Mambo is a Cuban musical style from the 1930s of the previous century, but because you can’t separate music and dancing in Cuba, Mambo is of course also a dance. ‘3XXI’ can be translated with ‘Terzo Milenio Sigle XXI’ – ‘third millennium, twenty first century’. This date is, in a sense, the goal that the choreography aspires to. From the uniformity of the almost military movements of the corps de ballet (from which a certain level of perfection is demanded), the individuality of the dancers gradually breaks forth. They seek, find, expel, understand and miss each other – to in the end create something new, together again but without self-abnegation and with a heightened dynamic. The old millennium lies behind them – and the new seems to be a whole lot of fun.


George Céspedes is, as a choreographer, one of the great hopes of contemporary Cuban dance. He studied dance and choreography at the national dance school. After his graduation he joined the Danza Contemporánea de Cuba as first dancer and collaborated on the greater part of the repertoire of the company. In addition, he developed twenty pieces as choreographer for the Danza Contemporánea as well as for the Cuban national ballet, but also for different Cuban and international TV dance ensembles. He won a number of international prizes, among them the prize for the best choreography in the 2002 Ibero-American choreography competition and the Mexican Luna Prize in 2009 for his choreography to Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’.

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