Today’s
Enlightening Entertainment
will be presented in
Spanish and English,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Indonesian, Japanese,
Korean, Malay, Mongolian
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish
and Thai.
Halo graceful viewers.
Today we will enjoy the
world-class traditional
and eclectic dances of
the Blankenship Ballet
Company, based
in Los Angeles, USA.
Apart from
classical Cuban ballet,
their diverse repertoire
also includes salsa,
Argentine tango,
Afro-Cuban dance,
flamenco, ballroom,
and capobalé, which is
a blend of the Brazilian
martial art capoeira and
Cuban ballet.
Private and group lessons
are offered as well
in multiple dance styles.
Mr. Mark Blankenship,
a former civil rights
attorney, created the
company with his wife,
Mrs. Bertha Suarez
Blankenship,
an exceptional Cuban
ballet artist and teacher
at the company.
Mr. Blankenship explains
the company’s unique
way of performing
“in-the-round” in which
the audience can feel
closer to the dancers.
We create a show where
the dancers get close
to the audience and
the audience gets close
to the dancers
and something magical
happens where
the audience and
the dancers blend.
And there is some kind of
emotional synergy that
occurs that makes things
a lot different and
a lot more interesting
in the dance world.
The Blankenship Ballet
Company maintains and
innovates pure Cuban
ballet arts to the delight
of the public who may
have never experienced
Cuban ballet before.
It is characterized by
its zest and speed and
the remarkable strength
of both the male
and female dancers.
Mrs. Bertha Suarez
Blankenship is
a former member of the
National Ballet of Cuba
and stars in many
of the performances.
Cuban ballet is one of
the best in the world.
The Cuban technique,
the education that we
received is exceptional
and I appreciate it a lot,
the education
we were given.
And I brought it here
to the United States,
and I´m going to make it
continue, thanks to all
of my teachers in Cuba.
When I first started to
get into the ballet,
I saw two Cubans dance
together and they did
the Don Quixote
that you saw tonight.
It was so magnificent
to me, the way
that they connected.
Then I realized that
the Cuban ballet
was a form of dancers
seeking freedom.
And the ballet then
became their vehicle
for freedom.
It’s almost like
a big family dancing.
Some of these people
have danced with us
over a decade and
it’s just wonderful.
I started at a very, very
young age in Cuba, and
I developed my technique
there, and everything
was built up there.
I am happy because
the style we are dancing
here, which is classic,
I´ve been dancing it
there all my life
and it is the same.
Ballet in Cuba
is very important
because there we all
have our culture,
our roots and we hold art
in our hearts.
There is a good school in
Cuba, a lot of technique.
It´s a part of us,
of our lives,
since we´re born
we have the music inside.
I thank Cuba for making
me a great dancer.
Recently,
the Blankenship Ballet
Company invited
Supreme Master
Television
to the premiere of its
“Cuban Ballet & Dance
Extravaganza,” featuring
luminous world-class
Cuban ballet dancers.
Within a grand ballroom
venue, the audience
could enjoy a rich variety
of performances
in a graceful,
intimate setting.
When we return,
we will find out more
about the Blankenship
Ballet Company
and its presentation of
pure Cuban ballet arts
and more.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Enlightening Entertainment.
At the Blankenship
Ballet Company,
the purpose of dance
is to inspire.
This is visible
in the faces of those
attending the company’s
“Cuban Ballet &
Dance Extravaganza.”
The only thing that’s
traditional about it
are the elements of it
that come in the form
of the dancers.
But the rest of it is
a vision of community
to bring people together
using the spiritual energy
from the arts.
“Muñecos” (Dolls) is
an extraordinary piece,
I love it because
it is a lot of drama.
She becomes a doll,
he becomes a soldier
for a moment, and...
It was very moving
for me to do it,
it is my first time.
The Cuban artists
at the Blankenship Ballet
Company are some
of the best, and
are dedicated proud in
sharing the Cuban culture
with the public.
My name is
Miguel Ángel Blanco
and I´m a dancer,
a classic one.
My family is a family of
artists and I started
at a young age in Cuba.
I was the lead dancer
in the National Cuban
Ballet, and this is what
I´ve done all my life
so far and I love to do it.
I think I couldn´t live
without doing it.
I think Cuba is a very
rich country with culture.
Not only ballet, but
very good musicians,
very good painters,
good artists,
and they love it.
The audience loves art
very much.
I came to this country to
make art, to teach what
I was taught, and
to keep on passing it,
passing it along to
other people, to children,
or to all the people,
or to be able to teach it
so that it won’t be lost.
Because in Cuba, that is
what we are taught, art.
It is what we are
taught the most, and
we want to share it
with other people.
The Blankenship Ballet
Company also celebrates
the arts of
non-Cuban cultures.
The evening of “Cuban
Ballet & Dance”
featured performances
by the noted Flamenco
dancers such as
Ms. Celina Zambon
as well as a special
capoeira exhibition by
Brazilian capoeirista
Gustavo Caldas.
Each artist contributes
his or her full enthusiasm
for art.
My name is
Gustavo Caldas
I’m from Salvador,
Bahia, Brazil.
I came into this country
to teach capoeira to
perform as a capoeirista
and I’m also a dancer.
It’s a Brazilian
martial art.
And many times you’re
going to see people
describing capoeira
a mix of dance
and martial art,
we also have a lot of
music involved.
No matter where I am,
capoeira is in my soul.
That’s my mission.
I was born in Argentina.
I’m a flamenco dancer
and choreographer.
Then we bring
that culture
and show it to them.
You have to be standing
there, and show
the people what you are.
Not even to pretend
a little bit less because
it doesn’t work.
If you think about
a culture, a culture
is defined by its art.
When we close our eyes,
and think about things,
we think about art,
we think about
beautiful creations,
and it’s so much more.
Art lasts forever.
I don’t think
art belongs to anyone.
It belongs to the public.
These ballets, and
this Cuban culture that
we brought tonight,
it lives forever in the
hearts and the minds of
the people that saw it.
They’ll never forget it.
There will be children
here that will
never forget that
they were here.
There will be families
that never forgot that
they were here.
The Blankenship Ballet
Company is
so committed to
promoting the ballet arts
to any and all interested
in learning more
that it even welcomes
spectators to
its performances
regardless of their capacity
to purchase a ticket.
And then they come to
lend us their soul
and heart and ears, for
one-and-a-half hours,
and we take them
for a ride.
They are going to
be thinking: Ah,
last Saturday I saw
a flamenco show
that inspired me!
Life is so beautiful!
Look at the flamenco,
how beautiful it is!
That’s culture.
That’s art.
Give hope to the people,
hope, that
life is beautiful.
By going dancing
to different places,
so that people can see
and love this, it helps
to change the world,
to peace.
What mesmerizing
performances!
We sincerely thank
the elegant Blankenship
Ballet Company and
its diverse artists for
dedication to introducing
Cuban ballet as well as
other cultures.
May Heaven bless your
pure-hearted endeavors
to share hope, wonder,
and joy through the arts.
For more information
about the Blankenship
Ballet Company,
please visit:
Thank you
for your company today
on Enlightening
Entertainment.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television for
Words of Wisdom,
after Noteworthy News.
May your spirit be
lively and magnificent!
Circus animals lead
agonizing and stressful
lives of confinement.
Calling this
“an act of cruelty,”
Bolivia became
the world’s first country
to ban the use of all wild
and domesticated animals
in traveling circuses.
For their compassion,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
honored
Bolivian Congresswoman
Ximena Flores and
President
Juan Evo Morales Ayma
each with
the Shining World
Leadership Award.
My greetings
and respects to
Master Ching Hai,
because I'm sure that
the thought she has
is shared by many of us,
that we are in the plan
to have a more humane
world, and free from
suffering for animals.
Join us for this program
on Saturday, August 21,
on Supreme Master
Television.