Viengsay Valdés

Viengsay Valdés is a Cuban ballerina. Since 2003, Valdés is the Prima ballerina and since 2019 she is the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Cuba (in Spanish: Ballet Nacional de Cuba).

Valdés developed a reputation as a dancer for her interpretations of the female lead roles in the ballets, Carmen, Giselle, Swan Lake, Blood Wedding, Don Quixote, Diana and Actaeon, Silvia, and Black Swan (El Cisne Negro). was born in Havana, Cuba in 1976. Her name Viengsay means “victory” in Laotian. At age three, her family moved to the Seychelles. At age six, she moved back to Havana, Cuba, where she continued her education. which is when she began her ballet studies at the Alejo Carpentier Provincial Ballet School (Escuela Nacional de Ballet Alejo Carpentier) in Havana. At age 15, she continued her studies at the National Art Schools (Escuela Nacional de Arte or ENA). While she was still a student she won numerous prizes and distinctions. From then on, she took the leading roles in all the company's major galas and she has performed and toured internationally. Leonid Sarafanov, Thiago Soares, Alexei Tyukov, Ivan Vasiliev, Denis Matvienko, Joel Carreño, among others.

In July 2012, she performed in the special Homage Gala dedicated to Alicia Alonso, sharing the stage with The Royal Ballet of London in the Gran Teatro de La Habana.

Don Quixote At the age of 19, Valdés debut in the role of Kitri in Don Quixote. In September 2006, Valdés and the National Ballet of Cuba performed Don Quixote in London.

She traveled to Washington DC, to work as a guest artist in the 2009–2010 season opening performance for The Washington Ballet, Don Quixote in the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater. Dancing the lead role of Kitri, this was a new staging of the classic ballet by internationally recognized choreographer Anna-Marie Holmes.

Artistic director In January 2019, Valdés was advanced by the Cuban ministry of culture and Alicia Alonso to the role of Deputy Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Cuba. In October 2019, after Alonso died at age 99, the Cuban ministry of culture promoted her to the Artistic Director. They created a performance called Balance of Ice, which combined three elements: a piece of music by Canadian composer Andrew Staniland that was inspired by the sounds of ice sheets calving; a dance performance by Valdes that fragmented her usual balletic virtuosity; and moving images of the polar ice caps and the threats facing them.

Awards and recognition 1993 - First Prize in the National Competition of Dance for the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC). 1993 – Gold Medal in the Vignale Festival of Dance, Italy. 1994 – Grand Prize in Ballet for the National Competition of Dance, Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC). 1999 – National Medal of Culture from Cuba 2003 – Valdés was awarded the Medal "Alejo Carpentier" by the Ministry of Culture of Cuba. 2004 - Named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch". 2005 - Awarded the Les Ètoiles de Ballet 2000 prize at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes.

In April 2009, the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC) awarded her the Dance Prize for outstanding female performance during the 2007–2008 season.

Publications