• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 05 / 17 / 2011

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Published: Monday, May 16, 2011, 7:45 AM. Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger. NEW YORK— Danza Contemporánea de Cuba seems sure to become one of those phenomena, like mojitos and cigars, for which the island nation is justly famous.

Making a splash at the Joyce Theater on Tuesday, as part of this company’s first-ever tour to the United States, these dancers display a freshness and immediacy all their own.

Their skill goes beyond the hard-earned technique that confers athletic power and versatility. These handsome movers know how to connect with an audience, and with one another. They have a warmth that puts them in the room with you.

While this approach comes close to mugging in some sections of “Mambo 3XXI,” an overextended piece by Cuban choreographer George Céspedes, it creates a wonderful intimacy in duets. With their exceptional sensitivity, these dancers also bring out the nuances in Mats Ek’s “Casi-Casa,” a touching and profoundly human romp that the famous Swedish choreographer staged for Danza Contemporánea in 2009, blending two of his earlier works: “The Apartment” and “Fluke.”

Indeed, “Casi-Casa” appears so fluid, so luminous and tender that it feels tempting to declare that both the U.S. embargo of Cuba and the long shadow cast by Cuba’s celebrated Ballet Nacional have been equally ineffectual in limiting Danza Contemporánea’s development. What also seems likely, however, is that Cuban choreographers, like their peers everywhere outside the United States, underestimate the importance of individualism and the authorial voice in modern dance.

In “Mambo 3XXI,” Céspedes appears conversant with the orbiting and mutual support of Contact Improvisation, and with the vocabulary of hip-hop. Duets are at the heart of this work, with partners either rebounding at lightning speed or surrendering to skin-tingling embraces in a slow section inflamed by the Bolero singing of the late Beny Moré. Unfortunately, Céspedes frames these duets, and delightfully chaotic quintets, with large cadres of dancers executing parade-ground calisthenics. At such times his inspiration seems to fail, and his directness resembles the hard-sell of commercial entertainment.

“Casi-Casa” is more sophisticated, offering a surreal interior in which pieces of household furniture seem to move of their own accord. Ek derives both humor and pathos from these props. He has a mischievous imagination, making a connection between bagpipes and vacuum cleaners (the air, the noise) in a crazed folk dance for homemakers, but his sarcasm turns bitter when a smoking oven in this house reveals its grisly contents. A freestanding door offers an invitation to love, or locks out hope.

The choreography, meanwhile, brilliantly mixes dancing in the flat-planed, silhouetted style common in European dance today with humble gestures that make the characters and their experiences seem authentic. They chatter, spit and touch themselves in private, and they latch onto one another with neediness or aggression. Ek likes to portray ordinary people in unguarded moments, yet his formal designs remain elegantly balanced. The Cubans dance this work exquisitely, particularly Marta Ortega and Wuilleys Estacholi; Heidy Batista; Abdel Rojo; and the duet partners Edson L. Cabrera and Alberto González.

Danza Contemporánea also offers a second program, featuring an Afro-Cuban legacy piece and a premiere by Cuban-American choreographer Pedro Ruiz. Don’t miss them.

Danza Contemporánea de Cuba
Where: The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave. at 19th Street
When: Through Sunday. 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday; and 8 p.m., Thursday to Saturday; with matinees at 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

Source: www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2011/05/