BF10 Day 11: Danza Contemporánea de Cuba

I still have the wonderful song from Carmen in my head, about 1-2 hours after Danza Contemporánea de Cuba Australian premiere has finished!

I missed the first piece, Demo-N/Crazy, but caught Carmen and Mambo 3XXI.  Just seeing the performance on stage – three things came to mind.  First of all, these talented dancers are from Cuba which is a country that is politically and geographically isolated from the major dance centres.   There is a distinct Cuban pride and passion that is evident in their moves, in their cheeky stances (they are very very cheeky indeed!), in their bright grins as they danced to their hearts content.  Secondly, the precision and fluidity of their movements.  Thirdly, they were hot (dancers + performances) and I swear there was even an audible yet silent gasp as one of them (the one with the interesting dreads…light blue shirt on in Carmen…) came out, shirt off, covered in sweat (and tattoos).

Carmen was definitely unexpected even though I have seen bits and pieces in this YouTube clip.  This clip is another variant of Kenneth Kvarnström’s choreography and the cheekiness is not lost in translation between Norway and Cuba although Mambo 3XXI (the piece which came last) was a great accompaniment to the programme after Carmen.   It is extravagant, definitely.

Mambo 3XXI was a fantastic way to end the night.  I was literally tapping my foot throughout the whole piece and had the urge to stand up and clap in the middle of it.  I also had a huge smile on my face, mirroring the sunny smiles in most of the piece except for some very surprising tense moments…

Go see Danza Contemporánea de Cuba – can’t believe there is only 5 shows left!  There is only two shows left for Programme 1 (Demo-n/Crazy, Carmen, Mambo 3XXI) and three shows for Programme 2 (Demo-n/Crazy, Folia, Mambo 3XXI)