Dance in Cuba

You’re now standing in front of Havana’s Centro de la Danza, housed in what was once the old Cantineros Club. It’s the perfect spot to talk about the role of dance in Cuba. This center hosts workshops, classes, exhibitions, and rehearsals, and it supports some of the country’s most renowned contemporary companies, such as Rosario Cárdenas, DanzAbierta, Malpaso, and Acosta Danza. They embody the vitality and creativity of Cuba’s modern choreographic scene. But dance in Cuba is much more than what happens on stage. It’s everywhere — in the streets, in popular celebrations, in religious rituals — always inseparable from music, which is the heartbeat of Cuban life. Salsa, son, rumba, danzón… each rhythm becomes an invitation to move, to tell a story, to express identity. And yet, Cuba is not only about popular dances. Remarkably, for such a small island, it has also become one of the great stages of classical ballet. Just a short walk from here, further down the Prado, you’ll find the National School of Ballet, which for decades has trained some of the world’s most brilliant dancers. Much of that international prestige is owed to the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, founded in 1948 and turned into a legend by the great Alicia Alonso. Born in Havana in 1920, she trained from an early age with the Russian-Cuban teacher Nikolai Yavorsky, then pursued her career in New York before returning home to found her own company. After 1959, it became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Under her leadership for more than half a century, the company gained worldwide recognition and left the country an extraordinary artistic legacy. What makes her story even more astonishing is that Alicia Alonso began losing her sight when she was still very young. Yet she never gave up dancing. She memorized every choreography with incredible discipline and intuition, finding her way on stage through the light and the support of her partners. That determination turned her into a legend and a source of inspiration for generations of dancers. Thanks to her, Cuban ballet earned an international prestige that continues to set the island apart as one of the great capitals of dance.