Cuban dancers make leap to freedom after Hamilton performance

Three young Cuban dancersdefected to the U.S. after a performance of the National Ballet of Cuba in Hamilton, Ont., Sunday night.

The dancers — Taras Domitro, 21,Hayna Gutierrez, 26,and Miguel Angel Blanco, 21 —were welcomed in Florida Monday night by members of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami.

They defected with the help of Magaly Suarez, co-artistic director of the Miami company, who is the mother of Taras Domitro, according to Ana Margarita Martinez, who handles public relations for company.

Suarez, a former dancer and teacher with the National Ballet of Cuba, has been in Fort Lauderdale since 1999.

"She always goes to his performances wherever he [Domitro]is," said Martinez, adding that Suarez has seen her son perform all over the world.

"As I understand it, he requested her assistance in leaving," she said.

"He wanted to come to the United States and the other two dancers wanted to join him. It was a surprise to all of us. It was, as a matter of fact, a surprise to her. She was just planning to come home."

The dancers completed a Sunday evening performance of The Nutcracker with the National Ballet of Cuba and the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble of Hamilton.

They then attended a wrap-up party with the young Canadian dancers and returned to their downtown hotel before leaving in Suarez's rented car.

They requested asylum in the U.S. after crossing the border at Buffalo, N.Y.

They were discovered to be missing the next morning, after failing to show up for the bus to return to Cuba via Toronto, according to Bellma Diamante of the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble.

She said the Cuban company has another engagement in Hamilton in April, to perform Hansel and Gretel, and in June to perform Giselle.

The Miami ballet company plans to use thethree dancersin a performance of Swan Lake near the end of February.

"It's wonderful for them that they will have new horizons and opportunities and freedom above all," Martinez said.

"You can be doing what you love in life, but still feel like a slave. It's almost a miracle they were able to get away."

Meanwhile, three Cuban musicians have requested refugee status in Brazil after a tour of that country.

Miguel Angel Costa Freda, Arodis Verdecia Pompa and Juan Alcides Diaz, from the band Los Galanes, were reported missing last Wednesday after they failed to show up at the airport for a flight home and requested asylum on Tuesday.