#Cleveland Havana Ballet
”"What do pointe shoes, dirt, and cafecitos have in common?"
Kate WebbVerb Ballets Dancer
American Dance Abroad Guest Blog by Kate Webb, Verb Ballets Dancer
What do pointe shoes, dirt, and cafecitos have in common? They’re all integral parts of The Cleveland Havana Ballet, which just successfully completed its first edition of international performances in Cuba. The fusion company is comprised of young, passionate artists from Havana-based ProDanza and Cleveland-based Verb Ballets.
After only dancing together for four days, The Cleveland Havana Ballet premiered Yarini, a full-length ballet based on a well-loved Cuban legend, in front of thousands of people. The two-country company followed up four shows of Yarini with three mixed-bill performances featuring repertory highlighting each of the dance troupes’ strengths. Despite the varying styles of the two companies (Verb Ballets is a contemporary ballet company, while ProDanza considers itself strictly classical), it was hard to tell which company the dancers worked for by the end of the packed two-week residency. They wore each other’s ballet skirts, company t-shirts, and began to emulate each other’s dance style.
Jill Marlow Krutzkamp began her training at the Draper Center for Dance Education in Rochester, New York, under the direction of Timothy Draper and Jamey Leverett. Additionally, Ms. Marlow Krutzkamp spent time studying at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet and Indiana University. She started out her professional career with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, spent nine years with Cincinnati Ballet, and four years with Kansas City Ballet before retiring. Jill has danced leading classical roles in La Bayadere, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Romeo and Juliet. She has also performed principal roles in Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Serenade, Four Temperaments & Allegro Brilliante, as well as performing Chaconne with Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jill’s most favorite contemporary roles have included works by notable choreographers including Twyla Tharp, Ma Cong, Luca Vegetti, Jody Gates, Anthony Krutzkamp, Devon Carney, Adam Hougland, and Mauricio Wainrot.
Laura Alonso, daughter of world famous ballerina Alicia Alonso and renowned teacher and coach Fernando Alonso, is herself known as a teacher, coach and an expert at staging the well-known classics. For seven years she served as the personal coach and teacher for international prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso. Dance Theatre of Harlem artistic director, former prima ballerina and former editor of Pointe magazine, Virginia Johnson, calls her an, “international master teacher extrordinare.”
Verb Ballets will travel to Havana, Cuba on March 3, 2018 for nearly three weeks to join ProDanza. Verb Ballets’ international tour will commence with a shared repertory program with ProDanza running March 16-18, 2018 highlighting the unique styles of American and Cuban ballet at The National Theatre in Havana, Cuba.
This cultural exchange is a groundbreaking partnership supported through the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion initiative.
