Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso – Havana Province – Cuba

Capturing this shot was a three-year journey through the heart of Havana. During my first year, I attempted the official route to gain access to the ballet school, but I spent two full days lost in a bureaucratic maze of administrative offices, each one claiming they did not handle such requests. By the second year, I had almost given up until I stayed at a BnB where the host’s daughter was a high-level ballet student. I tried to organize an impromptu session for my workshop students, but the dancer I approached was too busy, and I left Cuba feeling like my mission was unachieved. Finally, on my third trip, everything clicked. We arranged a session directly with the host’s fifteen-year-old daughter. To secure the perfect setting, I bypassed the official channels and handled things the old-fashioned way with a bit of backshish along the road. It was a win-win for everyone involved, and seeing this final composition makes it easily one of my favorite images from Cuba, born from persistence and the magic of local connections.