QUOTE (dirac @ Apr 29 2008, 10:21 AM) 
Another one. Carlos Quenedit defects. Story by Jordan Levin in The Miami Herald.
QUOTE
Quenedit will be joined by three other Cuban principal dancers, Taras Domitro, Hayna Gutierrez and Miguel Angel Blanco, who defected from the National Ballet in December while on tour in Canada. The three have already performed several times with CCBM, a troupe that has become a launching pad and first stop for Cuban dancers.
''I'm going to have to rent a yacht -- a fast one,'' joked Pedro Pablo Peņa, co-artistic director of the Cuban Classical Ballet.
''I'm going to have to rent a yacht -- a fast one,'' joked Pedro Pablo Peņa, co-artistic director of the Cuban Classical Ballet.
And also from the Herald article...
Quenedit went to Mexico approximately a year ago and had been dancing there with Ballet de Monterrey, which is headed by fellow Cuban Luis Serrano, a former principal dancer with Miami City Ballet. On April 21 he headed north, seeking more artistic opportunity, Peņa says. ``He's very young, so he comes with all this desire to dance and do everything. For our part, we're very happy, and he'll also get the chance to show himself.''Serrano says that the young newcomer has a lot to show. ''He's a prince,'' Serrano said Tuesday from his company's offices in Monterrey. ``He's got a great physique, tremendous talent, great charisma. He's got everything he needs to dance with any company in the world.''Serrano says he encouraged Quenedit to travel to the United States. ``He always said he wanted to try the U.S., and I always said I'd support him 100 percent. Dancers have to fly, and you have to let them test their wings.''
So i just wanted to give Carlitos a warm WELCOME!
. It's really wonderful that even if we (Cubans) can't go and see them over there it's still happening the other way around!. Oh well, once again, i feel very happy to see them coming and showing all they have to show. Carlitos, i wish you the best of lucks and I'll be at the Artime to whistle as a madman as in the old Lorca times. 
Note: BTW, as per Tuesday 29, his position was that of requesting political asylum.
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=353731
And this is a pic of him as Espada in the Cuban production of Don Quijote.
http://www.ballet.co.uk/gallery/jr_cuba_do...nedit_capes_500
). He danced the Giselle Act II PDD with Powers.