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A group of young girls, ranging in age from 6 through 8, form a line before a classical ballet session at the National Ballet headquarters.

Every little girl in Cuba shares the same dream: to become a ballerina. Thanks to a long-ago promise by the Cuban government that making classical ballet accessible to the public, and the talents of the National Ballet of Cuba founder Alicia Alonso, that dream can come true, writes Mar Roman

The dance studio is hot and muggy, but the aspiring National Ballet of Cuba dancers don't seem to notice as they twirl and jete with scrupulous precision to the beat of the piano.

Only a few of the dancers will be selected to perform the next "Sleeping Beauty" or "Cinderella" at Havana's elegant Gran Teatro, but that doesn't dim their enthusiasm. All remain hopeful, giving each class and rehearsal all they've got, secretly hoping that it's the girl next to them who doesn't make the cut.

Top dancer Viengsay Valdes made the cut, living proof that dreams do come true. "My childhood dream was to be a ballerina, just like any Cuban girl," says the 26-year-old.

After donning her first pair of ballet slippers at 9, Valdes went on to become one of the few top ballet dancers in a country whose ballet company is among the world's best and where masses, not the elite, are the true classical dance aficionados.

As Valdes leaves the studio, dozens of girls between 5 and 8 years old file into the room in their colorful leotards, forming lines to await their first ballet steps - and their first taste of the discipline that classical dance requires.

The popularity of ballet in Cuba is only natural, Valdes postulates. "Because dancing is part of our culture," she says, referring to the island's mix of African and Spanish roots.

The government-funded classical dance program is world-class, training dancers for a company that has performed in 58 countries and received about 300 international awards.

Founded by Cuba's living ballet legend Alicia Alonso in 1948, the National Ballet has managed to forge its own style from ballet's two major techniques, the Russian and the British.

Alonso, an 82-year-old former prima ballerina, retains a strong grip over the company, even though she now has trouble moving and can barely see.

A familiar figure with her proud, turban-wrapped head and wide mouth, Alonso built Cuba's classical dance program from the ground, training several generations of dancers who quickly became some of the most sought- after in the world.

After having been the company's director, choreographer and teacher, Alonso still decides what the dancers will wear, who will go abroad, with whom they will dance and what role they will dance.

And since the beginning, she has done it with the support of Cuban President Fidel Castro and his government.

"After the revolution triumphed in 1959, Castro knocked on Alonso's door to offer the new government's help. He promised that he would make (ballet) available to all social classes," said Miguel Cabrera, ballet school historian.

"The government paid for everything from the building to rehearsals, salaries and ballet shoes," Cabrera added.

Government support has been important in making ballet a prestigious occupation. As a top dancer, Valdes receives a government salary similar to that of an important scientist or doctor: about 600 Cuban pesos (US$25) a month.

She has toured with the Cuban ballet and as a guest with foreign companies, giving part of her foreign earnings to the government.

"Now my target is to achieve international recognition," says Valdes. "But no matter what I do, I will always be linked to this ballet and to my country."

(The Associated Press)

www.miami.com Posted on Sat, Mar. 08, 2003 BY NERY YNCLAN nynclan@herald.com

MAN OF MANY FACETS: Eudes d'Orleans-Braganza, whose ancestors include European and Brazilian royalty, is a wine connoisseur and golf aficionado.

If you were to sketch Eudes d'Orleans-Braganza's family tree, it would be a distinct royal blue.

He details the regal highlights as if he were reciting a grocery list:

``My mother's grandfather was the last king of Bavaria. My father's great-grandfather was the son of the last king of France, and there we get Orleans. He married the princess of Brazil, and there we get Braganza. The princess Isabel of Brazil married Louis Gaston d'Orleans. He was the count of Eu, who was the son of the Duke of Nemours, who was the son of the last king of France.''

Lost yet? Fast-forward a couple of generations, and the genealogical bottom line is that Orleans-Braganza is the great-great grandson of Brazil's last emperor, Dom Pedro II.

Despite the colorful lineage, a career as a submarine commander and a much-publicized brush with death, the life of this wealthy Rio de Janeiro businessman doesn't include crowns and curtsies. But he will be treated like royalty on Saturday as the guest of honor at the Wolfsonian Imperial Propaganda Ball.

This is the Miami Beach museum's annual fundraising weekend, which will highlight the current exhibition, From Emperors to Hoi Polloi: Portraits of an Era, 1851-1945, on view through June 24 at 1001 Washington Ave. The ball and exhibit are among a variety of special events that began Friday.

Executive director Cathy Leff says the museum decided to celebrate Brazil because so many Brazilians live and travel in South Florida and so many non-Brazilians are unaware of the country's unique imperial past. It was Wolfsonian founder Micky Wolfson, she says, who insisted they track down the imperial family in the flesh.

''When they said yes, we thought it was fantastic. It brings the past up to the present,'' says Leff. ``To be able to celebrate the history of Brazil and personify it with the imperial family -- it's the ideal.''

Brazil was under Portuguese colonial rule until 1889, after a coup sent the country's second and last emperor, Dom Pedro II, into exile in Europe.

BLOODLESS COUP

University of Miami Professor Jerry Haar says the peaceful nature of the coup meant much of the family could return to Brazil in later years.

''Brazil was never ruled with an iron fist. There wasn't this level of violence you saw in other monarchies,'' Haar says. ``For some, there is some kind of nostalgia for the monarchy like you see in the U.K. It's their little fantasy, but it's much ado about nothing. Most Brazilians chuckle at that kind of stuff.''

Orleans-Braganza, 63, says he visits Florida often for its golf courses, amusement parks and stone crabs. He acknowledges that the average Brazilian would not recognize him and that generally the media stay away.

'Really, it's in Europe where there are still monarchies that we get the `Your Highness' and 'Prince' thing,'' he says. ``In Brazil, if we do something wrong we will have the front pages. But we stay quiet. We're good.''

Brazilian journalist Heloiza Herscovitz, an assistant professor at Florida International University, says descendants of the monarchy are largely ignored by media because of the colonial connection.

''Most people in Brazil are worried about getting money for bread and milk -- not about royal descendants,'' Herscovitz says.

Even so, Orleans-Braganza says he and his wife, Mercedes, have been followed more closely in the news than his 11 siblings over the years for a personal reason. On their honeymoon in April 1976, the couple's small plane crashed into a jungle mountainside en route from Jamaica.

They were rescued six days later, along with the pilot.

''My wife had the worst injuries, terrible burns, broken bones. She was in treatment for eight months,'' he says. ``I was blind in one eye and my left side was almost destroyed, but I could walk. We found a hidden marijuana plantation and found some rice in a bag there. It was raining all day, so we had water. On the sixth day, we were found and taken to Miami. It was the fastest I have ever gotten through customs in Miami in my life.''

REARED ON FARM

Orleans-Braganza was born in France at the beginning of World War II but grew up in Brazil on a farm. ''Communism took everything we had in the eastern countries,'' he says. ``We didn't inherit anything. What our parents gave us was a very good education. Everyone had to make their own destiny.''

Orleans-Braganza went on to serve as lieutenant commander on two submarines in the Brazilian navy before moving into business. He's now a board member of Grupo Brasil, a holding company with annual revenue of $350 million that directs industrial suppliers to automotive companies. He's also chairman of one of the group's interests, Vulcan, a major pipe manufacturer.

As for contemporary Brazilian politics, Orleans-Braganza says he is optimistic about the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva despite a recent spate of gang violence.

''Lula came into office as an avowed leftist, and now he's acting as a centrist,'' he says. ``From a business point of view, the new presidency makes us hopeful. He has chosen good people to run the most important ministries and to continue a policy of not letting the country go into default.''

Although Orleans-Braganza has not sought political office, he has the resumé of a diplomat. He speaks six languages and is a wine connoisseur and golf aficionado. He has designed golf courses in Brazil and is president of the Brazilian Golf Federation.

His six children live in Brazil. He will attend the ball with his wife and eldest son, Luiz Philippe, an executive with AOL Latin America in Rio.

GOOD, BAD JOKES

Daughter Maria Francisca, a graphic designer, says the blue blood has its ups and downs.

''I have always enjoyed being able to travel and visit different family members all around the world. It is always so interesting to hear them talk about our history and to know that my family has had such a big impact in history and the way the world is today,'' she says.

``People here in Brazil have always made little jokes, but in a caring way, and I enjoy that because it kind of breaks the ice. On the other hand, some people are jealous and sometimes make very rude jokes about it.''

The father says it comes with the territory, and that all children descended from royalty become accustomed to the perks and the pokes.

Asked if anyone ever jokingly calls him ''emperor,'' Orleans-Braganza says with a wink: 'Oh yes, all my brothers and me have gotten that all our lives from the wives and the family -- `my emperor,' 'my prince.' Sometimes in a good way -- and sometimes not in a good way.''

BLUE BLOOD?

The Web is full of sites to help you find your roots. Experts say Genealogy Detective is a great tool for beginners and pros. It costs $24.97 and downloads into your computer directly from rwm.net

www.phillyburbs.com By ANITA SNOW The Associated Press

Warming up to the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining a distance from local church officials, Fidel Castro exchanged medals with the worldwide leader of an order of nuns that opened a convent here.

During a Saturday night ceremony at the Palace of Revolution where he keeps his offices, Castro bestowed the medal of the Order of Felix Varela, First Grade, to Mother Telka Famiglietti, general abbess of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Brigid. The order was founded by a Swedish mystic who died 700 years ago last year.

Dressed in her dark habit, the abbess then bestowed on Castro one of her religious order's honor, the Ecumenical Cross with the Star of the Commander of St. Brigid.

"This will be a historic day for us," said Castro, who wore a dark suit and tie for the occasion. "This will commit us to being better and to giving ourselves more to those we believe are doing good."

The exchange was unusual amid the chill between Cuba's church and the Communist state with the release of a pastoral letter less than two weeks ago urging the government to ease up on its harsh treatment of citizens.

"The hour has come to pass from being a legalistic state that demands sacrifices and settles accounts to a merciful state willing to offer a compassionate hand before imposing controls and punishing infractions," Cardinal Jaime Ortega - Cuba's top Roman Catholic clergyman - said in that letter.

Ortega and cardinals from the Vatican and Mexico officiated Saturday morning at the Mass to celebrate the newly renovated building that the government donated for the convent.

Ortega read a letter sent by Pope John Paul II to the island faithful, urging them to "keep sailing a steady course."

But he was noticeably absent in the afternoon when Castro made his unprecedented appearance at the two-story convent in Old Havana for the blessing of the building where eight nuns will live. An official reason for Ortega's absence was not given.

Castro's government also has been irritated by a reform effort known as the Varela Project, which is supported by many Catholic laymen on the island even though it is not officially backed by the local church.

Authorities here say they have shelved the request for a voters' initiative on several laws that would guarantee civil rights such as freedom of expression.

The top Varela Project organizer, Oswaldo Paya - an active Catholic who met briefly with Pope John Paul II during a recent trip to Europe to receive the European Union's top human rights prize - downplayed the significance of Saturday's exchange of medals.

"This isn't an opening, it's an event," Paya said.

Castro's government expelled hundreds of priests, mainly from Spain, and shut down more than 150 Catholic schools island wide in the years after his 1959 revolution.

Cuba's church-state relations have improved considerably in recent years. The government declared it was no longer officially atheist in the early 1990s and let religious believers join the Communist Party for the first time.

The highlight of the gradual warming was John Paul's January 1998 visit to the island, along with the declaration of Christmas as an official holiday.

But the church has made no real progress since in efforts to gain greater access to state-run media and to open Catholic schools.

March 9, 2003 1:16 PM

www.alertnet.org 10 Mar 2003 01:25 By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair, battling on the diplomatic front over preparations to wage war on Iraq, now faces a home front revolt with the first public threat of a ministerial resignation on the issue.

Blair, increasingly isolated at home and abroad over his unswerving support for U.S. President George W. Bush's determination to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has already suffered a parliamentary slap in the face.

But on Sunday his International Development Secretary Clare Short, describing Blair as "reckless", said she would resign if there was no second United Nations' resolution for invasion.

"I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the U.N. and I will resign from the government," the government minister, renowned for speaking her mind, said.

Her public threat, confirming months of rumours, came as one junior government member resigned his post amid speculation four others could follow as Blair's Labour Party faced its biggest internal rift since it came to power in 1997.

More than 120 Labour parliamentarians recently voted against the government over war against Iraq, and more are expected to sign up to the revolt if there is no support from the U.N.

Britain, Spain and the United States are expected to press for a vote on a second resolution this week after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw put forward a draft resolution giving Saddam until March 17 to disarm or face military action.

France has warned it may exercise its power of veto on the resolution, saying U.N. weapons inspectors are making headway.

Iraq denies possessing banned weapons of mass destruction.

Short accused Blair of making a major blunder, politically, diplomatically and personally.

"The current situation is deeply reckless; reckless for the world, reckless for the undermining of the U.N. in this disorderly world...reckless with our government, reckless with his own future, position and place in history. It's extraordinarily reckless, I'm very surprised by it," she said.

British newspapers took up the theme in editorials on Monday.

"Make no mistake...this is now extremely dangerous for the Prime Minister," The Independent newspaper said.

"If no second resolution is passed, and the war starts later this month, resignations from the Cabinet might follow and a further revolt among Labour MPs would be a certainty," it added.

It was a theme echoed by the Times newspaper, which said it would be Blair's biggest test as leader and warned that even a quick military victory in Iraq would not paper over the cracks exposed within the Labour Party.

Throughout the growing domestic crisis, Blair has benefited somewhat uncomfortably from the support of the opposition Conservative Party in his stance on Iraq.

www.voanews.com VOA News 08 Mar 2003, 02:42 UTC

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says his government is committed to helping Colombia in its struggle against drug traffickers and leftist rebels.

President da Silva made the remark Friday in Brasilia after meeting with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe. President Uribe was quoted by the Associated Press as saying Brazil's help would be of vital importance in Colombia's efforts to achieve peace.

For nearly four decades, Colombia has been been torn by a civil war that pits leftist rebels, rightist paramilitaries and the government against each other. The conflict leaves thousands of Colombians dead each year.