The Cuban National Ballet () is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet School. History The company was founded by Alicia Alonso, her husband Fernando, and Fernando's brother Alberto on October 28, 1948 as Ballet Alicia Alonso. Two years later in 1950, the Alicia Alonso Academy of Ballet school was established to promote the talents of young Cuban dancers. Both of these schools were annexed to the professional ballet company by 1956. Prior to the Cuban Revolution the Cuban ballet thrived artistically however struggled financially. The Cuban government declined to fund it. When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, he committed to leveling the social structure and to make the arts available to everyone. “The old government was out and the new hope was coming for the arts and the ballet in Cuba,” recalled Margarita de Saá, former BNC ballerina. The coming of the Cuban Revolution, marked the beginning of a new stage for the Cuban ballet. With state funding from Fidel Castro suddenly ballet became important to the country and its identity. That year, as a part of a new cultural program, the company was reorganized and it took the name of National Ballet of Cuba. With free funding by Fidel Castro, Cuba’s ballet program grew to unimaginable levels of practice that rivaled and in some cases surpassed several of the National Ballet programs in Europe. Significant improvements in traditional repertory, unique and diverse choreographic advances, established works that were recognized routinely as visionary achievements in Cuban contemporary choreography. Significant improvements in traditional repertory, unique and diverse choreographic advances, have established works that are recognized routinely as visionary achievements in the contemporary choreography. The BNC has choreographed and performed completely new versions of classics such as Giselle, The Swan Lake or Coppélia. These masterpieces are sometimes accompanied with works coming from the renovating movement of Sergei Diaghilev Russian Ballets Petrushka, or Afternoon of a Faun; and ballets created by Cuba's national choreographers. With the revolution in 1959 and its policy to make art available to everyone, the Alonsos have grasped the opportunity to set up the school by receiving funding from the government. Government funding for the Ballet Nacional continues to this day. These funds allow the Ballet to