What: Ballet Nacional de Cuba

When: Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Royal Theatre

Tickets: $65-$95 at rmts.bc.ca or 250-386-6121

It may be a world-renowned company, but the Ballet Nacional de Cuba has a record of losing dancers when it comes to Canada.

Five stayed behind last March, after the company performed Giselle in Montreal. A year earlier, five other dancers defected following a show in Hamilton, Ont. Another three defected and settled in the United States after a Hamilton appearance in 2008.

The disappearance of dancers, carefully trained and nurtured from about age eight, must be a hardship for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, but it hasn't deterred the company from touring internationally.

The prestigious dance company will embark on its first tour of Western Canada this week, beginning with two shows at the Royal Theatre, Friday and Saturday.

Asked about the defections — which have included those of principal dancer Octavio Martin and wife Yahima Franco in 2005 after a performance in Mexico — members of the ballet company wouldn't speculate about their motivations.

"I don't know how to explain it because I don't have that feeling or that need," said premier dancer Dani Hernandez in a Spanish-language interview.

"We don't have anything to prevent people from leaving," said premier dancer Yanela Piñera, also in Spanish. "It's the decision of each person."

Following his defection last spring, Elier Bourzac told the Montreal Gazette Canada offered more artistic and economic opportunities. "I went as far as I wanted to go in classical ballet — in Cuba, it's exclusively classical dance," said Bourzac, who now dances with Alberta Ballet.

Indeed, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba has a reputation for loyalty to romantic-classical style. In a recent review, the New York Times said "watching the Ballet Nacional is like accessing a time machine and being speedily transported to different past eras," and described the style as "part mannered classicism, part Ballet Russes de Havana."

Current members say there's plenty of opportunity within the country for artistic growth, though.

"There are many different companies and different genres," said Hernandez. "We have various choreographers who bring these qualities, as well as inviting international choreographers from other parts of the world with contemporary and neo-classical styles."

While in Victoria, they'll perform a mixed program of classical dances from Don Quixote, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the contemporary all-male piece Acentos, and more.

Twenty-four-year-old Piñera will dance In the Shades of a Waltz and Idilio, as well as the role of Kitri in Don Quixote.

Piñera began dancing at Cuba's National Ballet School at age 9. She said her parents pushed her to try new things, but never with the idea that dance would be her career.

"As the years passed, I realized that I loved it, that I wanted to study it as a career."

Hernandez, who recently turned 23, also began studying ballet at age 9.

"This yearning for ballet was always there," said Hernandez, the son of engineers and brother of a nurse. "In my family, I'm the only artist."

Piñera, who has already performed in Canada five times, says being a member of the internationally renowned company has allowed her to share the stage with dancers from around the world.

"People always know who the Cuban dancers are for the distinct way they dance, the way we interpret characters, the techniques," she said.

Hernandez said the dancers are known for their ability, strength, sensuality, work and technique. "It's natural to us and we draw it out on stage."

asmart@timescolonist.com