If you are a ballet lover, when you see a shoe with ribbons, you immediately hear the music and imagine the dancers on stage, but … have you ever wondered who designs and repairs that essential accessory in dance?

I hadn’t thought about it either until I went to the house of the dancers from Camagüey, Elda María Almengor and Rosa María Rodríguez, mother and daughter who, for the first time in the company, met on the stage, and while talking, I discovered that they have at home another member of the company, who for 20 years was the artistic footwear specialist at the request of the teacher Fernando Alonso.

His name is Diego Domingo Montoya, passionate about his work, which is complex and at the same time delicate, since the stage development of a dancer depends on the comfort and quality of the shoes.

Diego

With great modesty he treasures his beautiful friendship with El Maestro Fernando Alonso, creator of the Camagüey Ballet Company, since he was his uncle in law, but his relationship was so close that he introduced him to everyone as his nephew. He remembers him as very creative, chivalrous with his companions and devoted to his montages to which he dedicated a lot of time to research.

One day at home he saw him work in a pair of shoes, a job he did in his spare time as a hobby and asked him if he would not like to dedicate himself to the artistic footwear of the Ballet, after invited him to visit the headquarters of the group, attend a function the Magic woke up in him.

He completed a course to get closer to the details of that work and became the head of the other specialists since they were divided according to the categories of the dancers.

His work

Diego always worked for the leading figures, but the rest of the cast also wore their footwear, which, thanks to everyone’s inventiveness, was never lacking for a presentation, not even in the harshest times of the special period, since the tips were reinforced with the most unsuspected homemade materials and the polyfoam dissolved in gasoline was an appropriate glue to mix the sticking.

Respect for the feet of the dancers led them to continue to improve themselves, he attended courses in orthopedics and chiropody, because the types of feet vary and they all do not use the same type of shoe, some prefer the pointed ones, others the half pointed ones, which is the most usual.

His Dream

Family situations led Diego to stop working for the Ballet, but his admiration for the company remains intact, whenever he can, he attends performances and still collaborates with shoe repair work, and the dancers he has at home invite him to their presentations.

With the new forms of production, he dreams of creating a brand of this type of specialized shoes, to pay tribute to the teacher Fernando, who led him to discover his admiration for both this delicate work and dance.

His reflections

Everything begins with the feet, the work of each performance is based on them, the movements and dances on stage depend on good footwear, also through the feet he met his wife Elda María 23 years ago, when she was still dancing.

Think that when you see a work and that the talents exhibit what you manufacture, it is an honor, he has worked for the Tropicana cabaret and for other important companies and he loves his work, he assures that there is still Diego to continue manufacturing many more shoes. His love for the company is eternal and if it depends on him; His support will never be lacking so that the feet keep marking the beat.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García