Venezuela ballet celebrates Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela — In life, Venezuela’s exuberant leader Hugo Chavez often captivated supporters by bursting into song, even the occasional dance. Now that he’s gone, supporters are turning to the musical arts to help immortalize him.

A state-sponsored biographical ballet premiered Saturday, with dozens of performers recounting Chavez’s life.

The hour-long show, presented by Venezuela’s National Dance Company, blends classic and contemporary choreography, and draws on a range of music including Venezuelan folk melodies, African rhythms and symphonic scores.

Performers use simple dances to depict Chavez’s childhood in a house with a mud floor, and his days roaming the streets selling papaya sweets known as spiders.

The ballet, titled From Spider-Seller to Liberator, shows him shelving his dream of being a major league baseball pitcher to join the army at age 17. Then audience sees a disillusioned Chavez dancing against the background of the country’s 1989 riots, in which several hundred people died in the streets.

At a climactic moment, Chavez storms the Venezuelan political stage in 1992, leading a coup attempt.

Chavez was imprisoned, but not before scoring a few precious moments of airtime in which he grabbed the nation’s attention, telling followers he had failed “for now.”

Six years after being sent to prison, Chavez rose to power and remained at the helm of the country until he died of cancer in 2013. The ballet ends with Chavez converted into a disembodied force of justice and socialism.

Upcoming Events