Cuba's National Ballet School Perseveres Amid Blackouts and Shortages

For months, two-thirds of Cuba has been without electricity at night. Some Havana neighborhoods have gone more than two weeks without running water. Transportation is scarce, and staples such as eggs, bread and cooking oil are difficult to find.

Yet every morning, about 178 young students arrive for classes at the National Ballet School in the capital. The school occupies an imposing Art Nouveau building in the heart of Old Havana and combines rigorous dance training with academic subjects including math, Spanish, history and science.

Training to become a top-tier classical dancer demands discipline and sacrifice anywhere. In Cuba today, those demands extend far beyond the studio. For 14-year-old Roxana Pérez de La Mora, the day begins before dawn with a roughly 20-kilometer journey from her home to the school.

"Sometimes I tell my mom I don't feel like going, but missing it could cause problems for me later in training," she said. "I've always said that my dream is to be a prima ballerina."

Classical ballet remains a celebrated part of Cuban culture, nearly as popular on the island as baseball. The Cuban National Ballet, founded in the 1940s by revered ballerina Alicia Alonso and her husband Fernando Alonso, is considered one of the world's most prestigious companies. Tickets cost less than $1, while comparable performances elsewhere can cost as much as $300.

For its season-ending gala in August, the company presented "Canto Vital," a work by Russian choreographer Azari Plisetski set to music by Gustav Mahler. The performance starred Dani Hernández, a principal dancer who also directs the National Ballet School. Fuel shortages had left the streets nearly empty that night, but the Avellaneda Hall at the National Theatre of Cuba was packed with elegantly dressed patrons. The audience gave a standing ovation, shouting "Bravo!"

The combination of demanding leadership at the National Ballet and rigorous training at a public school has helped produce dozens of prominent dancers. Some have gone on to become principals at leading companies including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London and American Ballet Theatre in New York.

Hernández, 37, rides an electric motorcycle every day from his apartment in Havana to ballet class — a risky commute for someone whose career depends on avoiding injury. During recent persistent blackouts, heat and mosquitoes forced him to sleep on the terrace of his apartment building.

"Whether I have electricity or not, I have to be in the studio," he said. "But I keep thinking: Will the food in my refrigerator spoil?"

He expressed worry about how the country's mounting crises could affect future generations of dancers. "The entire situation we're experiencing today could affect a generation of students training in ballet, dance, music, the visual arts," he said. "And it's been the same for all other fields: engineering, medicine, education, everything else."

Yet classical ballet remains a source of national pride while maintaining its internationally recognized standards — an endurance reflected in the discipline's broad appeal across Cuban society. "It's one of those things where you go out on the street and say, 'Hey, I saw the ballet,' and everyone starts talking to you about ballet," Hernández said.