Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Lizt Alfonzo Dance Company Continues South African Tour


Cuban News Agency

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 21 - Cuba’s Lizt Alfonso Dance Company is currently performing in South Africa, as part of its presentations for the centennial of the African National Congress (ANC), celebrated this year.

Before the one-night-stand at the State Theatre of Pretoria, entitled Celebrating the Spirit of Freedom, personalities playing host highlighted at that cultural center the island’s cooperation with Africa, in sectors like health (particularly in the struggle against malaria), education and construction, among others.

They also recalled Cuba’s contribution to the end of the opprobrious racist regime of apartheid, and the cultural bonds uniting the Caribbean nation with that continent, the www.cubaminrex.cu Web site reported.

From February 10th through the 12th, the company, created in 1991 and made up by women dancers, showed its art in Cape Town, in a show that was a genuine expression of the combination of the Spanish and African influences in Cuban culture.

Presentations, which began at the Spier Amphitheatre in Stellenbosch, continued at the Lyric Theatre of Gold Reef City, in Johannesburg, from February 17th through the 19th.

Cuba’s ambassador to that country, Angel Villa, highlighted at the Spier Amphitheatre the importance given by his country to the centennial of the ANC –founded on January 8, 1917- and said that the presence of the Lizt Alfonso company in these celebrations is part of the tribute of the Cuban people to the struggles and victories of its South African brothers.

Baleka Mbete, national coordinator of that political group, the most outstanding leader of which is former President Nelson Mandela (1994-1999), underlined the merits of the dance company and urged South African youngsters to draw inspiration from the example given by Cuba in the development of culture.

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