DANCE SEASON: The Art of Playing

Retazos Dance Theater, under the direction of maestro Isabel Bustos, presented the show Juegos at its headquarters in Old Havana, a co-production with the Swedish company Memory Wax with choreography by Miguel Azcue.

Some people associate poetry with a certain aesthetic paraphernalia, with more or less pronounced artifice... but the truth is that there’s a possibility of poetry in everyday life, in common objects, which is not always evident. Poetry, obviously, is only a literary genre, it is a condition. There’s poetry in dance. There’s poetry in this proposal.

The title can offer many clues to the lyrical implications of the performance. Juegos. The playful vocation is evident from the beginning: it’s as if performers were playing, in the most conventional sense of the word. They play like children, that is, discovering, and in the process discovering for spectators, the potential of common objects to become toys.

A basin, a bottle opener, some sticks, clothes, pot lids... If these objects fall into the hands of a child, they begin to diversify their functionality. This redefinition implies the establishment of parallel realities, the realm of imagination. This is what Azcue's work explores for Retazos.

Here there’s an inspired and effective framework, a succession of scenes with a strong symbolic flow, which is very clear without being obvious, which maintains attention. There is no gloating, this basic law of performing arts is fulfilled: say what you have to say, and finish.

The permanent search for beauty is evident... and it’s achieved, with an economy of resources, with a surprising essentiality.

The emotionality of the soundtrack must be highlighted, which may seem muddled, but which touches certain chords of a shared heritage.

Standing applause for the cast. An innocent spectator might think that there are no great technical demands in this piece. That’s an achievement: dancers dance it as if it were not difficult for them, with contagious spontaneity. But there’s a serious interpretive work, which largely guarantees communication with a diverse audience. This, in fact, is a piece for the whole family.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff