Dancers return to nation that spurned them
HAVANA — As a young dancer compared with ballet legends Vaslav Nijinsky and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rolando Sarabia made headlines around the world when he abandoned Cuba in 2005 for a career in the United States.
He didn’t dance in his homeland for 13 years, banned as part of a wider Cuban punishment of citizens who illegally left the country.
Still lean and powerful at 36, a company dancer for The Washington Ballet, Sarabia stalked across the stage last month in the starring male role in “Gisselle” at Cuba’s National Theater. Asked about his feelings upon performing once again in Cuba, he began to cry.
Sarabia and four other renowned defectors from the Cuban National Ballet took the stage at the 26th Havana International Ballet Festival as part of a wide-ranging and profound reconciliation between Cuba and its millions of expatriates and exiles around the world.
“Happiness, happiness. I just don’t have any other words,” said Sarabia’s brother and fellow dance star Daniel after a rehearsal of the “Grand Pas Classique.” “This is something big. Global stars have come but even more important are those of us who’ve left. This is my audience, my Cuban audience.”
The country did away with the hated “white card” exit permit in 2013, allowing Cubans to leave freely for any country that would grant a visa. The change unleashed a wave of emigration that continues to this day, with tens of thousands leaving annually for destinations around the world. Also in 2013, Cuba allowed citizens to retain all of their rights — from free health care to owning property — as long as they at least briefly returned every two years.
Those 2013 changes unleashed an opposite wave of more than 40,000 Cubans who have repatriated and reclaimed the same rights as residents. At the same time, Cuba’s state-controlled cultural and sports institutions began opening to stars who left, allowing musicians who went abroad like singers Isaac Delgado, Kelvis Ochoa, Decemer Bueno and Raul Paz to live and perform in Cuba again, and welcoming baseball players like Los Angeles Dodgers player Yasiel Puig at official state events.
In fact, tens of thousands of others are reconciling with the state. They include Rolando Sarabia; his brother Daniel of the Maurice Bejart Ballet in Switzerland; San Francisco ballet dancer Taras Domitro; Marize Fumero of the Milwaukee Ballet; Carlos Quenedit of the Houston Ballet; and retired star Lorna Feijo.