Alonso inspires.

"After fifty-five years of directing the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, I'm still working and still learning," Alicia Alonso told a group of dance students and teachers during BNC's October 2003 visit to New York. Alonso started the company in 1948 but things really took off when, in 1959, Castro's revolutionary government offered support--a message reportedly delivered by Fidel himself

The message she conveys to children, Alonso says, is that in Cuba, dance is a legitimate career. In addition to BNC, the organization has four other companies, each under its own director. She reported school enrollment of 4,450 in Havana. "Those who improve a lot, we take into the professional school," where there are now 300 students, she said.

But the renowned quality of BNC dancers is the result of more than simply a numbers game. Alonso attributes it to an emphasis on style. The way to retain our "great cultural inheritance of classical dance" is how we keep the style, she said. "You don't sacrifice the style for the step. If anything, you sacrifice the step to do the style. It's more than just changing a costume. It's the quality of the character you portray. Everything talks on your body.

"Never get bored doing the same thing," Alonso advised. "Always find something to do better." She shared a personal example: "I have never felt the same way dancing Giselle--and I've danced it many, many times. I find something new in it."

A question from the audience about Alonso's early Broadway musical work elicited a chuckle. "I had to sing," she said. Then she added, "I don't think it's a bad thing at all to do Broadway. Also acting. A dancer should learn from all the arts. Go to museums and look at the paintings. See how they balance things. Everything you do in the arts enriches you.