Ready to take the stage by storm, sisters Alicia and Isabela pose in their formal costumes for a recital at the Sociedad Cultural Rosalía de Castro, which operates a restaurant but also offers Spanish dance classes to Cubans of all ages. Starting in the late 1990s and peaking in the years of Raúl Castro’s rule, newly legalized Spanish ethnic societies and cultural organizations run by the Cuban government but often subsidized by Spain began opening restaurants, clubs, and even schools that promoted ties with Spain. After decades in which the state banned all such independent venues, Cubans welcomed the return of social, learning, and cultural spaces that broke with the ideological and cultural boundaries imposed by the state. Ironically, the thousands of social and mutual aid societies founded and run by Afro-Cubans and others who identified as mixed race were not similarly legalized—nor could those founded by Black slaves and their descendants have been subsidized by a foreign state. Nonetheless, for kids and their families, like Alicia and Isabela’s abuela (Normita) shown here, classes in Spanish dance and public performances offered unique opportunities, not only to grow and socialize in a creative environment, but to share sincere and authentic joy. Photographs by Patricia Rodríguez del Castillo, Havana, 2017.
