The untold story of the dancer with Alzheimer's that thrilled us

The story of Marta González Saldaña, former prima ballerina who, sick with Alzhaimer and in a wheelchair, danced Swan Lake

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Surely in recent days you will have seen the exciting video that shoots a former prima ballerina suffering from Alzheimer's who, after listening to Swan Lake, starts dancing perfectly remembering the choreography he had performed many times during his career. Here is the whole story of Marta C. González Saldaña.

In Cuba they called her Rosamunda, in Madrid and New York she was known as Marta Cinta but on her Spanish identity card she was registered as Marta González Saldaña. A name that few remembered until recently but now many know after the video that takes this former prima ballerina, now elderly, who with only her arms but with a grace and elegance out of the ordinary, retraces the choreography of Il Swan Lake.

You can watch the video here.

The newspaper El Español has investigated the life of the former dancer to discover his true story, intriguing and with some obscure points, which tells us about a time when, long before ending up in a retirement home in a wheelchair, Marta performed in theaters all over the world, leaving you breathless for her “majestic” bearing.

Marta was born in Madrid in the mid-20s. Her exact date of birth is a mystery, the woman has always lied about her and, by the way, on her document she has been falsified. As stated Inmaculada Vilar, director of the Muro de Alcoy residence, where Marta spent her last years of life: "We believe she was born around 1924. But on the identity card it says that she was born in '49 and that he would now be around 70 years old. It's impossible".

In reality, even that she was born in Madrid is questioned by the fact that, unlike what the woman claimed, her identity document places her coming into the world at 7.400 kilometers from the Spanish capital, precisely in Havana (Cuba). .

Those who knew her say that Marta spoke with a strong Cuban accent and you know, from the same stories she told in the residence for the elderly, that when she was very young her family moved to the Caribbean island. Her father, Nicolás González, was an engineer and was hired to build the country's new railway line. His stay on the island is documented by a card from the Directorate General of Sports, which is dependent on the Cuban Ministry of Education.

The untold story of the dancer with Alzheimer's that thrilled us

@ The Spanish

This card certifies Marta's appointment as a dance teacher on the island. It is dated May 3, 1968, that is, after the Cuban revolution. But if you look closely at the image, you can see that a sticker has been affixed to the year. It is conceivable that Marta altered that date (the reasons are unknown).

This is not the only misleading document in terms of dates. In her personal folder there are several diplomas that place her in New York in the years 1966 and 1978. But here the situation becomes complicated: according to a diploma from Nicolay Yavorsky High School in New York that credits Marta as prima ballerina (title of excellence in ballet), in 1966 she was 19 but the same dance school documents that on June 3, 1978 she had 25 years old. And a third diploma dated three days later, she writes that she is 23 years old.

@ The Spanish

And as if that weren't enough, a former student of hers who recognized her in the video that went viral, assures that at the beginning of the 70s Marta was teaching in Madrid.

“I recognized her immediately. I said 'but it's her, it's Marta…'. His arms and hers are the same. That elegance, you know? When I was little it seemed very ethereal. When she walked, when she moved. She was also a woman with a very strong character. She was not hard, she was demanding, which is not the same thing ".

According to this woman's account, Marta taught both at her home and at the Reinado Corazón de Jesús school, still open on Waila Street in Madrid.

Marta also had another school at number 66 in via Alfonso XII in Madrid. This is demonstrated by a brochure taken from her personal archive. “Cinta de Madrid ballet school - reads the brochure - the most modern training and personal improvement center“.

However, the older residents of this building do not remember ever having a dance school on the 1st floor inside B, but peeking inside the room (the apartment is now completely empty) the parquet floor and the generous space indicate that there may actually have been a dance school there.

The traces of Marta are lost for decades until we find her living in Alicante with her husband, or perhaps her partner since it is not known whether she was ever married, the surgeon Raúl Fernández Suárez, seriously ill and from whom she never had children.

In September 2014, now elderly, the two moved to the retirement home where they both died, first he, then her.

It is not known precisely if the woman suffered from Alzheimer's, however, according to what the people who work in the nursing home testify, her cognitive decline was evident.

They also tell an anecdote: Marta, now a widow, lived an unrequited love in the retirement home, in fact she fell in love with a man of the residence: "he was a very gallant gentleman, but he did not reciprocate", the director of the structure said . She also tried to put on a ballet for seniors inside the center and the staff at the facility enjoyed joking about her fictional casting of her.

The video that takes her back to dancing from her wheelchair, thrilling the whole world, dates back to June 2019. It was shared by the Música Para Despertar platform to remember the evocative power and therapeutic capacity of music.

Marta died in March of this year, probably unaware of what would soon happen all over the world, hitting hard homes for the elderly. The video that introduced us to this special woman, and her story, went viral and also inspired several tributes from artists.