DANCE PREMIERES: The Cycle and the Unison

George Cespedes and Julio Cesar Iglesias, resident choreographers of the Cuba Contemporary Dance, debuted this weekend at the Grand Theater of Havana Alicia Alonso.

George Cespedes embraces his everlasting obsession every time he stages a play with the Contemporary Dance of Cuba. Some may think that his last plays, including R=V (The Camel Criteria), premiered this weekend, are parts of a tetralogy where the choreographer addresses collectivity.

The truth is they are similar —from the structural point of view—, a great corps de ballet repeating a movement sequence and becoming more complex over time in order to reach the climax.

The difference is that the original order is not set here. Well, there are other differences: that basic cell of movement is not similar to that of previous plays. You may have many takes, but following elemental signs, the title suggests the idea of boredom due to the burden, routines, or the need of getting something off your mind…

The similarities with other plays are in the structure, not in the speech.

Cespedes’ spatial solutions are interesting, the unisonous and the alternations. There are not great soloists, the star is the group and homogeneity of a great corps de ballet will be always the main attraction.

Julio Cesar Iglesias premiered Coil in the second premiere of the night. The reflection here is deeper and sharper, but less transparent perhaps. The proposal is not playful, and apparently it is full of philosophical involvement. It has been Julio Cesar’s main line of work. The choreographer shows on the stage gestures, dynamics, and fine tunes of our daily life.

In Coil, we find more dance than we have found in other Julio Cesar’s plays. And such dance seems to be marked by a ritual impulse. We may even find contact points with George Cespedes’ works. We can find here a certain bet on unisonous, the homogeneity of the group that is broken sometimes in specific vicissitudes of some dancers.

The art framework is quite intriguing. The lights, for instance, demarcate the spaces where dancers perform with marked symbolism. The subject spectrum is wide. But it could well resume in the revivification of the eternal cycle of life, with violence and energy.

From the performing standpoint, I must say that the dancers of the Contemporary Dance of Cuba are in excellent shape.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Diaz / CubaSi Translation Staff