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Salsa Circuit
The fascination with Cuba has seen several big shows celebrate the country's rich musical past and treasured veteran musicians. Now a new Cuban dance show makes a firm — and sexy — stamp on its present and its future.
From the producers of Lady Salsa and The Bar at Buena Vista comes Ballet Revolucion, featuring some of Cuba's best ballet and contemporary dancers working together outside their normal repertoires.
Reeking of unapologetic sensuality, the dancing style is a celebration of all the contradictions of Cuba.
Imagine African, Spanish and indigenous histories and ancestries tied up with Russian technique. The result can only be full-bodied and full-blooded.
Music and dance always go hand-in-hand in Cuba so this new work is set to a backdrop of classics such as Chan Chan and modern Latin American and R&B hits by artists such as Ricky Martin, Chris Brown, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Usher, Santana and Beyonce.
Guiding and creating Ballet Revolucion is Australia’s Aaron Cash. The Gold Coast dancer and choreographer's impressive CV includes being one of the original Tap Dogs, Cher's longtime lead dancer and touring with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has appeared in many films and worked as a dance coach for actors. He is also the face of Johnny Walker whisky's worldwide advertising campaign, Human — Keep Walking.
In Cuba's capital, Havana, Cash is working alongside Roclan Gonzalez Chavez, considered one of the country's most inventive choreographers. Chavez has worked with singers Omara Portuondo and the late Compay Segundo, popular salsa big band Los Van Van, the world-famous Tropicana Cabaret and is the principal choreographer for the Cuban Television Ballet.
It's Chavez's unrivalled understanding of the folklore roots of salsa and Cuban dance which makes him and Cash a formidable creative team.
Cash has been living in Havana for several months, creating and practising with his new troupe before heading to Australia. Perth is the first stop and will stage Ballet Revolucion's world premiere.
"These dancers don’t have any of that apathy I have seen in other places," Cash says.
"They just grab you by the heart and pull you on stage. It's a place where men are men and women are women and they dance like that. It's a raw energy. They move these beautiful body specimens when they dance, and it's a very visual and visceral explosion. They dance in the music, not on top of it or with it."
Cash loves how these young dancers respect the history and tradition of their country's rich culture. "They seem to have this really organic link to the country and the land."
Another group with a wonderful link to their land and barrio is the cast of the popular Bar at Buena Vista show, which returns to Perth later this month. From the same stable of producers as Ballet Revolucion, this convivial musical pays homage to the Buena Vista neighbourhood, the famous quarter of Havana which was home to music legends such as Segundo and Ruben Gonzalez and was responsible for the world falling in love with Cuban salsa and son.
The Bar at Buena Vista — The Grandfathers of Cuban Music honours the original spirit of the island's music and features national treasures such as Reynaldo Creagh, 94, guitarist Maracaibo, 86, and piano maestro Rubalcaba, 85.
Part of the reason the Buena Vista Social Club existed was because there were no other places to sing and hang out not much has changed on that level, says Cash, given the difficulty in finding somewhere for the Dance Revolucion cast to rehearse in Havana.
When they can get it, Cash's favourite space is the top floor of a building in the centre of old Havana where the opera also rehearses. It's not much more than a room but the dancers rehearse surrounded by old marble, soft afternoon light and the sound of opera rising from the rooms below.
"The talent here is amazing," Cash says.
"They are technically great dancers and have a great work ethic. It's an interesting mix. There's that communist-regime thinking mixed with a Caribbean mentality which makes the dancers an interesting amalgam."
The 13 Revolucion dancers are drawn from the country's best-known companies — Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (DCC) and Ballet Nacional de Cuba.
DCC is recognised as one of the world’s ground-breaking modern dance companies.
Renowned for its dancers' fluidity, fire and sheer physical artistry, it is considered to have devised a new dance language described as a pungent blend of Afro-Caribbean expression, classical European ballet and American modernism.
Ballet Nacional de Cuba is one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world because of the artistic and technical rigour of its dancers and the diversity of its choreographers.
For Cash, this hothouse grafting of rigorous and exacting Russian-style training with natural Cuban rhythms and movement has sprouted the sweetest fruit.
"I understand percussion and rhythm as well as being able to dance classical and modern, but when these dancers bring out the Cuban stuff and I see them improvising, I'm totally in awe," he says. "I become the guy with the two left feet."
Working on Revolucion has been a special personal experience for Cash. The 42-year-old has had a hip replacement and is due for a second, so he obviously doesn't dance as much as before.
Being able to create a show from scratch on the other side of the world has allowed him to fall in love with dance all over again.
"Choreography really took off for me a couple of years ago and I have totally embraced it. I know all dancers have to deal with not dancing at some point. Watching these young Cuban dancers is a different kind of gratification but it's still deep. I've really found my new place; a new bliss.
"The dancers also seem very generous with each other and their time. I see them in class helping each other and really sharing what they know. They really dance from a very generous place. I have been given a gift to have had this experience. Being able to take this group to the rest of the world is something very special."
Ballet Revolucion is at the Regal Theatre from July 1-17. The Bar at Buena Vista — The Grandfathers of Cuban Music is at the Regal Theatre from June 21-25.
Source
ARA JANSEN
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