JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: A group of Washington dancers is now in Cuba and, as CNN's Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman reports, these envoys are gracefully making their point en pointe.</s>LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: If the music sounds familiar here, it's because the Washington Ballet has brought part of Cuba back to Cuba. This ballet, choreographed by the company's artistic director, Septime Webre, was inspired by the memories of his Cuban-born mother and two aunts, Mercedes and Betty, whose faces from an old photograph serve as the backdrop.</s>SEPTIME WEBRE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON BALLET: I've used music that my parents danced to when they were young and I grew up hearing in my household, so it's been a very personal work. And five, six, seven eight...</s>NEWMAN: But what started as a personal search for his Cuban roots has turned into a much broader project called "Dialogues in Dance." The participation, for the first time since the revolution, of an American dance company in Cuba's International Ballet Festival has helped draw record crowds in this country where ballet is already extremely popular. But the Washington Ballet, which is accompanied by a large entourage of community leaders, arts critics and entrepreneurs hopes its visit will do more than just acquaint Cubans with its more modern, unique style of dance.</s>WEBRE: This cultural exchange can be one of the catalysts for a warmer relationship between the people's of both countries and, certainly I hope -- I think governments' policies have to follow people's desires.</s>NEWMAN: But at least the next step, says Webre, will be to repeat this experience -- but in Washington, with Cuba's National Ballet, which he's sure will also be a sensation. Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
Washington Ballet First American Troupe to Visit Cuba in Decades