• Submitted by: admin
• Arts and Culture
• Dance
• 11 / 05 / 2006

"Before dancing I played football and in those days maybe I though of becoming a football player. I love playing football and still do but I believe I was born being a dancer; a childhood vocation and I feel very happy with what I do". Aged only 10, Maximiliano Guerra noticed people dancing while seeing her sister, a dance teacher, at work. Then the boy decided to try it and soon his attraction and curiosity turned into passion.

The athletes skills improved in training sessions taken in his native Buenos Aires what soon caught the attention of both ballet audiences and personalities in different parts of the world. " Technique and performance complement one another since the dancer is a wordless storyteller. Its his / her body and technique that speaks out. Hence the importance to get a very clear technique as much as an actors speech; clear, precise and explicit. Thats pure technique but it should not be on top performance, no matter its for example, the pas de deux from Corsair or Quixote or any other. We have to keep on telling the story by playing as Basilo and Kitri until the last minute. It should never be forgotten were responsible for telling a story to hearten people apart from pleasing the viewer with an acrobatic jump. The latter goes by, but the story that makes us laugh, cry and feel moved is never forgotten".

Since long ago, Maximiliano dancing captivated Havana public. In Moscow his dancing also packed theatre halls with enthusiastic followers. Asked about a momentum in his career he hesitated for a moment and then said; " I might not mention only one, thy are many: Varna Gold Medal; when Vasiliev created Romeo and Juliet choreography for me; when John Neumeier called me; dancing with Maya Plisetskaya; being the first non-Soviet dancer to play as Spartacus; also when the NASA told me they had given a star my name. Each day of my career is something very special".

In the 1980's he successfully danced with the Colons Theatre Ballet in Buenos Aires, guested with Los Angeles Ballet and the English National Ballet of London. In 1991 he received the principal dancer title with the Deutsche Opera of Berlin, Germany, and a year later he became a guest star at the Milan Scale Alla Theatre, where perhaps he had spent more time. Guerra enjoys the liberty of dancing everywhere being subject to no professional ties: " despite my position as my Companys director/choreographer I dance with MERCOSUR Ballet in Buenos Aires and as permanent guest dancer with the Milan Scale Theatre. I have no a steady company".

Likewise he dances with Kirov Ballet of Saint Petersburg; Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow; Het National Ballet of Holland; the companies of Sofia Opera Ballet, Bulgaria; Munich and Ljubljana; Stanislavsky Ballet Theatre, Rome Opera, Saint Carlo Theatre, Naples; the Great Warsaw Theatre and has performed at numerous international festivals in Europe, Asia and America being the sixth time he takes part in the Havana Festival, where he said he would gladly return. " Sure, because we come here to fete dance for what it is; art. And I think its much more important because its not remunerated. This is not a place where one is called on account of a cashé payment but of celebrating dance in itself and experiencing the atmosphere; the feeling of art you get here is marvelous. I wish I could infect every one with the same spirit".

Source: CubaSi