Malpaso Dance Company - Havana, Cuba

April 7th 2022 at 20h
Large Stage of Madlenianum

Lullaby

choreography, costumes: Daile Carrazana

music: Jordi Sabatés 
lighting design: Guido Gali

duration: 8’
premiere: 2021

An intimate solo marked by the wide and moving range of emotions and inspired by the work of the pianist and singer Bola de Nieve, an iconic personality of Cuban culture.

Graduated as a dancer and teacher from the Cuban School of Ballet in Havana, Daile Carrazana González was part of the Danza Contemporanea de Cuba from 2003 to 2011. She is founder and Associate Artistic Director of Malpaso Dance Company. As a dancer, Carrazana González has been performed in the most important theaters in Cuba such as the Gran Teatro de La Habana, the Martí Theater and the National Theater, among others. She has extensively toured in Europe, North America and Australia.

 

Stillness in Bloom

choreography: Aszure Barton 
music: Ambrose Akinmusire
choreography assistants: Daile Carrazana, Jonathan Emanuell Alsberry

duration: 30’
premiere: 2021

"Stillness in Bloom" is a powerful inquiry into human nature in the unusual and tragic circumstances that we have lived through in recent times, where isolation, annihilation and the longed-for reunion have been the substance of everyday life.

Aszure Barton was born in Canada, where she received her formal dance training from Canada’s National Ballet School. She has now been creating dances for over 25 years and has collaborated with celebrated dance artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Teatro alla Scala, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, National Ballet of Canada, Martha Graham Company, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Sydney Dance Company, Houston Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among many others. Her works have been performed on countless international stages including the Palais Garnier in Paris, Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, The Kennedy Center in DC, The Alicia Alonso Grand Theater in Havana, and Lincoln Center (NY). She is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, an inter-disciplinary international dance project. Other choreography credits include the Broadway production of “The Threepenny Opera” directed by Scott Elliott, and starring Cyndi Lauper, Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Nellie Mackay and Ana Gasteyer; film and installation projects, and international outreach activities such as Kenya’s Earth Project: Healing the Rift, at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy. Her choreography has been featured in numerous television projects, including the Sundance Channel’s series with Alice Waters and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has received numerous awards and honors, while as an educator she is regularly invited to give workshops at universities and art institutions around the globe.

 

 

Women with Water

choreography, sets design, costume: Mats Ek
music: Fläskkvartetten
lighting design: Ellen Ruge

duration: 35’
premiere:  Royal Swedish Ballet, 2020. 

Mats Ek’s “Woman with Water” has all the hallmarks of his style, bold, simple and honing in on the essence of the human being. A woman, a man, a table and a glass of water. On the surface that’s what you get but with Ek, like an iceberg, there is so much more under the surface. The man wears a well-worn black suit, the woman an ankle-length smock in flaming orange and the table is green. The expressionist style is familiar Ek territory and credited to the choreographer himself while the work is dedicated to his long-time collaborated Marie-Louise Ekman.

Mats Ek is a leading Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He is the son of the famous choreographer Birgit Cullberg and actor Anders Ek. Actress Malin Ek is his twin sister and dancer/actor Niklas Ek is his older brother. At 17 he participated in a modern dance classes, led by choreographer Donya Feuer. Later he acted as stage director at The Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm. In 1972 he joined the Cullberg Ballet. He was the artistic leader of the dance company from 1985 to 1993. Mats Ek is one of the most significant choreographers in the world. He has received a great number of prestigious prizes. He is assigned the decoration Commander Arts et Lettres. Mats Ek has, up till now, acted as director in 8 television productions. He is married to the prominent dancer Ana Laguna.

Elemental 

choreography: Robyn Mineko Williams
musical supervisor: Robby Haynes
lighting design: Burke Brown
costume design: Branimira Ivanova

duration: 25’
premiere: 2019

The original idea for the piece is layered and infused with everything that came during choreographer’s stay in Cuba: the dancers’ influences, character and personal contributions to this work, the incomparable sights and sounds of the country, the music and culture that seem to be such a part of every person one can meet.

Robyn Mineko Williams began making her own work in 2001 through Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Choreographic Workshop with whom she was a dancer for twelve seasons. Since then, she created multiple premieres for Hubbard Street and has choreographed for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Malpaso, Ballet Idaho, Charlotte Ballet and others. She created Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists in 2015 as a platform for her independent, immersive and collaborative new works. Her pieces have been presented at the Kennedy Center, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater, MCA Chicago and more. Named by Dance Magazine in 2014 as one of “25 to Watch” and “Best Choreographer” by Chicago Mag’s “Best of Chicago, 2016”, Robyn is a Princess Grace Foundation-USA grant recipient and has been recognized as one of New City’s Players: 50 People Who Really Perform for Chicago.

Since its establishment in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company has become one of the most sought after Cuban dance companies with a growing international profile. Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, Malpaso is committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. The company tours with 11 dancers and is led by its three original founders: Osnel Delgado, Fernando Sáez and Daileidys Carrazana. An Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions, Malpaso — together with The Joyce— has commissioned original works from a number of prominent North American choreographers, including Ronald K. Brown, Trey McIntyre, Aszure Barton, Emmy-award winning Sonya Tayeh, and most recently, Robin Mineko Williams. As part of its commitment to Cuban choreographers, Malpaso has also recently premiered works by company members Beatriz Garcia and Abel Rojo, who was nominated for a prestigious Benois de la Danse award. The company also continues to tour works by Artistic Director Delgado, which are often accompanied by Grammy award-winning, Cuban-American composer/pianist Arturo O’Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. The company recently added works by the legendary Merce Cunningham, famous Swedish choreographer Mats Ek and the world renowned Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin to their repertory. Naharin traveled to Cuba in 2018 to work one on one with Malpaso dancers to re-stage his seldom performed, 30 year old masterwork, “Tabula Rasa”.

 

...a pinch-me moment, one of those times when you catch an artistic dawning… Malpaso’s dancers are exceptional.

© LA Times