User:Jsaavedraa0114/sandbox

The National Ballet of Guatemala, also known as the Guatemalan Ballet, is a ballet company formed in 1948. They made their first performance on July 16, 1948 at the Capitol Theater (in Guatemala City). On March 24, 1992, the National Ballet of Guatemala was declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation by Legislative Decree n.º  17-92 of the Congress of the Republic. Currently it functions as a branch of the General Directorate of Art and Culture of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Background
The thirteen years of the dictatorship of General Jorge Ubico Castañeda (1878-1946) ―between 1931 and 1944― were a difficult period for the Guatemalan artistic medium, since it kept the country away from great performances. President Ubico rejected any artistic and intellectual manifestation, and the ones he let be presented had to be previously censored by him. As a result, the country was culturally and artistically limited, and was isolated from international trends, except for cinema, some varieties of circus, magic and some foreign theater companies.

After the 1944 revolution - led by Jacobo Árbenz, Francisco Arana y Jorge Toriello - the issue of culture became relevant and the Guatemala Ballet, the Guatemala Choir, the Alberto Martínez Drama Association, the General Directorate of Fine Arts were created and the National Conservatory of Music and the School of Fine Arts were remodeled. These changes were implemented in the Constitution promulgated the following year, on March 11, 1945, in which article 79 read:

"The promotion and dissemination of culture, in all its forms, constitutes an essential obligation of the State."

On November 30, 1945, the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Communications and Public Works signed a contract for the original Ballet Russe of Coronel Basil to perform in Guatemala with a contract for a season of 15 extraordinary performances, followed by a season 5 shows at an affordable price, as well as a special show for teachers and officials at lower than the affordable price, and finally a free show for schoolchildren. The Guatemalan Government promised to print luxury programs and form an orchestra with thirty musicians to accompany the ballet throughout its season, under the direction of the director of the aforementioned company. The Russian Ballet caused great excitement within Guatemalan society, as the company had visited eight hundred cities around the world, and staged six&nbspthousand performances. One of the characteristics of this company was that it was dedicated to the dissemination of dance through free classes to young people interested in learning the art.

The visit of the Russian ballet led to the formation of private artistic groups in Guatemala. Professors Felipe Trochi (General Director of Ballet Russe) and Isabel Padilla taught for a while in Guatemala; one of his students, Alberto Navas, organized the Caravan group, which trained in folkloric dances of Guatemala and Spain. When academic dance teachers and young foreigners who had been trained in classical dance arrived in the country, the group completely dedicated itself to dance and took the name of National Ballet.

National Ballet (1947-1948)
"Ballet classes for students are established; the Directorate of Extrasecolar Education, of the Ministry of Public Education, has established ballet classes by Professor Kiril Pikieris, who will teach them at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the Normal Central de Señoritas, daily, to schoolchildren of both sexes and groups selected from non-schoolchildren. From 10:00 a.m. onwards classes will be given at the Academy of Fine Arts, for primary school students and from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the assembly hall of the Normal Central de Señoritas for students of this establishment and the Normal Centroamérica, and of the non-school groups that are selected. . The registration to receive these classes is open in the offices of extracarricular education, on the terrace of the Palacio Nacional. In a short time, the students are expected to be ready, for their presentation in a theater of this capital and in an outdoor theater that will be organized in this summer."

Due to World War II (1939-1945), many European artists took refuge in Central America and South America. In mid 1946, people from Colombia, guests invited by the teacher Óscar Vargas Romero, the teachers Kiril Pikieris, the couple of Belgian nationality Marcelle Bonge de Devaux and her husband Jean Devaux, arrived in Guatemala. Guatemalan authorities wanted to create a state set and they knew that these teachers had already founded a dance group in Bogotá (Colombia), which had been very successful.

The Ministry of Education made a call for young people interested in learning the technique of classical dance, and under the direction of Pikieris the work of the National Ballet began.

Under the Direction of Leonide Kachurovski
Between 1949 and 1954, Ballet Guatemala was directed by the Russian teacher Leonide Kachurovski, who had also been in charge of the National Dance School. Kachurovski, his wife Marie Tchernova, and Professor Marcelle Bonge did not earn a salary, but were authorized to make use of the ballet for their own benefit, according to the contract signed with the Ministry of Education. Marie Chernova had been the principal dancer of the Paris Opera and star dancer of the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie  (of Brussels), born in Russia and of Belgian Nationality, like her husband Leonide Kachurovski. .

Kachurovski established three levels in the organization:
 * an elementary section for beginners
 * a complementary section for intermediates
 * a higher course for advanced.

During these years, the Guatemalan Ballet expanded its repertoire and fulfilled the mission of dissemination of dance art; they preformed in almost all the departments of Guatemala sometimes in improvised stages and conducted official and school seasons, two tours through El Salvador and one through Costa Rica. = 28}} The majority of the rehearsals were carried out at the Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén and some in Instituto Nacional Central para Varones.

When the United States government overthrew the democratic government of Jacobo Árbenz the Guatemalan Ballet was suppressed because the government liberationist Board accused the Russian directors of being «comunists» and being the ones who translated to President Árbenz everything that came to Guatemala from the Soviet Union. On August 16, 1954, their contracts were canceled and the teachers Kachurovski and Chernova returned to Belgium in 1957. The teacher Manuel Ocampo, who was in New York with a scholarship for four years in the Metropolitan Ballet, lost the scholarship after a few months because when the Guatemalan government was overthrown the Americans interrogated him for having been a disciple of Russian «communist». teachers.

Ballet Guatemala Under the Direction of Denis Carey
On March 19, 1955, President Carlos Castillo Armas created the advisory commission of the General Directorate of Fine Arts and Cultural Extension, which advised the Dance School, among other agencies. This entity recommended restarting the Guatemala ballet under the direction of the teacher and choreographer Denis Claire Carey, who took over the entity along with the teacher Joop Van Allen. The ballet took on a new perspective regarding to work style because Carey in addition to the English technique he introduced the group to more modern artistic currents and folkloric projection, since he had worked as a soloist at the Metropolitan Ballet of London, Paris, Amsterdam and in several cities in Germany. Carey had also participated in motion pictures such as The Red Shoe with the Covent Garden Royal Ballet. In this period, a fairly significant number of choreographic productions were produced.