DANZA CONTEMPORÁNEA DE CUBA
REPERTOIRE
CHOREOGRAPHY | GEORGE CÉSPEDES |
MUSIC | NACIONAL ELECTRÓNICA |
LIGHT | ARIEL CAPOTE GRANADO |
ASSISTANT TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER | YOERLIS BRUNET |
WORLD PREMIERE | OCTOBER 2014, TEATRO MELLA, HAVANNA |
LENGTH OF PERFORMANCE | 38 MIN |
ON STAGE | 24 DANCERS |
Marching is the central element of this choreography, the battalions execute their rigid lines with supple precision. They perform their martial arithmetic with unmoving facial expressions, which then break free from their corset in short, sweeping solos. Although there are always two immobile guards standing by like statues, the individual outbursts increase, become longer and longer and multiply until they finally merge again into a matrix, a completely symmetrical group.
Do we see a parade, the set-ups of socialist mass stagings or a demonstration procession that emerges from single individuals? The word "Matria" originated as a neologism in feminist literature in contrast to "Patria", fatherland; the piece is part of a trilogy by the choreographer that explores "Cubanidad", the innermost essence of his home country Cuba, which is changing so much.
George Céspedes was born in Holguin in 1979, he studied classical, modern and contemporary dance at the National Ballet School of his home country. Immediately after graduation, he joined Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, where he has since danced in the works of numerous modern choreographers, from Jan Linkens to Samir Akika and Carlos Acosta.
He began creating his own choreographies in 1997 for Danza Contemporánea, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and the National Ballet School. Today he is considered one of Cuba's leading contemporary choreographers, and he recently founded his own company with the beautiful name "Los hijos del director" ("The director's children").
Céspedes has won numerous prizes in his home country, in 2010 he was awarded the audience prize for "La Ecuacion" at the Choreographers' Competition in Hanover, in the same year he was nominated for an Olivier Award in London with "Mambo 3XX1". He says of himself that he is "obsessively, almost compulsively" obsessed with bringing choreographies to the stage.