DANZA CONTEMPORÁNEA DE CUBA
REPERTOIRE
CHOREOGRAPHY AND LIGHT | GEORGE CÉSPEDES |
MUSIC | ALEXIS DE LA O, NACIONAL ELECTRÓNICA |
LIGHT | FERNANDO ALONSO |
COSTUMES | PAULA FERNÁNDEZ (POLA) |
ASSISTANT TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER | YOERLIS BRUNET |
WORLD PREMIERE | JULY 13, 2017, GRAN TEATRO DE LA HABANA ALICIA ALONSO |
LENGTH OF PERFORMANCE | 35 MIN |
ON STAGE | 25 DANCERS |
George Céspedes has always been fascinated by large groups in step. Here, too, he initially sends a uniform matrix across the stage: strictly formal and almost threatening, his dancers move in geometrically exact, military patterns, from rows to rectangles to labyrinths, the formation merging precisely into one another. Groups separate and unite, marching remains the basis of all movement until irritation occurs. The tension dissolves into smaller groups until, at the end, individuals finally turn in unleashed, rapid dance, in detached solos on the floor or in the air - freed from constraint and obviously delighted not to have to do the same as everyone else. "The criterion of the camel", to which the title alludes, is an old saying from the wisdom of the Orient: "A camel was once asked whether it preferred to go uphill or downhill. It replied, "I don't care whether up or down, I only care about the load I carry!"
George Céspedes was born in Holguin in 1979. He studied classical, modern and contemporary dance at the National Ballet School in 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.