Psst! The Cubans Are Coming

(2 of 3)

•Lorna Feijóo, 31, Boston Ballet. Compared with her sister, she has a more lyrical, flowing style, flirting gracefully with the tempos and holding breathtaking balances en pointe in such roles as the dual leads in Swan Lake. Lorna was flourishing as a prima ballerina in Cuba's National Ballet but left anyway, along with her dancer husband Nelson Madrigal, now also a principal in Boston. That time Alonso acquiesced and gave the pair her blessing. "We need to go around the world," says Feijóo. "We need to work with different choreographers, different companies, to learn different styles, because this career is really short and you need to take all the opportunities that you have."

Solid training is a key to the Latin influx. In contrast to the U.S., where training is haphazard except at a few top companies, many Latin countries have excellent ballet schools, often subsidized by the government, where youngsters are put through a rigorous classical regimen. Spain boasts a fine school run by former Maurice Béjart dancer Víctor Ullate. Argentina has another, at the century-old Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. But the most celebrated and influential school in the Latin world is the one attached to Cuba's National Ballet, supported by Castro since 1959 and presided over by the indomitable Alonso.

Schooling accounts for the Latins' superb technique; their culture supplies the rest. A love of movement, says A.B.T. artistic director Kevin McKenzie, "is part of the daily fabric of their lives." Adds A.B.T.'s Julio Bocca, who is from Argentina: "We improvise a lot. Our kind of living is very fresh and spontaneous." And Latins are never shy about injecting a little drama. "We try harder to be actresses in the roles we dance," says Mary Carmen Catoya, a Venezuelan with Miami City Ballet, "to seduce the audience a little more, make our eyes talk a little more, use a little more of our bodies." The Latin men, who didn't grow up with the mystique of machismo for nothing, exert a commanding presence on the stage. They have become even more prominent than their female compatriots. The U.S. hasn't trained enough top-flight male dancers to stock its companies, so there are plenty of openings.

With Cuba's National Ballet and other Latin companies achieving such high quality, why do dancers keep leaving? For one thing, the companies stick mostly to traditional repertory, emphasizing the classic 19th century romantic ballets. Homegrown choreographers are in short supply, and leading international choreographers rarely visit. The dancers are understandably restless and eager to explore more varied and contemporary styles. For another, the U.S. and Europe are still the big leagues, offering more visible (and lucrative) careers and often a freer, more comfortable way of life than are available back home.