Experimental Dance Solos at Havana’s Raquel Revuelta Theatre

Yanelys Nuñez Leyva 

Todo-por-unoHAVANA TIMES —Recently I had the opportunity of attending a performance at Havana’s Raquel Revuelta theatre for the first time. The theatre opened a bit more than a year ago, in the locale that once housed the Olimpic cinema, at the intersection of Línea and B streets, in Vedado.

The theatre was staging a dance performance titled Todo x uno (“All for One”), comprised by a series of solos performed by young dancers belonging to different companies, such as Danza Teatro Persona, Havana Queen, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, and other troupes. 

Though made up of separate solo pieces, the show managed to maintain stylistic cohesion throughout, thanks to the performers’ shared flair for the experimental. The individual pieces   were choreographed by the performers themselves, except in the case of Non, a number authored by Osnel Delgado, director of the MalPaso dance company.

The dancers, gradutes of Cuba’s National School of Dance or the Higher Institute for the Arts (ISA), were Sandra Ramy (Mi trabajo es usted, Here to Serve You), Isvel Bello (Tokonoma), Gabriela Burdsall (Medea Reload), Abel Berenguer (Instinto de conservación, Self-Preservation) and Daile Carrazana, whom I mentioned above.

Indian ballerina Shanti Pillai, with the piece Permanent Address, also figured on the program, but did not perform that evening.

Despite her absence, Todo x uno was a magnificent expression of the talent of Cuba’s youngest dancers.

With a superb musical accompaniment that served to enrich the dance performances, the show explored such interesting issues as female identity and the dancer’s artistic self-destruction. It also paid tribute to the much-acclaimed Edith Piaf.

Todo x uno marks the beginning of my enthusiastic relationship with Havana’s new Raquel Revuelta theatre, a youthful and welcoming place that is sure to offer us increasingly better performances.

Yanelys Nuñez

Yanelys Nuñez Leyva: Writing is to expose oneself, undress before the inquisitive eyes of all. I like to write, not because I have developed a real fondness for nudity, but because I love composing words, thinking of stories, phrases that touch, images that provoke different feelings. Here I have a place to talk about art, life, me. In the end, feeling good about what you do is what matters; either with or without clothing.