Ramona de Saà
Director
Great maître of the Ballet, Maestra de Saà is one of the most remarkable figures in
the pedagogy of dance in the contemporary world and creator of the current education
system of the Classic Dance of the Republic of Cuba. A professor of the National School
of Ballet; adjunct professor of the Superior Institute of Art; founder, under the
direction of Fernando Alonso, of the School of Ballet of the National School of Art
(1962); in 1965 she became the Directress of this institution.
As a dancer and founder of the National Ballet of Cuba, she performed her art in important
theatres in Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Chile, Ecuador,
the United States, Hungary, Mexico, Peru, Poland, the Soviet Union, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Maestra de Saà has been the teacher of several important figures of the National Ballet
of Cuba, among them the principal dancers Amparo Brito, Rosario Suárez, Lorna Feijóo,
Alihaydée Carreño and Carlos Junior Acosta. In October of 2000, the Superior Institute
of Art of the Republic of Cuba gave her the Doctor’s title Honoris Causa in Art.
Roberto Machado
Master Teacher
Originally from Santa Clara Cuba, where he began his studies, he joined the National
School of Art in Havana in 1978, from where he graduated in 1983, joining the ballet
under the direction of Maestro Fernando Alonso. As a dancer, he has participated in
international tours and festivals throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. He participated
in the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1989. That same year he was invited
to the Perm Ballet Company in Russia at the Festival of the Young Creator. He was
laureate of the Trujillo Peru international ballet competition in 1991, as best couple
and individual gold medal. In 1993 he joined the Monterrey ballet under the direction
of Ann Marie D´Ángelo, sharing the stage with Fernando Bujones and working in productions
by Cynthia Gregory, Kevin Mackenzie, Melissa Hayden, Nellie Happei, among others.
In 1995 he joined the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago under the direction of Gerald Alpino.
In 1996 together with Fernando Alonso and Christine Ferrando, He directs the creation
of a new Classical Dance Workshop at UANL and is a member of the Faculty's faculty,
performing productions of the traditional and contemporary repertoire. In 2006 he
became a Teacher of the Superior School (ESMDM), where he held the position of coordinator
of the Bachelor's Degree in Classical Dance. In 2009, he was invited as a teacher
at the Córdoba Dance Festival, an event of the American Grand Prix. He has been a
teacher and temporary rehearser for the Monterrey Ballet company; selected as a jury
for Conarte contests; as well as Synodal and Adviser of graduations in local and national
events. In 2011 he participated as a rehearsal teacher in Opera Prima (First Ballet
Reality Show in Mexico City). In 2013, 2014 and 2015, he was invited by the National
Ballet School of Havana Cuba to teach classes at the International Meeting of Ballet
Academies. In 2014 he is invited as a teacher and choreographer to the first international
course of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet.