Natalia Aróstegui

Foto/Bohemia. Julio 26, 1936

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Natalia Aróstegui Bolognini was born in Camagüey, Cuba. She was known for her cultivation of the fine arts in Cuba and New York. She worked with the "Pro Arte Musical" Society of Havana, starting in the early 1930s, first as librarian for the Society and then as dean of music and singing courses, being a performer herself. On June 30th, 1931, she facilitated the opening of the Society’s School of Ballet. It was the first ballet school to be founded in Cuba and likely the first in Latin America. The opening of the school was a first step towards the development of classical ballet in Cuba, which has since played a central role in society and is a highlight of Cuba’s cultural position in the world. Later she would go on to sponsor musicians and artists in New York, including Alicia Alonso, Rita Montaner, the composer Ernesto Lecuona, and more. Natalia was married to the famous violinist and concertmaster Remo E. Bolognini from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Aróstegui was named vice consul of Cuba in New York and served for almost thirty years before 1959. In 1938, she was distinguished by Las Asociaciones Femeninas (The Women’s Association of Cuba) as one of the first women to hold a foreign service consular position.

Aróstegui hailed from an Aristocratic Camagüey family that originally immigrated to Cuba from Spain in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Natalia’s work was influenced by her father, Gonzalo Aróstegui y del Castillo, a famous Cuban surgeon who also served as Secretary of Education in the 1920s. He was appointed Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts in 1919, subsequently taking charge of founding the Institutes of Camagüey and Matanzas. Aróstegui’s niece, Natalia Bolívar, was deeply influenced by her aunt’s (her mother’s sister’s) cultural values and education and went on to become a well-known artist, writer and researcher of Afro-Cuban culture and religion in Cuba under Lydia Cabrera. In her interviews she mentions the influence that her family, including aunt Natalia and the time spent with her in New York before 1959, impacted her life and work. (Biographical note written by Kate Villa. University of Miami's website)

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Nota de Roberto Méndez:

La idea de la escuela de ballet de Pro Arte vino de ella, porque sabía de la presencia en La Habana de Nicolás Yavorski, vagabundo y viviendo en los parques, tras el fracaso y desbandada de una compañía de ópera rusa. Tuvo amistad con el poeta Emilio Ballagas. Su hogar en New York era visita obligada de escritores y artistas cubanos. Otra figura que ayuda a contradecir la repetida afirmación de que la burguesía cubana era toda ignorante y no se ocupaba de la cultura...