Cuba’s Dance Revolution By Ana Campoy Dancers of the Ballet l oo k at t he b i ll i n g s of t h e wo r l d ’s top m a î t re an d ch oreo gr a ph e r. And like Fidel Nacional de Cuba. Ab a l l et ins ti tuti ons reveals on e of t h e Castro, she holds a tight grip over her domain. lesser known exports of Cuba and one of As a result, many dancers feel they lack the the major achievements of the island’s political freedom and space they need. So they leave. The revolution. latest star to defect is Rolando Sarabia, who on a From their small island Cuban dancers have trip to Mexico last July walked across the border jumped to the most prestigious stages in the to the U.S. in search of better opportunities. world and become celebrities at companies such When I last saw Sarabia in 2001, he was only as the American Ballet Theatre in New York and 19 and dancing lead roles in the classical ballets the Royal Ba ll et in Lon don . Cri tics and audiences that are the staple at Havana’s Gran Teatro. alike praise their technique and style. “Right now I’m not bored, but I don’t know if I Su ch fine ball et didn’t natu ra lly spro ut from can do this all my life,” he told me at the time. Cuban soi l . Fu lly backed by the state , Cu b a’s Apparently, he did get bored, and the Cuban ballet establishment was built from the ground Ba ll et su f fered for it. S ti ll , the ben ch is full of up and yearly churns out dancers sought after by well - tra i n ed dancers re ady to take his place . the best companies in the worl d . But if t h e L i ke Fidel ’s govern m en t , Al i c i a’s com p a ny has d a n cers’ excell en ce proves the hu ge su ccess of survived the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. the Cuban ball et sys tem , the fact that they take em b a r go and Cu b a’s many econ omic woe s . up forei gn of fers inste ad of s t aying hom e Even as the tro u pe’s intern a ti onal notori ety has underscores its weakness. decl i n ed since the days wh en she was prima bal- L i ke the island’s regime itsel f , the Ba ll et lerina, it has continued to produce excellent Nac i onal de Cuba has been dom i n a ted by a dancers. The question is whether ballet in Cuba single figure: Alicia Alonso, its founder, director, is strong enough to survive Alicia’s death, or 42 more importantly, Fidel’s. What Fidel is to the Cuban revolution, Alicia Alonso is to Cuban ballet. She even goes by her first name, just like him. But before becoming an icon, Alicia was a dancer and a very good one. Her training began at a school created by the Cuban elite to secure its entertainment after the Great Depression made it more difficult to bring foreign dance troupes to the island. Very much like the dancers who leave Cuba nowadays, Alicia soon outgrew the local scene and sailed to New York.At the time, ballet in that city was still in diapers and finding steady work was a challenge for any dancer. However, Alicia found a space to shine. It was at the Ballet Theatre, a precursor of the current American Ballet Theatre. When its star fell ill, Alicia was the only dancer that dared step i n to her spo t l i g h t . Af ter he r per f or m a n ce , George Schaffe, a ballet paraphernalia collector, went backstage, untied Alicia’s pointes from her bl i s tered , bl oody feet and kissed them . “ For history,” he said as he ran off with the shoes. Throughout her career the acc olades from c ri tics and audien ces would con ti nu e . “S h e moves in life. Her feet, her torso, her arms, neck, and eyes, are one continuing action, taking their dynamic from her meaning. She talks. Her heart is open. Here is the essence of a dancer. It is her a subsidy by becoming part of his government, Alicia Alonso in core she gives us, it is our core,” wrote dancer the Alonsos refused. Alicia wrote a public letter London, 1953. and choreographer Agnes De Mille. to condemn Batista’s “bribe” and organized a I can attest to that. I watch ed her dance in national tour to denounce it. In white tutu and 1 9 8 5 , be fore s he re t i red . Sh e was a lr e a dy full makeup, she appeared at the end of each bl i n d , and w el l past th e pr i me of mo st pr i m a show to promise that she would not set her ballerinas, but the ful lness of expression she pointes again on the Cuban stage until Batista conveyed simply by moving one of her hands, or left it. She kept her promise, and a few months turning her head was mesmerizing. Watching a f ter Fide l an d his b a rb u d o s m a rch ed into her on stage it was easy to imagine how she had Havana, the revolution embraced her company. become an institution in Cuba and established a Alicia was aw ay and Fern a n do was re ading a strong ballet tradition in a country that had book wh en their daugh ter Laura announced the none. vi s i tors . “Tell them to come up,” he said. In After her success in New York, Alicia returned w a l ked Fidel Ca s tro and one of his collaborators. home to start a ballet company and school with Si t tin g at the ed g e of the bed , t h e y talked w i t h her husband, Fernando Alonso, and his brother Fern a n do abo ut world and local po l i tics for Alberto Alonso. It was a time of political unrest. h o u r s u nt il Fid el s aid , “I came to talk abo ut A few years after they started, Fulgencio Batista b a ll e t .” overthrew the elected government in the 1952 “I alw ays have time to talk abo ut ball et ,” co u p. While Fidel plotted to overt h row his Fernando recalls saying. regime, Alicia chipped at it in he r own way. “How much money do you need for the ballet When the President insisted that her troupe earn company to start up again?” Fidel asked. “I don’t continued on next page 43 Cuba’s Dance Revolution continued from previous page k n ow, Co m a n d a n te , $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 ,” answered Fernando. Fidel, Fernando says, gave them $200,000. “The revolution was a beautiful thing in the beginning,” Fernando says. Wh i l e i n t h e U. S . p r i v a te m on e y s tr u gg l e d t o ju m p s t a r t a d a n ce e s t a b l i s h m e n t , i n Cu b a th e govern m ent decl a red that ball et was “one of the most el eva ted and be a utif ul ar ti s tic man ife s t a ti on s” and it would strive to make it ava i l a bl e to “a l l socia l cl a s s e s , prefera bly to workers and other popular sectors .” This su pport materialized the Alonsos’ dream to create a Cuban school of ballet that would take the best el em ents of a ll the others , to train ch i l d ren under it and devel op great dancers . In Alicia Alonso, General Director of the Ballet 1 9 6 4 , wh en they travel ed to the Nacional de Cuba, international ballet competition in 1998. Va r n a , Bu l g a ri a , the rest of t h e world got its first glimpse of t h e Cuban miracl e . “ Before the com peti ti on we But not all those who left were ambassadors of realized there were some Cuban names, but we the new order. In 1966, du ring the starke s t did not think anything of them,” says Arnold period of homosexual persecution in Cuba, ten Haskell, an English ballet expert who attended. male dancers defected on a tour in Paris. “And remember that we at Varna thought we Those who stayed became tired of Alicia over knew everything about the world of ballet and the years. One of them was Jorge Esquivel, who that nothing could surprise us.” became Alicia’s partner at 18 and danced with The Cubans did. Their technique mesmerized her for another 18 years.