The 'Cuban Nijinsky' Seeks Asylum and Stardom (original) (raw)
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- Aug. 31, 2005
In early July, Rolando Sarabia, 23, one of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba's leading dancers, sneaked across the border into the United States in the way, he said, that so many Cubans do: "Walking, walking, walking." His is the latest in a wave of defections that have hit the brilliant but beleaguered Cuban national ballet company since 2002.
His departure, which was first reported by the Spanish newspaper El País, will be keenly felt in Cuba. Critics have called him the "Cuban Nijinsky" and compared him to the young Mikhail Baryshnikov. A company dancer since 1999, he has won ballet competitions in Paris; Varna, Bulgaria; and Jackson, Miss. Christened Sarabita by his many fans, Mr. Sarabia is the love object of at least half the adolescent balletomanes in Cuba, of which there are many.
Mr. Sarabia said his decision to leave Cuba was purely artistic, spurred, he added, by the refusal of Alicia Alonso, the general director of the Ballet Nacional, to allow him to accept a principal dancer contract with the Boston Ballet in 2003. "Artistically, they shut the door on me," he said yesterday by telephone from Miami. "I am now making a new life." He and another principal dancer with the Ballet Nacional, Alihaydée Carreño, who left Cuba to dance in the Dominican Republic this July, are both scheduled to perform in the International Ballet Festival of Miami in September, according to Pedro Pablo Peña, the director of the festival.
Officials at the Ballet Nacional de Cuba could not be reached for comment.
Like other leading dancers in the Cuban ballet, Mr. Sarabia has been longing to establish himself as an international star. "Where did Alicia Alonso become famous?" Mr. Sarabia said in an interview in Havana last November. "In New York. Where has she always been? Abroad." He said he wanted the same thing. "All the sacrifices I've made for my career, God should give me the opportunity," he said. "The time is now."
But God and opportunity are tricky forces, and Mr. Sarabia had to wait eight months for his moment to come. This summer, he obtained permission from the Cuban government to travel to Mexico to teach ballet in Querétaro. In early July, he said he crossed the border to the United States illegally, and after spending a week in Texas with friends, went to Miami to stay with relatives and apply for political asylum. Mr. Sarabia's younger brother, Daniel, 20, defected last year, and in June, won a silver medal at the New York International Ballet Competition. Daniel will have his debut with the Boston Ballet as a corps de ballet member in its 2005-6 season.
Officials at the Boston Ballet said they still hoped to hire Rolando Sarabia as a principal dancer. "He still has some working documents to sort out before we can offer him a contract, but we certainly would expect to," said Valerie Wilder, the company's executive director. "I'm glad he's here now and we can look forward to having him here on the stage in Boston."
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