Star Status

If there is one thing I’ve learned while living in Cuba, it’s that Cubans know their stars, be it authors, film directors, actors, ballerinas, baseball players, etc., and they go nuts for them. Coming as a foreigner who has studied elements of Cuban culture, it is easy to know who is a big deal based partially on who is widely known internationally (authors like Leonardo Padura or Virgilio Piñera or actors like Jorge Perugorria), but what is surprising about living in Havana is how accessible these people truly are and how much Cubans appreciate them. For example, every Monday our group has a sort of lecture series with different academics and artists that come to our house in Vedado. The family that owns the house is always interested in who our guests are, but the three speakers that have received coffee and juice on silver platters: Marta Rojas, journalist for the Granma who witnessed Fidel’s trial at Moncada, Mirtha Ibarra, world-renowned actress and wife of Tomás Gutierrez Alea, and Leonardo Padura, famous author and screen-writer. After Mirtha’s talk, the family excitedly gathered around and asked for a photo and an autograph. A few days later, I saw her in the almost empty theatre where I was watching a 1950s French film as part of the French film festival in Cuba and she greeted me as if an old friend. The biggest star reaction I have seen however was at the National Ballet’s performance of Don Quijote in the National Theatre last Saturday night. The ballet was yet to start and everyone was milling about and talking while the house lights were still up. Suddenly, the crowd erupted in cheers and everyone stood up and craned their necks towards a private box on the right side of the house. I stood up along with them, trying to get a view of the cause for celebration. Walking out from the doors to the box was Alicia Alonso, aided by two young men, old and hunched, but elegantly dressed in a sparkling gown and head-wrap. At the end of a three hour stellar performance, the loudest applause was not for the excellent prima ballerina, but for Alonso as she came on stage to receive her bouquet as choreographer. I imagined what it would be like if in the U.S. we paid as much attention to ballet as to NFL football, or if art galleries were as packed as Justin Bieber concerts.