'Dancing has saved them.' A Miami ballet school and company has built a reputation as a haven for Venezuelan dancers seeking asylum after fleeing their crisis-torn nation.
Young dancers perform on stage during a rehearsal of Vladimir Issaev's rendition of The Nutcracker ballet on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. More than 20 dancers of Venezuelan origin were playing various roles on a recent performance of the holiday favorite “The Nutcracker.” Some of these dancers are here seeking asylum after fleeing their crisis-torn nation, which is plagued by shortages of food and medicine.
Hernandez, 25, is a professional dancer for Arts Ballet Theater of Florida, a Miami school and company that has built a reputation as a haven for the Venezuelan dancing diaspora. More than 20 dancers of Venezuelan origin are playing roles in the holiday production, from tiny mice gobbling cheese to snowflakes waltzing in a winter land.
Venezuelans have been drawn to this school and company in the Miami suburb of Aventura because its Russian artistic director — a familiar name in the ballet scene of the South American nation. Vladimir Issaev, husband of Romero-Issaev, left the former Soviet Union when he was hired to be ballet master at the National Ballet of Caracas, working alongside late choreographer Vicente Nebrada from 1987 to 1997 before founding the school and company in Florida.
As the economic crisis worsened in Venezuela over the past decade, old acquaintances of the Issaevs began recommending the school in Miami to families emigrating to Florida. Fiorucci left for Buenos Aires, where she started a company with Venezuelan dancers who have emigrated. Paola Nava, 17, arrived in 2015 and is now a senior in high school. She hopes she and her parents will be granted asylum so she can go to college and continue to dance. She considers herself lucky to be dancing with a full scholarship. In her native Maracaibo, her school was canceling performances. She remembers the choreographer created routines that could be danced with soft slippers because many families couldn’t afford the pointe shoes.
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