Cultural Education

As many are probably aware, Communism, or at least Cuba´s version, has its share of problems. And it´s a large helping. But one thing I do love of about Cuba´s communism is the accessibility of cultural activities. In the US, high-quality ballet is often reserved for the upper-class, and it is almost equally as hard to secure cheap sports tickets to important games. But living here, I´ve had the amazing opportunity to see world-class cultural stuff for just a couple cents, or nothing at all. Back in October, I think, Havana hosted the National Festival of Ballet. I went to two ballets (¨Swan Lake¨ and ¨Giselle¨) danced by the National Ballet of Cuba and choreographed/directed by Alicia Alonso. The Cuban ballet is supposed to be one of the best companies in the world, and Alicia Alonso was their most famous ballerina ever. She´s now in charge of the company and even has a perfume named after her. She and the company were so awesome, I can see why people think they are the best. The tickets were about 25 cents and it was the same price for wherever one sat, seating was just determined by how soon you bought your tickets. I like that, it´s so fair. Two nights ago I saw the national ballet again, this time for the inauguration of the FEU (federacion estudiantil universitario) congress. Alicia and co. put on a medly of three ballets for the students and public, totally free. The best part was, it took place in the University stadium. The constructed a wooden stage in the middle of the soccer field and the audience said in the bleachers. Definitely an interesting experience.
Last week, Cuba hosted the International Latin American Film Festival, and the whole city practically dropped everything to watch movies all day long. Every theater in Havana played movies from 10 am to midnight. Most were latin american movies, but they had others too. I saw a really terrible american film. I also saw the worst movie I´ve ever seen in my life. It was a german movie about a guatamalan orphan who sneaks into the US, joins the army to get money for school, and then dies by friendly fire in iraq. It was probably the most ADD film ever made. But the best part of the festival was that my friend gave me an extra ticket to the inauguration of the festival. We saw this great movie called ¨El Laberinto del Fauna (the laberynth of pan)¨. It was very magical-realism, which was perfect because Gabriel Garcia Marquez came!!!!! He is one of my favorite authors ever, and he sat about 20 ft away. He actually has a brother or cousin or son or something that lives in Havana.
Other than dance and movies, I´ve gotten to see a lot of live music. I mentioned earlier that there is music EVERYWHERE, and a lot of it is live. There are also a ton of concerts, many of them free or close-to-free. My favorite group I´ve seen is Interactivo. They are considered fusion, and totally jam-bandy.
Anyway, I´ve really loved having the opportunity to see so much of Cuban culture without having to destroy my bank account. Ít´s also really nice to know that these opportunities are %100 available to cubans as well. Way to go, communism (at least in this case).

P.S., I´m leaving Cuba in 3 days to go travel around. I´m probably going to write one or two more posts on this blog about Cuba after I leave, and then I´ll continue a travel blog on another website. Stay tuned for a link.