On Wednesday, November 9th, I attended Lizt Alfonso’s production of Dance Cuba in the Music Hall Center in Detroit. It was choreographed by Lizt Alfonso, Diana Fernandez, and Yadira Hernandez. Dance Cuba travels with 18 dancers and an amazing musical group that is on stage, not in an orchestra pit. As stated by Tom Paul, artistic director, the last time Lizt Alfonso’s Dance Cuba performed in Detroit was in 2003. Having been thirteen years since the last performance, everyone was excited to see what was in store.
This production was based on the Cuban dances and music from the 1950’s to today’s style of Cuban dance. Not only did Lizt Alfonso incorporate Cuban dance in this production, but she also weaved ballet, flamenco, and Afro-Cuba
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The costumes ranged from green, purple, orange, pink, white, blue, 50’s style flowy dresses that were knee length to white or brown see through pant suits. Typically, the types of shoes worn by the women were either black, nude, or white ballroom style heels, black jazz flats, or simply barefoot. The men on the other hand wore pants and long sleeve flowy shirts that were typically dull in color and the shoes they wore were either black jazz shoes or no shoes at all. There was one piece in Act I that was very different from the others. There costumes in this piece were all white and no shoes. The women had on full length white dresses with a white head piece that covered over half of their face and no shoes and the man that danced in this piece wore a white long sleeve shirt, white pants, a white beanie hat, and no shoes. During this piece there was candles used as props that the women held while dancing. This was not the only piece that had props. Another piece some women had hand paper fans and the other half had brooms that they danced …show more content…
In the Riverdance, the men were very rigid, focused, formed lines and shapes all across the stage, and did fast repetitive footwork. Instead of men doing this style dance, in Dance Cuba, women did this style of dance. The first piece in Act II reminded me of how the men were focused, rigid, and intense. The women were trying to show their power and the way they danced made you feel the intensity they were trying to portray. The women were very focused and serious, unlike how they were in the first Act. The other piece that reminded me of the Riverdance, was one closer to the end of the production. This specific piece was performed by eleven women. They would form a line that went across the entire stage from left to right and do repetitive footwork that was very quick, just like the men in the Riverdance. Then the women transitioned out of the strait line and made a V-shape, still using the entire space on the stage. They continued their fierce footwork and never missed a
Wisner, Heather. “With a Hop, A Kick, And A Turn, Cumbia Enters the Global Stage.” Dance Magazine 80.9 (2006): 64-68. Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Dec. 2011
Dance is just as important and music in Afro-Cuban Culture. The music is made to be danced to, and most of the popular Cuban dances that exist today are of African decent. The most popular are the rumba, danzon, and son. Especially among the working class poor, dancing and music was simply a way to blow off steam and have a good time.
Elizabethan women dressed reasonably different than we do today. Women often wore many layers. The first layer would always be the shift, which was something similar to a man’s button down shirt seen today. Next, two petticoats were put on. Next, the actual gown was put on. The gown included a full trailing skirt that was often lifted and fastened to make walking easier. Sleeves were commonly full and bell-shaped, as seen in figure one. Belts and girdles were an impor...
Whether it 's for the music, people or food, Cuba is a popular and interesting place to visit. Cuba is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. At 42,426 square miles, Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the 105th largest country in the world. Cuba has a population of 11.1 million. Out of that 11.1 million, Havana is home to 2.1 million (Nation Facts). The official language of Cuba is Spanish, but English and French are spoken throughout the country. The most practiced religion of Cuba is Roman Catholicism, but a large number of people follow the Afro-Cuban and Protestant religions. The president of Cuba is currently Raúl Castro, which is Fidel Castro 's brother. The currency of Cuba is the Cuban peso (Cuba).
For example, they performed the Samba from Brazil, La Marinera from Peru, Salsa Caleña from Columbia, Bachata and Merengue from the Dominican Republic, and etc. Along with the dancers, there was also live musicians
The second act began with Sones y Jarabes de Michoacan a traditional folklorico piece originally choreographed by Amalia Hernandez and choreographed for the World Repertory dance ensemble by the Booker T. Washington dance department consultant Fernando Hernandez. The dance began with a
Did you ever wonder how the kids and the teacher felt about the program. In the movie “Mad Hot Ballroom” there is a program where they select several schools to give teachers and kids a opportunity to compete with other kids. They dance tango, merengue ,rumba , bachata, swing , foxtrot ext.
not enough of real dancing in the performance.Not really sure what the dances represented by different
All of them related to the performances. Some of the outfits that the dancers wore were billowy, lose, a bit oversized with poofy puffed up sleeves. And there were costumes that were portraying men during a the seventeenth and eighteenth century. In a few of the dances, the dancers wore ruffled collars that brought the costume to come all together. Other costumes that the dancers wore were leotards that are form fitting and tight. My favorite costume in the whole performance was in the last act. A dancer was portraying the sun, she wore a gold leotard what had an attached skirt. The leotard had an emblem of the Sun King. In addition, the dancer wore a sparkly pair of gold shoes that matched the costume. The costume was shiny, bold, dramatic and goddess-like. As a result, the costume made the dancer stand out tremendously from the other dancers in this
Sublette, Ned 2004. Cuba and its music: from the first drums to the mambo. Chicago.
Shaped by dance, time, education and literature, Cuba is very rich in culture. Cuba’s official language is Spanish (Nation Facts), and its National Anthem is “La Bayamesa”, which translates to “The Bayamo Song” (Central Intelligence Agency). Cuba also has no official religion, though Roman Catholicism is widely practiced (Nation Facts). Dance is also a key piece in the culture of Cuba (Nation Facts). Dance is very popular in Cuba, and it can be seen in many different places in the country. The Bolero, Ma...
Energy can be defined in our dancing through a sense of power and strength given in our movement. This was the overlying message in the piece through the other elements but was also was shown from the dancers emotional intention. In the third section, it helped to define the woman's intention to her role and connection to body. The women were not only using their face to portray a flirty and sweeter side to themselves but arms and repetitive leg gestures allowed for a certain lightness about them that couldn’t just be display with a smile on their face. Which is something that remained with me when we took class the following week after the presidential election. We were able to use our emotional struggle to attack our movement with a different force. As a result, allowed us to take on a different release and sharpness in our exercises that was quite there
The dance consisted of five couples of a male and a female. The Female dancers wore beautiful lavishing spanish dresses. The top of the dress was a tight sweetheart and the bottom was short and puffy like a tutu. Each dress was a different color with little design, but just enough to catch attention of the aduence. The male dancers wore suits and ties matching the color of their partners dress, but the dress shirt was a button up which had the same design of the dress of their partners on them. The female dancers wore Footlights and the male dancers wore what seem to be ballroom shoes. The performance started off with a Pas de deux and then ended with a coda. The music used in this performance was a combination of the beautiful rhythms of the Conga, Rumba, Mambo, and Cha Cha. Which if you are not too familar with this genre of music, it is fast upbeat rhythm. The permformers danced with the rhythms of the music so swiftly and smooth. I remembered learning in class that the performer must make it look as if the dancing was easy for them and all the performers extended that expectation. They all stayed smiling and none of them made a mistake from what I could remember. This performance reflects the Latin American Culture with their taste in music and how well of dancers they are. Every Latin festivity I have been to, everyone is always dancing and dancing in a
Whether it is the fire dances of the native Hawaiians, or the Tango from Spain, dance is a part of every culture. This event is not an event I would usually attend. I am not into art of any kind except music. At first, there were two reasons I went to this performance.
People/Society:In Cuba’s society, most Cubans based their life off spainish traditions. WIth 11 million people in Cuba 99.8% are literate which is the highest literacy rate in the world. 64.1% of the 11 million cubans are white, 26.6% are mixed or another race, and 9.3% are black. The fertility rate is 1.71% which is a 10.7/1000 birth rate. The food in Cuba is based off of spainish traditions and african cooking. With rice that is served daily, rum and Coca-Cola are popular drinks in Cuba. Also a Cuban favorite meal is the Picadillo that is made with ground beef, green pepers, and raisons. Spainish traditions are what cuban’s base their daily life on.