Silvina Fabars

Silvina Fabars (22 February 1944 – 31 March 2025) was a Cuban folk dancer and ballerina who was the principal dancer of the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba and a noted folk dance instructor throughout Latin America and Europe. She won numerous awards and recognition throughout her career including the Vanguardia Nacional, the Distinción por la Cultura Nacional (Distinction of the National Culture), and the Alejo Carpentier Medal. In 2014, she was honored as the recipient of the National Dance Prize of Cuba.

Life and career Silvina Fabars Gilall was born on 22 February 1944 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Her ancestry includes grandparents from Guinea and Ghana, who helped raise her. As a child, she was taught to read and write by an aunt and was only able to attend elementary school for two or three years, as her labor was needed. She worked in the cane fields, planted sweet potatoes, picked coffee and hauled wood and water. She lived in a community of Haitians and learned their folk dances and patois. At the age of fourteen, she joined Fidel Castro's rebel army in the Sierra Maestra and participated in the Cuban Revolution. In 1959, she began working at the airport in San Antonio de los Banos as a member of the legendary Mariana Grajales Women's Squad. Around the same time, she co-founded the first Cuban folk dancing company, known as the Ballet Folklórico de Oriente (Eastern Folk Dancing Company), where she performed as a singer and dancer until 1965. such as Santiago Alfonso, Luisa Barroso, Nieves Fresneda, Zenaida Hernandez and Emilio O’Farrill. By 1978, she was offered a professorship to teach dance and the following year, she became the principal dancer of the CFN. among many others. Her individual awards include the Vanguardia Nacional (National Vanguard), the Distinción por la Cultura Nacional (Distinction of the National Culture), and the Alejo Carpentier Medal.