“My Body Is My Patria”: Dancing Community and Nationhood in the 1960s Cuban Diaspora

The title of this paper comes from Cuban modern dancer Marianela Boán, who stated that in the process of living and working first in the United States and then the Dominican Republic, her body has become her nation. Taking my cue from Boán, I argue that dancing Cubans politicized the body in motion, making it a locus for the nation in exile. To examine this process, the paper zeroes in on the small Miami dance institution, Ballet Concierto, and its affiliated teachers, students, patrons, and audiences. Exiles Sonia Díaz Blanco and Martha del Pino founded Ballet Concierto and its affiliated Academia Cubana de Ballet (Cuban Academy of Ballet) in 1964. Based on archival materials and oral history interviews, the directors saw their institution as providing Cuban youth and audiences living in exile the opportunity to enjoy an art form with considerable importance to their native home.

The activities of Ballet Concierto provide an opportunity to rethink the politics of Cold War cultural producers and the Cuban exile community. Scholarship on the politics of Cold War cultural production tend to focus on famed artists who defected in highly publicized leaps to freedom. This paper delves into the gendered, generational, and community politics of a small dance studio with mostly female teachers and students and with audiences comprised of family and friends. Second, scholarship on Cuban exile politics have explored the violence and infighting of different factions. My analysis investigates generative and creative actions that enacted nationhood in exile through daily dance actions.