A portrait of Cuba’s National Ballet School

The photographer of Mexican origin Rebekah Bowman has photographed Cuba several times. In 2012, she managed to gain access to the birthplace of the best male ballet dancers and prima ballerinas of Cuba: the National Ballet School in Havana.

According to Maia Booker’s account in the New Republic digital site, an article about Cuba aroused her interest: “I think of borders as places of longing, and nowhere are ideological borders more pronounced then between the U.S. and Cuba,” so she decided to explore this idea in the context of dance, a key element of Cuban cultural identity.

From this experience came the series titled “Portrait of the Cuban School of Ballet,” which will be shown this year as part of the International Ballet Festival of Havana, from 27 October to 11 November.

Progreso Weekly shares some of the images shot by Rebekah Bowman.

The National Ballet School in Havana was originally founded in 1931, but became the prestigious institution it is today in 1960. Children of great talent from across the Island can get free ballet classes there. “Maturity and intense dedication is required,” said Bowman to New Republic, “but even the most rigorous of teachers balance their severity with a healthy dose of humor and much education. Distinctive qualities, I believe of Cuban culture.”
For her “what she got with these portraits” is invariably a reaction to the raw beauty of the place, the unabashed sensuality, a palpable energy, creative ingenuity and generosity of spirit that also permeates Cuban culture. “