Cuban modern dance company Malpaso coming to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
Cuban modern dance company Malpaso coming to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
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Malpaso Dance Company will perform Aug. 5-9 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket. (Photo by Roberto Leon,
courtesy of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival)
By Ken Ross | [email protected]
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on July 30, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated July 30, 2015 at 8:28 AM
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Cuba has been in the news constantly ever since December, when this Caribbean country and the United States formally restored full diplomatic relations for the first time since President John F. Kennedy imposed an economic embargo on Cuba in 1962.
Next week, Cuban dancers will take center stage at Jacob's Pillow Festival, which will host Malpaso with Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. But if you're expecting to see classic ballet or old-fashioned folk dancing, think again. Just because the two countries did not have economic ties for more than five decades does not mean that Cuban dance companies did not keep up with developments in the modern dance world.
Modern dance has flourished in Cuba in recent years. And one of the best, up-in-coming Cuban modern dance groups is Malpaso, according to Smith College assistant professor Lester Tomé, a native of Cuba who works in the college's Dance Department and who's writing a book about the history of ballet in Cuba.
A regular visitor to Cuba, Tomé saw Malpaso rehearse last year in the group's home studio in Havana. "I would describe Malpaso as typical of the world-class quality that distinguishes the island's professional dancers," Tomé said. "They're technically very good."
More:
http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/07/cuban_dance_company_malpaso_co.html
