the company performed in Berkeley last week. “She listens to the dancers and is there when you need her to explain certain head or body movements or music. When I performed my roles for the first time, she talked to me about them before and after performances.”

The company has gone through many changes since its genesis in the late 1940s when Alonso, whom many considered one of the great classical ballerinas of her generation, returned to Cuba at the peak of her success as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and as a guest artist with companies from Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo to the Bolshoi Ballet.

Through the turmoil of Cuba’s revolution, she shaped the company into a home for traditional classical repertory.

When Alonso watches “La Magia” unfold, she sees it not as a salute to herself but as a showcase for her dancers.

“I have put together a little bit of every great classical ballet for ‘La Magia de Alonso,’ and the audience enjoys it tremendously, for this is their chance to see the entire company, with all the premiere danseurs onstage at one time,” she said, speaking by phone from her office in Havana. “I don’t think you should choose a dancer for certain roles. To me, every premiere danseur should be able to dance all roles. They must all have special qualities of technique, artistry and personality.”

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National Ballet of Cuba performs “La Magia de Alonso” on Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., and “Coppelia” on Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20-$70. Information: (714) 556-2787.