San Francisco's 66-year-old Museum of Performance & Design, considered the country's first museum focused solely on performing arts and theatrical design, has moved from Civic Center to SoMa and has reopened in late summer 2013 with a photography show of the most alluring ballet dancers in the world.

A Portrait of the Cuban Ballet School features Rebekah Bowman's behind-the-scenes pictures of mostly teen-aged dancers practicing, rehearsing and relaxing in the studios and hallways of the National Ballet School in Havana, Cuba.

Un-staged and shot with her un-accessorized camera (without added lights, reflectors, other photo equipment or even a flash), the black-and-white photos reveal the school and its talent au naturel, lithe bodies, muscle ripples and preternatural aplomb in well-worn facilities.

"They're found moments," the Bay-Area-based Bowman says of the photos. An accompanying video by Cuban cinematographer Roberto Chile contains an exclusive interview with 92-year-old prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, who, with recently deceased husband Fernando Alonso, is a founding parent of Cuban ballet. The exhibit is on view July 19-September 21, 2013.

The Museum of Performance & Design show of about 20 photos represents a tiny fraction of what Bowman captured during five weeks in Cuba in 2012 and 2013. Beyond the lively faces and long legs we see on display, the photographer's extraordinary access (which she ascribes largely to luck) gave her an eye-opening panorama of ballet there. A national pastime, it's as big as baseball, and Cubans know the story lines of Giselle and Le Corsaire.

"There, every taxi driver knows the names of the dancers," Mikhail Baryshnikov said in a 2011 New York Times interview.  A teen-age couple will go to the ballet on a date and cheer when dancers execute spectacular moves, Bowman says.

Ballet's commanding yet non-elitist position in Cuba evolved after the early 1960s, based on Fidel Castro's policy that art should be for the people. Interested and talented children get free ballet training at local schools all over the island. Those with "good academic and technical performance" are accepted at no older than age 10 for five years of elementary training at the National Ballet School of Cuba and at no older than age 15 for 3-1/2 years of intermediate-professional training. Only a handful of the students graduating each year are selected for the country's premier company, Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Cuba's ballet is also distinguished by a unique flair and teaching technique, built mainly by the Alonsos, which tap the best of the Russian, French and other European ballet schools, the Latin physique and Afro-Cuban and Spanish rhythms, Bowman says. The ballet showcases the Cuban persona that, compared to the American, is "a little more idealistic, less jaded and [moves with a] freer, more sensual style."

"There's a poise, grace and an elegance" by which balletomanes say they can recognize a Cuban dancer, says Bowman. Every internationally renowned ballet company has one or two of them--an amazing feat for an island blip whose population is about 11 million. San Francisco Ballet's Cuban roster includes principal dancers Lorena Feijoo and Joan Boada and soloist Carlos Quenedit.

Intrigued by Cuba's dancers, Baryshnikov, Italian-American contemporary choreographer Joseph Fontano, Sting and Hong Kong businessman-style maven Sir David Tang are among those who've made pilgrimages to the ballet school. In December 2013, Bowman returns to Havana to document another facet of Cuban ballet, a program that employs the plie, barre work and other classical exercises as psychological therapy. Photos from all of her visits are planned for a spring 2014 exhibit in Havana that will show "what ballet is in Cuba: It's more than ballet school and performances," Bowman says.

One of her Cuban ballet images is included in the World Affairs Council's annual juried photography group exhibition, Global Visions 2013, which runs October 2 through November 21, 2013. Bowman, who has also photographed in Bhutan, Tanzania, Mexico and elsewhere overseas, calls Cubans "the most big-hearted, generous, lovely people." Despite their country's hardships and the rocky history of U.S.-Cuban relations, "they hold nothing against Americans and they're not desperate to [complain] about their situation. They're very proud, self-sufficient and resilient."

A PORTRAIT OF THE CUBAN BALLET SCHOOL
Through Sept. 21, 2013
At the Museum of Performance & Design, 893B Folsom St., San Francisco 94107
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 12:30-7:30 pm
Admission: Free; $5.