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 New York Screening:
illume productions is proud to announce the New York City premiere of dance cuba with a special screening of the documentary film on Tuesday, June 14th at One TimeWarner Center.
Synopsis:
dance cuba begins with the coming-together of two of the most important dance companies in the world--one Cuban, one American. It is the stories orbiting around this coming-together that are the heart and soul of the film.
Amongst the love and conflicted passions that mark the difficult journey toward identity for individuals and nations, dance cuba tells personal stories of exile and return, loss and redemption, tradition and innovation. It intertwines riveting tales that are as strong in romance, tragedy and drama as the great ballets performed.
In dance cuba, the expressive human body--the particular turn of a dancer’s wrist, the electricity of an extended leg slashing through the air--says what cannot be conveyed otherwise: The fervor of performance as counterpoint to the difficulty and melancholy of day-to-day life.
Following true events, dance cuba is produced and directed by Cynthia Newport, who brings together an accomplished production team that includes Academy Award-winning Americans and internationally acclaimed Cubans. With remarkable access to individuals and institutions in both countries and utilizing 24p High Definition photography, the film is suffused with a poignant score composed and performed by multi-Grammy winner Chucho Valdes.
The following stars appear in dance cuba as themselves:
Carlos Acosta grew up in the one of the poorest areas of Havana. He was a truant and petty thief who spent his days break-dancing. His truck-driver father, seeing his son’s talent, pushed him into ballet school. Today Acosta is a world-renowned dancer frequently compared to Baryshnikov, a budding impresario, and increasingly a pop culture idol. He performs internationally but--always missing his family as he struggles to adapt to new worlds--he must return to Cuba religiously to “recharge” his energy and spirit.
Septime Webre, son of a Cuban mother and American father who were exiled after the Revolution, is the Artistic Director of the maverick Washington Ballet. In 2000, his company is invited to participate in a Ballet Festival in Havana--thus becoming the first American company to perform in Cuba in over 40 years. Webre’s trip to the Festival with his siblings in tow becomes a moving rediscovery of his family’s roots that deepens his own identity, as well as an artistic triumph.
The 83-year-old Alicia Alonso, a founder and Director General of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, is a seminal figure in the world of ballet. She became a superstar with the American Ballet Theater in New York, only to lose her eyesight. Despite her blindness, Alonso defied her doctors and continued to dance. After the Revolution, Castro welcomed Alonso and her then husband Fernando, a pivotal figure in his own right, and financed their ballet company. They also joined forces to create a grass roots outreach program breaking class and racial barriers and fueling the current popularity of ballet in Cuba. For decades, Alicia’s will and personality have held the Ballet Nacional together, but not without conflict. Today, many of Alonso’s best dancers make the difficult decision to leave the company and Cuba.
Laura Urgelles defected from Cuba and has just joined The Washington Ballet, only to be told that she will not be permitted to return to the island to dance at the Festival; Lorna Feijóo, Cuba’s prima ballerina who at the height of her career, leaves the Ballet Nacional for America, bringing with her a hallmark Cuban style marked by ‘fire and surrender’; and Trey McIntyre, one of the youngest leading American choreographers of the 21st century, who creates a controversial Jazz/Blues ballet featuring a gay pas de deux that is performed in Cuba, a country with a culture of machismo and an uneasy evolution in its attitudes towards homosexuality.
Towering international legend and multi-Grammy winner Chucho Valdés composed and performed the score for dance cuba that, Variety says, “brings out his tender side.” With his distinctive fusion of Cuban traditions, Afro-Cuban themes, and classics, Chucho’s “poignant,” “mournful” music “reinforces the heartbreaking paradox” note other critics.
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