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 humble house
with a mud floor, and his days roaming the streets selling homemade papaya
sweets known as spiders.
The ballet, entitled "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 the 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 like a hurricane in 1992, leading a failed 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". The ballet is debuting on the 22nd anniversary of
the failed coup.
Six years after being sent to prison, Chavez came 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.
On the street outside the theater, passersby were
unsurprised that the late leader has gotten another commemoration.
"Chavez has become mythic, whether you like it or
not," said 23-year-old student Carlos Lozada. "He'll be here as long
as the Chavistas remain in power."
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