The celebration of the 75th anniversary of the National Ballet of Cuba includes the book Alicia y las Maravillas del Ballet, Revisitaciones desde la artisticidad, by photographer Jorge Valiente and journalist Sahily Tabares.

The book was presented the day before at the Fayad Jamís bookstore in Havana’s historic center. It offers a large collection of photographs accompanied by evaluations of the art of the former prima ballerina assoluta, choreographer, teacher and founder of the prestigious Cuban company.

According to curator and art critic Dr. Rafael Acosta de Arriba, the book, published by ArteCubano Ediciones, an imprint of the National Council of Fine Arts, «is really a text written with four hands, or rather, with one hand and one eye, a book with two wills and only one protagonist, Alicia.

The book seeks to preserve the cultural photographic memory of the Cuban nation by taking as a reference the artistic work of Alicia Alonso from the stage, according to the co-author of the work, who is also a professor of cultural criticism at the Communication Faculty of the University of Havana.

He pointed out: «The literary work was born with the motivation of creating a copy of photographs about the Prima Ballerina Assoluta, which did not exist until now.

The pages are a fervent testimony of the roots of ballet. They are a legacy for the younger generations.

She also thanked the Cuban Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso. He has promoted the development of this work and appreciates the existence of photo books.