La Jornada: In Cuba, passion for ballet prevails over the crisis

Havana. In Havana, with limited transportation and blackouts lasting more than 20 hours, Cuban dancer Laura Kamila Rojas rehearses a pas de deux of Don Quixote and takes refuge in art to cope with the serious energy crisis that hits the island.

A soloist with the National Ballet of Cuba for a year, this 25-year-old Afro-Cuban dancer, shy off stage but imposing on stage, is experiencing a key moment in her career while fuel shortages have drastically reduced the country’s cultural life.

“It has been a little difficult,” Rojas tells AFP. “The blackouts sometimes don’t let me rest, but I always do my best. I get up and tell myself that I can do it, and I keep moving forward”

She recently played the role of Swanilda for the first time in the pas de deux of the Coppélia ballet and his talent did not go unnoticed.

“Bravo, Kamila!” the audience shouted after an impeccable sequence of spinning jumps during a performance in April at the National Theater of Cuba in the capital, where the audience is known for being particularly demanding.

Born in the heart of Jesús María, a popular neighborhood of Havana with a strong Afro-Cuban tradition, she grew up surrounded by music. His father directs a folklore group in which his mother was a dancer. Many expected her to follow that path, but she chose the tips.

Every day he travels as best he can the 5 kilometers that separate his house from the Ballet’s headquarters, in the Vedado neighborhood. He gets up early to find transportation. “If necessary (…) I would come walking,” he says.

Due to lack of fuel, the company’s buses are now reserved for performance days.

Rehearsals have also been reduced, going from full days to just four hours a day to save electricity and give time for the dancers to return home.

“But the demand is the same,” emphasizes the young woman who sports a tattoo of angel wings on her back. “We all want to be here (in ballet), because this is what we like,” he adds while preparing to rehearse in one of the company’s rooms.

“A bubble”

Lack of sleep further complicates their daily lives: nighttime blackouts prevent the use of air conditioning or even a fan, while mosquitoes and the heat of the Cuban summer intensify.

But “when I dance, I forget everything (…), anything can happen, but mine is dancing,” he explains.

For the director of the National Ballet and prima ballerina, Viengsay Valdés, 49, this determination is shared by the entire company, made up of very young artists.

“They have a lot of talent and a lot of desire to dance, and that is essential,” he says.

Although much of the country’s cultural activity has slowed down, the Ballet has not stopped rehearsing or performing.

“The dancer needs the scene,” emphasizes Valdés. “If they stop, you have to retrain that body.”

And the public responds. Despite the daily difficulties, the 2,000-seat hall of the National Theater is almost full during performances, whose schedules have been adapted to the availability of electricity.

Braving the heat and fuel shortages, spectators arrive by pedicab, electric motorcycle or on foot, most elegantly dressed.

In Cuba, ballet has been part of cultural life since the 1959 revolution, which democratized its access. Promoted by Alicia Alonso (1920-2019), the country developed its own school and maintains one of the most prestigious companies in the world, with a loyal and knowledgeable public.

“You are sitting watching the ballet, in the middle of Havana, with so many problems, and it is like a bubble that takes us out of reality,” says Teresa Betancourt, after witnessing a performance. “It’s strange, but beautiful,” says the 52-year-old teacher.