With a Cuban Accent: Blogamole Talks to Cuban-American Ballet Critic Octavio Roca

By Vanessa Beatriz Soto

I sat down with Octavio Roca a few days ago to talk about his latest work, the gorgeous, photo-rich tome Cuban Ballet. Born in Cuba and a long-time US resident, Roca has written music and dance criticism for The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others, and is chair of the Arts and Philosophy department at Miami Dade College.

Growing up in the US in the 80s, I struggled to identify role models who were like me. What's it like today? Octavio Roca shared some of his thoughts on the significance of the Cuban diaspora on the ballet world, and how Hispanics in general and Cuban ballet dancers in particular are shaping American culture.

Blogamole: So tell us - how did Cuban Ballet come to be?

O.R. I have been a music and dance critic most of my life, and I am also Cuban. Being very close both to Cuba and to the art form, I noticed... Cubans are the Russians of the 21st century. The influence Cuban dancers are having on dance today, especially dance in America, is like that of the Russians in the 1980s. In the case of Russia, it's easier to understand - Russia's huge! Cuba is little... it's a miracle, that kind of influence that Cuba has in culture in general, but especially in dance.

I was working at the San Francisco Chronicle as lead dance critic, and by sheer coincidence, back to back, I got to see Lorna Feijoo with the Cuban National Ballet, in Giselle, before she defected, and then her sister Lorena's first Giselle with the San Francisco Ballet. I was so touched. They were so beautiful. Those two women are as good as it gets today. It touched me, because I thought I couldn't recover that kind of culture.

So I thought - Let's tell the whole story! I was in a perfect place to do this, because my mother danced in the company (The Cuban National Ballet), my mother was a Wili in the first Giselle I ever saw, with Alicia Alonso with Igor Youskevitch! When you start with the best, you get marked for life.

I told the story of ballet in Cuba, going back to the 19th century, through the beginnings of the present company, in 1948 before the Revolution: Alicia Alonso -Cuban National Ballet's director-, Fernando Alonso, and Alberto Alonso, the founders. I also chose to tell the stories of the new Cubans. The young ones are doing two very important things: they are keeping Cuban culture alive at a time that is very difficult, because Cuba has gone through a lot, and is going through a lot. And yet, here you have this art form that is so beautiful, thriving.

It interested me that people like Lorena and Lorna Feijoo are leading dancers of the San Francisco Ballet and the Boston Ballet. Every major American company has Cuban principals and Cuban teachers. At the same time as all of us Cuban writers and artists are trying to maintain our own identity, there is a dialog going on: we are also shaping the culture of the country we now call home.

American culture today is Hispanic-accented, and our particular Hispanic influence is a source of pride. We are making a major contribution to American culture."

Octavio Roca's book, Cuban Ballet, with forewords by Alicia Alonso and Mikhail Baryshnikov, is available for purchase now.

Tags Alicia Alonso, arts, Ballet, blogger: Vanessa Beatriz Soto, Boston Ballet, Cuba, Cuban Ballet, Dance, Hispanic Heritage Month, Lorena Feijoo, Lorna Feijoo, Mikhail Bayshnikov, Octavio Roca, San Francisco Ballet