The elegance of ballet floods Havana
Robles has been photographing dancers in different urban environments for two years, mainly located in New York. He has spent two years creating contrasts between the elegance and delicacy of this ephemeral art and the aggressiveness of asphalt and skyscrapers. During this time, his wish was to travel to Cuba to photograph his ballet company. A scholarship from the Bessie Foundation gave him the opportunity to travel to the island, he explains on his blog.
In the streets of Old Havana he portrayed in action those he considers the best dancers in the world. "It may be because the movement and rhythms run through his Afro-Caribbean blood, but also because of the heritage of the Russian school."
On the ground, Omar Z Robles discovered himself documenting a different kind of dance. " I saw myself oscillating between the rhythm of the dancers that I decided to photograph and the cadence of the Cubans in the streets, balancing their lives in an effort to get through each day.
"With an average salary of between 22 and 35 euros, Cubans constantly struggle to stay afloat. Like ballet dancers, they strive with a resistance and elegance that I have not seen before. Far from the long faces we see in our cities, Cubans move forward with an unparalleled amount of pride, generosity and dignity. ", assures Robles. You can see all the photographs of him on his Instagram or Facebook accounts.