As we prepare our bags for traveling to Cuba, we’re always on the lookout for cool stories about the beautiful “Pearl of the Carribbean.” Case in point: a recent story published in The Huffington Post about Cuba’s ballerinas.
“In Cuba, the ballet is something of a national treasure. The dancers recruited into Alicia Alonso’s storied company Ballet Nacional de Cuba, for example, reportedly make more money than doctors and enjoy a level of fandom reserved only for pop stars in the United States. The Cuban government not only funds ballet training but also subsidizes tickets to ballet performances. Lovers of Cuban dance like to say the adoration and skill is in their DNA,” writes Katherine Brooks, author of the article.
She then goes on the interview photographer Omar Robles about capturing the shots of the beautiful ballerinas in the streets of Havana. “Over the past two years I’ve devoted my work almost exclusively to photographing ballet dancers within urban settings,” Robles wrote on his blog. “Cuba has one of the top ranked ballet companies, thus why I dreamt of visiting the island for a long time. Their dancers are just some of the best dancers in the world. Perhaps it is because movement and rhythm runs in their Afro-Caribbean blood, but most likely it is due to the Russian school of training which is part of their heritage.”
ROOSTERGNN obtained permission to republish some of the beautiful shots here. If you can’t stop obsessing over the ballerinas, follow Omar on Instagram @omarzrobles, we can’t get enough either! Great work and thank you, Omar!