SAN FRANCISCO — Lorena Feijoo, bold and dramatic, dances on the West Coast. Lorna Feijoo, graceful and elegant, dances on the East Coast.
Somehow, despite their artistic differences, both sisters typify the style and training of the National Ballet of Cuba, which has become known for producing some of today's most talented and highly sought dancers. And in the rarefied world of ballet, it's uncommon, if not remarkable, to find two siblings performing as principal dancers with major companies at the same time. But Lorena and Lorna Feijoo are anything but average.
Trained by Alicia Alonso, the longtime legendary artistic director of the National Ballet of Cuba, the sisters are regarded as two of the finest ballerinas among an abundance of Cuban-trained talent. And as Russian dancers such as Rudolph Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov have defined ballet since the 1970s, Spanish-speaking countries now dominate, particularly Cuba.
The Feijoos aren't the only dancing siblings to star in the ballet world. Maria and Marjorie Tallchief performed in the 1940s and 1950s; Gelsey and Johnna Kirkland and fellow Americans Lew, Harold and William Christensen, in the 1970s.
Lorena, 35, joined San Francisco Ballet in 1999 and is considered the more fiery, dramatic, passionate performer. Lorna, 31, joined Boston Ballet in 2003. She's generally thought of as more lyrical, dainty, soft.
However, both women are reluctant to make such generalizations about each other and both insist that they don't compete with each other.
"My sister is my inspiration," says Lorna in an interview from Boston where her season recently opened with "Cinderella."
"We don't try to do the same things. I love how she does and she loves how I do. . . . We are really different and similar at the same time."
While it's impressive that both sisters became accomplished dancers, it's not surprising they were drawn to the stage. Their mother, Lupe Calzadilla, danced in the National Ballet corps, while the wardrobe mistress baby-sat her daughters backstage. Their father, Jose Lorenzo Feijoo, is an actor who lives in Mexico.
Both women are quick to credit their world-renowned training in Havana. Lorena entered the National Ballet school at 9. Calzadilla tried to steer the younger sister away from ballet and toward modern dance, reluctant to put the girls in direct competition. But Lorna didn't listen. She sneaked off to an audition at 10 and was quickly accepted into the national school.
Under Alonso's strict tutelage, both girls received a mixture of Russian, French, American and Cuban ballet training. And they learned more than dance steps: They took lessons in piano, French, choreography, painting and folk dancing.
Lorena, always a perfectionist, won her first ballet competition at 13. In 1988, she joined the National Ballet and started doing solo and principal roles after about a year in the corps. At the time, the company's co-founder, Alonso, was still dancing, along with a generation of older ballerinas who made it tough for Lorena to snag the more challenging, meatier roles.
So, at 20, she left Cuba. While she didn't defect, Alonso wasn't pleased and has since prevented her from dancing with the company. Lorena performed for a time in Mexico and Belgium. In 1995, she came to the United States. When the Joffrey Ballet offered Lorena a slot, she took it and stayed in Chicago four years.
The first time Chicago Tribune dance writer Sid Smith saw Lorena, she was dancing the Nutcracker's Sugar Plum Fairy.
"She just blew me away," he says. "She did the whole time she was here. I could never say enough about her. My take on her? She's just got it all — strength, form, perfect positioning, terrific acrobatic strength. . . . She charms the audience without overkill. She just hits all the ballet buttons."
Lorena left the Joffrey because she missed performing the classics such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "Giselle."
With the much-beloved Evelyn Cisneros and Sabina Allemann both retiring that year, San Francisco's artistic director, Helgi Tomasson, was quick to snatch up Lorena, who had offered to accept a soloist's contract until he had room for her.
Lorna took a much different path. She was accepted into Cuba's National Ballet at 18, rising through the ranks after her sister had left. She didn't move abroad until 2002. With much of her homegrown talent scattered across the globe, Alonso offered Lorna and her husband and fellow dancer, Nelson Madrigal, an open invitation to perform in Cuba anytime.
But because the couple hasn't yet been issued their green cards, the U.S. government prohibits them from traveling abroad.
Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal first saw Lorna perform in Havana in 1978. He also saw her on several U.S. tours of "Cinderella" and "Giselle" before she joined Boston Ballet; he sees Lorena frequently. He calls the sisters very "well-rounded, accomplished women."
"Lorna is more naturally the dainty, classical, delicate flower. Lorena is the hot-blooded, tempestuous, dramatic firebrand," he says.
The sisters performed publicly together for the first time last year in "Swan Lake." It was a sold-out, one-night-only performance in which Lorna danced Odette — a princess who is human at night, but turned into a swan during the day by an evil sorcerer — and Lorena danced the role of Odile, the sorcerer's daughter. One dancer usually dances both roles. Madrigal, a principal for Boston Ballet, partnered both.