Two Cuban ballet defectors to make U.S. debut in Miami

Posted on Saturday, 09.15.12

Two Cuban ballet defectors to make U.S. debut in Miami
By Jordan Levin
jlevin@MiamiHerald.com

Two principal dancers with Cuba's Ballet de Camaguey have defected and
will make their U.S. debut in Miami Sunday.

Milena Teresa Garcia Valido and Julio Cesar Concepcion Mederos will
perform the Don Quixote pas de deux as part of the closing performance
of the International Ballet Festival of Miami at 5pm Sunday at the
Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 East
Flagler St., in downtown Miami.

The pair left the Camaguey troupe, the most important in Cuba after the
Ballet Nacional de Cuba, while it was on a recent tour in Ecuador and
traveled to the United States on Sept. 5, crossing by land through Mexico.

"We are seeking greater artistic opportunities and personal freedom,"
Garcia said in a statement released by the festival. The two dancers are
staying with relatives in Miami, and reached out to festival director
Pedro Pablo Peña, who frequently presents Cuban dancers in exile, often
in their U.S. debut.

"We have always made every effort to make opportunities available for
exiled dancers," says Peña. "This is our welcome to Milena and Julio
Cesar to freedom and a successful artistic future."

Information and tickets for Sunday's performance are available at
www.internationalballetfestival.org.

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