The BALLET NACIONAL is the official dance company of Peru. It came into being in May, the first of 1967, when the proposal of the North American ballet mistress Kaye McKinnon for the creation of a Peruvian dance company was welcome by the Peruvian Culture House (currently the Instituto Nacional de Cultura). McKinnon's advanced pupils were the first members of the company, its repertoire consisting mainly on her own ethnic-flavoured choreographies and international ballet works. In 1979 the so-called Ballet de la Casa de la Cultura was re-estructurated as the corps of the Ballet Moderno and the Ballet de la Universidad de San Marcos joined the young group. The late company's director, Vera Stastny, was invited to take the direction of the now Ballet Nacional.

Under Stastny's wise direction, the Ballet Nacional became in a few years the most effective vehicle for modern and contemporary dance in Peru. World famous choreographers such as Alexander Plisetski, Rosemary Helliwall, Susana Linke, Royston Maldoom, Jacob Lascu, Annette Page, Sandra Balestracci, and Rodolfo Fontán were guest teachers and staged their best works for our national company. Later on, in 1988, the Ballet Nacional's former étoile Olga Shimasaki was appointed director. Since then, she has tried to achieve for the company a more varied, eclectical repertoire. Thanks to her international contacts, the dancers have been able to learn from valuable guest ballet masters.

In the director's own words: "The activities of this troupe are encouraged by the principal aim of developing a style originally synthesized from classic ballet and modern (dance) technics. This style shall be, moreover, the answer to the genuine Peruvian feelings towards beauty and the joy of the dance, and the reflection of the multiplicity of our national cultural roots. Certainly, it is also of importance for a company like the Ballet Nacional, when it has reached the necessary maturity in the technical mastery and the understanding of stage language, to get again in touch with the masterpieces of traditional XIXth century ballet, for its message still has a vitality and artistic meaning if it is well-understood."

During the current working period, started back in 1979, the Ballet Nacional has added to its repertoire more than 170 choreographic works. I can remember the stagings of The Nutcracker, Coppélia, Cinderella, Shéhérazade, Mr. Gary Palmer dynamic mises-en-scène, and the works by the Chilean choreographer Jaime Pinto to have been the most remarkable heighlights in the 80's and 90's. The sporadical brand-new works of miss Yvonne von Mollendorf deserve a special mention, of course. That happens with her latest creation for the company: the short-ballet "Pachacámac", also the main work in the most important season of the Ballet Nacional in 2008.

In the mean time, ballet mistress and director Olga Shimasaki keeps on expecting an increment of the official funds assigned to the company, as well as the creation of more job positions for continuing the divulgation task, by means of more scenic spectacles, national tours, international workshops and didactic lectures, all of which --so be it-- will improve dance appreciation and expression in our comunity... Thus, as you can guess, new ideas and private support --money or production facilities-- are also necessary here.

Nevertheless, after the restaging of its own version of "Don Quixote" in July, the great dance event this year shall be the mise-en-scène of the Bolshoi's gem "Spartakus" --wholy performed by Peruvian dancers-- due to the second half of 2009...

V. Alvarado, 2009.