Gran Teatro de la Habana
(Sorry for the picture placement! The blog would freak out anytime I tried to format them!)
According
to what I found on Wikipedia, the Gran Teatro de la Habana was built in
1914 and designed by Paul Belau, a Belgian architect. The building is owned by
the national government of Cuba and its purpose is as a performing arts center,
making it the home to the Cuban National Ballet and the host of the International
Ballet Festival of Havana. Not only that, but it includes facilities such as
theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, a video screening room, an art
gallery, a choral center, and several rehearsal halls for dance companies. This
building has a lot of history to it as it was paid for by the Galician
immigrants of Havana to serve as their community-social center. The building
has also gone through many names over the years since it opened in 1915, such
as Palacio del Centro Gallego, Gran Teatro-Centro Gallego (1902 – 1961),
Teatro Federico Garcia Lorca (1961 – 1977), Liceo de La Habana Vieja (1977-1985),
and Gran Teatro de la Habana (1985 – 2015). When researching, I found the
architecture to be unique as the building was built around the already
preexisting concert hall, Teatro Tacón. The Gran Teatro de La Habana has a
Baroque Revival, or Neo-Baroque style, which was the style of architecture in
the late 19th century that is quite extravagant using exuberant
detail, contrast, and grandeur. Additionally, the outside of the building has
four sculptures created by Guiseppe Moretti and Geneva Mercer created from
white marble to represent charity, education, music, and theater. In 2018, a
bronze sculpture of Alicia Alonso, the famous Cuban Ballerina, was also revealed
in the lobby of the Gran Teatro. The piece is called “Giselle” after the ballet
that brought Alonso to world fame and was created by José Villa Soberónsculpture.
The
building is located on Paseo del Prado Havana, Cuba with its official address
being “458 Paseo de Martí, La Habana 10600, Cuba” and their phone number being “+53
7 8613077”. The website provided by TripAdvisor is https://www.facebook.com/www.granteatro.cu/,
making me think they have changed the name of the building again to “Gran
Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso”. Based on the reviews I read, it seems tickets
to see performances vary from 20 – 30 CUC ($20.02 - $30.02). The building is
not opened all the time with its schedule being: Sun (24 hours), Mon (8:30 AM –
10:00 PM), Tue (Closed), Wed (Closed), Thursday (Closed), Friday (8:30 AM – 10:00
PM), and Sat (8:30 AM – 10:00 PM). Overall, with 402 reviews, the Google review of
the Gran Teatro is a 4.7 out of 5 stars and a nearly similar review on TripAdvisor.
Many of the reviews on both sites state how beautiful the building is, with the
outside being slightly more breathtaking than the inside. Additionally, there
are countless comments about how amazing the ballet performances are. Now
knowing all this information, is this someplace you would be interested in visiting
on our trip to Cuba? Why? Also, based on the photos you’ve seen, do you think
this is the building seen in Buena Vista Social Club where some of the
musicians were seen playing? (In particular, the scene with the pianist playing
with the dancers/gymnasts surrounding him).
When you talk about the building being built around the already preexisting concert hall it makes me thing of last week’s blog. Someone asked if Cuba had money would they rebuild or fix their buildings. With their museums and concert halls clearly, they build around or up on preexisting structures to keep the uniqueness. In your third picture it makes me think of this building as Cuba’s version of Carnegie hall. I think it would be cool to see a performance here the inside looks beautiful. I do think a lot of the Buena Vista Social Club was filmed here. I agree the scene where kids are dancing around him was filmed here and I bet one of his performances was even recorded at this venue.
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie,
DeleteThat is such a good point about the buildings, I never even thought of that! I'm very curious as to how they went about constructing a new building around an older one.
Hey Ingrid,
ReplyDeleteI think this would be a really cool place to see in Cuba! It looks really beautiful and it seems to represent a lot about the country in regards to dance performance. I think the ballet dances in particular would be interesting to see in this venue as it's a sort of grand place for a "grand" type of dance. I agree with Natalie: it does seem like the location of the band in Buena Vista Social Club during their big performance. I imagine with their growing fame and impression on Cuba they would be able to see such a large venue!
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI agree, I would love to see a ballet performance here! I was surprised to hear they were only 20-30 CUC because something like that in the U.S. would be much more expensive.
I would love to see this building. I’m from New York, and Carnegie Hall is one of my favorite places. I’m not sure how seeing a performance would fit with our schedule and budget, but the building looks beautiful. I’m sure Cubans take a lot of pride in this building because it seems to be their prestigious hall. I also like Natalie’s point about the building being renovated around the existing building. It’s so nice that they can keep the different eras all within the same building, it’s like a walk through history!
ReplyDeleteHi Ingrid! I love this post and I would love to see the Gran Teatro de La Habana. I think this is one of the places I’m most excited to see, partly because of my background in dance (specifically ballet). I did ballet as a kid and I also took the class at UNH, and It would be amazing if I could catch a ballet while I’m out there. I love watching dance performances, ranging from all types, but there is something about ballet that really draws me in. I also learned about the ballet Giselle in my ballet class, and found it to be one of the most beautiful productions ever. Hopefully I get to see it! I agree with both Natalie and Rebecca- this place looks very similar to that where the Buena Vista Social Club played.
ReplyDelete