50 years ago, the famous English critic Arnold Haskell was right when he defined the Cuban ballet school as "the Cuban miracle". What it is really important to emphasize is that this artistic phenomenon that is currently recognized and praised was not the result of a divine gift but the outcome of human and worldy elements and circumstances: the rich dance culture of our people which is always eager to express itself in the movement language; as well as the presence of several personalities capable of expressing - to the highest levels - all that popular heritage. Another important thing was the support given by a cultural management capable of turning the utopia into a real and irreversible fact.

It is true that since the 19th century the stages in Havana knew this belle art with the presence of foreign remarkable personalities and during the republican period there were efforts made by the Sociedad Pro Arte Musical and the Alicia Alonso Ballet - the root of the Cuban National Ballet - paved the way until the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 when the seed of this art could finally sprout. From that moment on the Alicia Alonso Ballet Academy, founded in 1950, spread as a pedagogical method of its own through a network of schools throughout the country. Starting from those schools the talents are shaped by their teachers to prepare them for professional dance companies where they could finish their artistic careers.

The solid technical formation, stilistic ductility, the harmonic racial integration and the preservation of a rich cultural heritage make possible that every Cuban dancer is seen across the world as something to be admired. Rebekah Bowman had a great idea, with a delicate and sensitive artist lens was able to capture the metamorphosis of those beautiful pictures she gives to us and which shows during the lessons and rehearsals unique moments experienced by the National Ballet School and the Cuban National Ballet.

She manages to capture the multiple aspects of the lessons developed at the school at the bars or inside the main halls. There, the students and the professionals offer their discipline to correct their positions and the academic "en dehors", as well as looking for a greater flexibility, the virtue or their turns, jumps and sets, and the demanding requirements of the duets. Her pictures also capture the moments shared by the close relation student-professor when correcting the steps and poses and in giving an expressive sense to every physical challenge without it would be imposible to reach a true art.

This exhibit which we receive with a great appreciation is a valuable graphic testimony. It is a tribute to the rich heritage and a collection of samples the unceasing source that feeds the future of the Cuban ballet.

Dr. Miguel Cabrera is the historian of the Cuban National Ballet.

Havana, October-November 2014.

(Taken from Cubadebate)

Translated by: Osmany Ortiz González (Azurina)