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Life in Cuba is difficult in many ways.
The quest to keep body and soul together is referred to as “la lucha” – the struggle.
Yet some facets of Cuban society are more refined than corresponding aspects in the U.S.
Take ballet, for example.
It is not only state-supported, it is supported by a large portion of the public as well, says Cuban émigré Ariel Cisneros, featured performer in the Fort Wayne Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” that starts today.
Students at the Cuban National Ballet School are treated like movie stars, says Karen Gibbons Brown, Fort Wayne Ballet artistic director.
“When you tell people you are a dancer, they say, ‘Oh, really,’ ” Cisneros says, doing a good impersonation of someone suddenly filled with admiration. “In Cuba, you are in a position that is seen as very important for society and the community.”
Cisneros, who teaches at the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, says he has noticed that American ballet schools often have trouble finding male students.
Part of the reason is that ballet doesn’t have much street cred among adolescent boys these days. But in Cuba, classical dancing is seen as a manly thing to be doing.
In fact, Cuban dancing has distinctly male and female elements.
Male dancers are taught a way of dancing that celebrates their gender, Cisneros says.
“When you go on the stage, people have to know who the boy is,” he says.
Male Cuban dancers are in high demand worldwide for the way a mesmerizing masculinity is expressed in their strong and athletic movements, Gibbons Brown says.
Cisneros first left Cuba for a non-Cuban dancing opportunity in 1992 when he was 20.
“I was struggling a lot in Cuba,” he says. “The economy was bad. Cuba was the kid, and Russia was the mom and dad, and Russia said, ‘We don’t want to help you anymore.’ ”
The prestigious job that Cisneros was offered by Teatro Municipal of Rio de Janiero was also a non-paying one. But Cisneros jumped at it anyway.
In Brazil, Cisneros met the teacher who would soon become his wife: Graca Sales.
Sales is Ballet Mistress of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.
Based solely on videotapes of his performances, Cisneros was subsequently offered a position with the Cleveland Ballet.
But it took seven attempts for his visa petition to be approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Basically, Cisneros had to make a case for a sort of VIP status, he says.
Gibbons Brown says Cisneros and the Cleveland Ballet had to prove that there were no qualified American dancers who could fill the position being held open for Cisneros.
Moves to the United States might not be artistically inevitable but they are financially preferable, Cisneros says.
The Cleveland Ballet folded not long after Cisneros arrived, and he was forced to drive around the country auditioning for various companies.
He ended up dancing in Lexington, Ky., where he met many fellow Cubans but did not find the life he desired for his family.
A Chicago audition in 2004 led to three job offers, two of which Cisneros accepted.
For a time, he danced for both the Joffrey and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, commuting manically between the two.
These days, Cisneros teaches and travels the country doing guest appearances.
Cisneros says he never gets tired of doing “The Nutcracker.”
“The passion that people here have for ballet at Christmas is like what people in many other countries feel for ballet all year long,” he says.
