The Cuban-German ViaDanza Company

March 22, 2018

Photo feature by Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz

HAVANA TIMES — ViaDanza is a Cuban-German dance company, which was founded on March 16th 2010 and is currently being represented by the Actuar Performing Arts Agency which belongs to Cuba’s Culture Ministry.

According to Gretel Reyes, the company’s Communications expert, the dancy company has among its fundamental goals to trasmit the cultural wealth of dance (Afro-Cuban, rumba, danzon, son, mambo, chachacha and casino – which the world knows as “salsa”) and the most authentic of traditions via theoretical and practical workshops about Cuban popular dances and percussion, music/dance performances and cultural exchanges, targeted towards national and mainly foreign cultural tourism.

ViaDanza is a member of the International Dance Council (CID) (affiliated to UNESCO), an official non-profit organization which takes in all forms of dance from every country in the world, founded in Paris, France. More information about the aforementioned organization can be found on their website: www.cid-portal.org/es.

ViaDanza Dance Company, its official name, is listed in the Melia Hotel’s regular cultural program, every Tuesday from 8:30 PM to 11 PM, in the Titanium sports bar (where all of the photos that figure here were taken). You can enjoy an interactive performance which stands out because of its seal of in-depth Cubanness, which is targetted at an audience who want to learn or perfect their skills in popular Cuban dance.

The performances take elements from different innovative and interactive animation techniques, the most famous one being “Fiesta del Casino”, which ranked number 2013 on TripAdvisor in night entertainment.

The company is holding a project/academy which facilitates learning popular Cuban dances in a short time period with a teaching methodology aimed at foreigner. They receive approximately 600 foreign participants per year for this service, which they receive via contracts made with Ecotur and other organizations. Those participating mainly come from Germany, France, Holland and Norway. Other countries include Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States.

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