Why Cuban Ballet Dancers Risk Defecting

Why Cuban Ballet Dancers Risk Defecting
June 14, 2014 8:03 AM ET

Six more dancers from the National Ballet of Cuba defected during a
performance abroad. Lester Tomé, a former Cuban dance critic, tells
NPR's Scott Simon why Cuba can't hold on to its ballerinas.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon. The much vaunted
National Ballet of Cuba was on tour in Puerto Rico recently and eight of
the dancers took that as an opportunity to defect. Six of them arrived
in Miami this week. Now last year, seven Cuban ballet dancers came to
the U.S. after defecting during performances in Mexico. Baseball and
ballet are both sources of national pride in Cuba, yet dancers and
pitchers continue to leave. To talk about the dance, we're joined by
Lester Tome. He's an assistant professor of dance at Smith College and
was a dance critic in Cuba. He joins us from studios at Harvard
University, where he's a visiting scholar of Latin American studies. Mr.
Tome, thanks so much for being with us.

LESTER TOME: Thank you for having me over.

SIMON: And maybe there are a number of different answers, but why are
dancers defecting?

TOME: I think that on the one hand, there is great demand for Cuban
dancers internationally because they are very well trained. Companies in
cities like London, New York or Boston or San Francisco are very
interested in hiring dancers from across several nationalities and
ethnicities to reflect the cosmopolitan environments in which the cities
are. And dancers from Cuba are highly coveted. These are dancers that
have a sterling technique. They are very well known for their balance,
their jumps, their turns, their fast footwork, their bold attack and
also for their work ethics. So they can make a very good contribution to
an international ensemble.

SIMON: This may sound naive, but what prevents a great Cuban dancer from
just saying to the people who run the National Ballet of Cuba look, it's
been great, but I'm going to dance for the Joffrey now?

TOME: That has actually happened. Some dancers leave Cuba with the
blessing of the National Ballet and with the blessing of the Ministry of
Culture. And these dancers become cultural ambassadors for Cuba. But
other dancers are denied the privilege or the opportunity.

SIMON: But does that wind up inspiring more dancers to defect, as these
eight have just recently?

TOME: There is great motivation for these dancers to defect because they
are dancers with world class training, and therefore they have world
class ambitions. They are attracted to positions in those highly
prestigious international ensembles that offer a very diverse repertoire
to which they don't have access in Cuba. In Cuba, the National Ballet of
Cuba performs, very frequently, 19th century classics like "Gisela" and
"Swan Lake," for which they don't have to pay the copyright. But they do
not have the possibility of licensing works by, let's say, George
Balanchine, Jerome Robbins. Therefore, the dancers with the company feel
that they are performing a repertoire that is stagnant. They are not
growing artistically, that they are not having new challenges. And they
are eager to go to companies abroad where they can have access to a more
diverse repertoire.

SIMON: So creative freedom, I assume, obviously, the possibility of more
money, although not as much as a baseball player would make.

TOME: Yes. Cuba has not recovered from the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dancers make the equivalent of $30 monthly. And therefore the salaries
of an international ballet company, even if they are not as high as
those of baseball league, they are very attractive to Cuban dancers.

SIMON: Defecting's a serious step though. As I understand it, it
essentially would prevent them from coming back to see their families
for, for how long?

TOME: The situation is a little bit murky because since January, there
is a new migration law. And that law allows most Cuban citizens to
travel freely international. But those who defect as part of an official
mission, as will be the case with a baseball team traveling abroad for a
competition, or the National Ballet of Cuba going to perform and
represent the country, according to that law, they are punished with
eight years of banning from returning.

SIMON: Where does this - all of this leave the Cuban National Ballet,
Mr. Tome? I mean, great dancers on the island, but forgive me to use a
baseball term again, but it sounds almost as if they've become the farm
club for the Royal Ballet and the New York City Ballet.

TOME: That seems to be the situation. On the one hand, it comes with a
degree of prestige that speaks to the quality of ballet training in
Cuba. And on the other hand, there are so many dancers leaving all the
time, that they have to hire a new crop of inexperienced dancers who are
just fresh from the school. And it creates a problem with the quality of
the performances.

SIMON: Lester Tome, scholar of dance and Latin American studies with
Smith College and Harvard University. Thanks very much for being with us.

TOME: Thank you for having me.

Source: Why Cuban Ballet Dancers Risk Defecting : NPR -
http://www.npr.org/2014/06/14/321952981/why-cuban-ballet-dancers-risk-defecting