lahabana - Authentic Cuba Tours

Transcription

apr
including guide to the best places to eat, drink, dance and stay in havana
lahabana.com
LA HABANA.COM is an independent platform, which seeks to showcase the best in Cuba arts &
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Photo by Ana Lorena
editorial
So, President Obama, Michelle and the kids came for Spring Break to Havana, mother in law in tow
to keep an eye on things. As if that wasn’t enough, two days after they left, the largest rock band in
the world played to 1 200 000 people in the biggest and best music concert Havana has seen in a
generation. I loved the mix from the young cool reggaetonero to the pensioners whose last concert
was before the young hipsters were born. And before anyone says anything about has-beens who
stick around for too long, hats off to the incredible Mick Jagger who at age 72 can still move around
a stage like no one else.
This issue is taking as its inspiration Mick’s moves on the dance floor and covering Dance in Cuba in
its entirety. The starting point is Havana City in Motion: Modern Dance Festival in Old Havana, one
of Havana’s truly best festivals that brings alive the old city with a riotous assemble of performances
from around the world (April 6-19, 2016). This is run by the incomparable Isabel Bustos, who is a true
spitfire in her own right. Staying on a modern bent, the Havana Queens Party is something to behold
as is the incredibly talented Miguel Iglesias’ Danza Contemporánea.
Turning to the more traditional, we pay a visit to the house of Rumba in Havana’s Cayo Hueso
district and review Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba. Coming back to the house of salsa, we
strongly recommend Ritmo Cuba’s Salsa Festival, which mixes the best of Cuban salsa dancers with
a strong international contingent. Salsa’s Coming Home!
Moving to Spanish dance, where better to start than with an army of little girls in long skirts, a
story that goes a long way to explaining the profound talent, which appears later on as shown, by
Irene Rodríguez. Our dance section closes out with the two titans of Cuban ballet, Alicia Alonso and
Carlos Acosta. Past and Present. The Gran Teatro de la Habana has just reopened following a loving
restoration and has been named after the Grand Dame of Cuba. Carlos has come back to Cuba after
many years starring with the Royal London Ballet Company and is presenting his own company:
Acosta Danza.
So what are you waiting you? Get your dancing shoes on and go show what you’ve got!
Abrazos! The LaHabana.com Team
About our new look
In January we introduced our new logo, look and feel. If you look closely, you’ll see it’s not a huge departure from
the original Cuba Absolutely logo. Rather we’re staying close to our roots, whilst we position ourselves for an
expansion into the digital realm with LaHabana.com. We will continue to expand our monthly themes while
maintaining the popular “What’s On” section as an integral part of the Magazine. In the coming months we will
bring online weekly updates on what to see and do in…La Habana. Please send us your feedback and comments.
Photo by Ana Lorena
April 2016
The week
that was
Let’s Dance
Obama came and saw p7
Rock’n’rolling with The Rolling Stones p9
“It´s only Rock and Roll, but I Like it” p11
21 Festival Internacional de Danza en Paisajes
Urbanos: Habana Vieja Ciudad en Movimiento p14
Isabel Bustos Dancing with Retazos p15
Havana Queens Party p18
Miguel Iglesias: swimmer turned dancer p22
Rumba in Havana’s Cayo Hueso district p25
Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba p28
Ritmo Cuba Salsa Festival: a springtime showcase p30
Dancing in the Night in Cuba p33
An Army of Little Girls in long skirts p36
Irene Rodríguez and her Spanish Dance Company p38
Dance and the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso p41
Alicia Alonso: The Grand Dame of Cuba p43
Cuban Ballet Dancers go International p46
Carlos Acosta presents his new company: Acosta Danza p49
Acosta Danza Premiere Season p52
Havana Listings
Dance p53 — Visual Arts p55 Photography p58 —
Music p59 — Theatre p68 — For Kids p69
Havana Guide
Features - Restaurants - Bars & Clubs - Live Music Hotels - Private Accommodation p72
Obama came and saw
by Victoria Alcalá
Cuba has been unable to rest since the 20th of
March. We started out with Obama’s visit until
the 22nd and we kept on going on the 25th with
the Havana concert of The Rolling Stones. Thank
goodness we had two days for a bit of a breather!
We may have never welcomed a genuine rock
and roll classic, but it wasn’t the first time a US
President has visited our Island. It was Calvin
Coolidge, or “Silent Cal” as the American press
dubbed him, who came in 1928. In those days,
relations between the governments of Cuba and
its northern neighbor were fairly uneventful even
though the Cuban President Gerardo Machado
had extended his mandate “a la cañona” by having
any opposition murdered left, right and center.
This time was different. On December 17, 2014,
presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro
proclaimed what until then had seemed
impossible: reestablishing the diplomatic ties that
had been broken over 50 years ago and heralding
the start of a long and winding road towards
normalization of relations between the two
countries. The presence on the Island of the first
Afro-American in the White House bore testimony
to the seriousness of the agreement and per se,
represented something positive for Cuba. From
the reestablishing of diplomatic relations until
the present, we were visited by the Italian Prime
Minister and the presidents of France and Austria,
we favorably negotiated the Club of Paris debt,
and Cuban rights over the Havana Club trademark
were recognized, just to mention a few of the
events that seemed to be a strange version of the
“China Syndrome.”
Political analysts have been endlessly studying
what was said, what wasn’t said and what could be
read between the lines of every utterance of this
Photos by Ana Lorena
very eloquent US President, so very different from his illustrious but silent predecessor who didn’t
have the advantages offered by teleprompters. I would prefer to go by what I heard him say: that the
United States was extending a friendly hand to the Cubans, that Cubans should be able to decide their
future without any meddling, that areas for working together should be found and that we should
be respectfully discussing our differences, that he would continue to ask Congress to eliminate the
“embargo” (blockade we call it over here…). His words seem to erase, with the flick of a pen, centuries
of imperial gluttony. He also talked about his concept of freedom, democracy and human rights and he
clearly talked about intentions to “empower” those of us who would like to make up a new social class.
Whether or not he will do what he promised, or whether his successor in the Oval Office will maintain
the same intentions, only time will tell. For the time being, there will be some new business, less fear
for US allies to invest in the country of yesterday’s “diabolical” Castro Brothers, waves of tourists who
want to see the island before its culture becomes absorbed by the US (it seems that they don’t know that
Cuba was a neo-colony and its culture was strong and authentic enough to survive then) and perhaps
there will be better opportunities to connect with the rest of the world. We Cubans have to be prepared
for these new breezes blowing in and to come to terms with the announced Trojan horse. Obama came
and saw: but did he conquer? I don’t think so.
Photos by Ana Lorena
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Cuba's Digital Destination
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7
Rock’n’rolling with
The Rolling Stones
by Victoria Alcalá
photos by Ana Lorena
After The Beatles broke up, we were left with The
Rolling Stones as the most important rock band
in the world. In the 1990s, they became a pretty
powerful musical empire, difficult to ignore. After
over 50 years, they are the oldest active rock and
roll group on the planet today, having entertained
several generations of fans who cover a broad
range of musical tastes.
Raw, often scandalous lyrics doing nothing to cover
up sexual desires or pithy criticisms, protesting
against the status quo and stereotypical morals,
basically uncomplicated structures with frequent
repetitions, undeniably original and imaginative,
the magical combo of Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards is responsible for all that. Onstage,
Jagger’s sinuous energy, the explosive bass
guitar maneuvers of Ronnie Wood, Keith’s iconic
intensity and the sure touch of Charlie Watts on
drums have mesmerized millions on countless
tours through a long list of countries over the
years, proof of the band’s acceptance by different
cultures. Add to that the seductive backup singer
Sasha Allen and a handful of excellent musicians
and the result is their legendary mix of jazz, blues,
rock and roll, hard rock, punk and experiments
with funk, reggae, gospel, country and electronic
music, incorporating wind and brass instruments,
orchestras and choirs. It is a hypnotic spectacle
punctuated by lights and innovative graphics on
the huge screens and marvelous sound and special
effects. This group has assimilated changes and
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created a legacy that encapsulates everything
popular modern music has been able to come up
with for half a century.
When I first heard that Mick Jagger was on a visit
to Havana and rumors started floating around
about a Stones concert in Havana, I knew for sure
that my true-blue “Historical Event” was about to
happen and I would be able to see and hear the
biggest musical show ever. As if in a dream, the
official announcement was made and the Ciudad
Deportiva started to be transformed into the
scenario, with the stage growing day by day before
the eyes of amazed passersby and anxious fans as
if it was part of some fairy tale.
the peace symbol and sedately (or less sedately)
moving along with the rhythm. Grandparents may
have arrived with their canes but soon they were
unable to stay completely still or to refrain from
singing along. We heard that half a million people
were there that night, dancing, singing, shouting
and crying. A few fainted but nothing serious
marred the occasion.
Veni, vidi, vici: the Rolling Stones came and
conquered but we, who have always loved them
and who have waited for them for over 50 years,
saw them and came out the real winners!
And so it happened: The Stones came to Cuba to
play a single, free, over two-hour long concert.
The crowds walking along Santa Catalina Street
reminded you of First of May parades. The
audience covered three, maybe four, generations
and there were visitors from around the world,
some carrying the flags of their countries (or even
of other countries). Everyone wanted to be there
to experience the 1,300 kilos of sound that would
let the festivities be enjoyed in precise tone and
volume anywhere on the grounds and in their
close proximity.
In a mood of peaceful euphoria, teenagers
interacted with their youthful panache as they
watched in amazement the joy of the “veterans”—
some with long hair and most with grey hair—flying
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9
“Its only Rock and Roll, but I Like it”
Reflections by a Yuma in Cuba on the Rolling Stones Concert in Havana, March 25, 2016
by Joanne Clarkson
If, as someone once told me, life is politics and
politics is life, why couldn’t music be politics and
politics be music? That belief dates back to the
days when, as a twenty-something-old crazy
about Rock ‘n Roll, I thought (and hoped) that by
the time I was sixty-something, I and others of
my generation would have changed the world,
eliminated imperialism and were spending our
golden years living in a socialist paradise where
we and our children and grandchildren would be
assured good living according to our needs.
As the decades passed, the political hopes
suffered ups and downs along with a changing
musical background score. Latin America went
from dictatorship to dictatorship with the grand
exception of Cuba, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
dream still has not taken place for the majority of
black Americans, Europe seems to be reverting to
isolationism and xenophobia and the United States
embarks on war after war, spending their capitalist
earnings on new weapons instead of the welfare of
their people. Even worse, as evidenced by Obama’s
statements on his recent visit to Cuba, the official
American view of the world is still as blinkered
as it ever was, practically rewriting history to
suit themselves and, unfortunately, believing it
all. American politicians are still convinced that
the “American Way of Life” is what we should all
be living and most of them don’t see the huge
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discrepancies present in their own society. Not
even “democracy” is what they think it is.
While history see-sawed and at times travelled
backwards, Rock ‘n Roll survived despite attacks
from disco, hip-hop and rap. The groups themselves
came and went, some of them suffering from the
toll of their accelerated frenetic lifestyles. The
Beatles broke up; Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim
Morrison all died young, even The Rolling Stones
made necessary adjustments in their membership.
Living in Canada as a teenager, I didn’t suffer from
any national prohibitions on listening to “that
kind of music” as did my Cuban and some other
Latin American contemporaries but I had to live
with a “family censor” in the figure of my mother
who decried anything that was not “classical” as
degenerate and intellect-numbing; but there was
always some way to buy “those” records, listen to
rock music stations and go to Friday night dances
in the basement of the local YMCA. Nevertheless,
attending the first Woodstock music festival was
forbidden to me.
Music is after all a universal language; it speaks
to the soul and mirrors the times. After seeing
Miloš Forman’s excellent bio-pic “Amadeus,” I
remember thinking that “Wolfie” Amadeus Mozart
had probably been regarded as a sort of “rock
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star” because he broke a lot of his day’s musical
boundaries and he often acted irreverently
towards authority figures. But in the long run, his
music spoke to the changes going on during his
historical period, just as rock music speaks to the
changes in ours. And both survived.
In another miracle of survival, after over 50 years,
both the Cuban Revolution and The Rolling Stones
have survived. And given the coincidences of time
and place, I, the Cuban Revolution and The Stones
converged in a field behind a sports stadium in
Havana on March 25, 2016. There was no way I
wasn’t going to attend.
Besides the significance the occasion held for me,
I was impressed by a number of elements. First
of all, it was amazing how half a million people
were able to peacefully enjoy that free concert.
Unlike similar events in “North” countries, the
police presence was barely noticeable, alcohol
consumption was at a very low level as far as I could
see (except for a few rowdy German tourists) and
as people walked past me, it was normal to hear
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them saying con permiso …excuse me. And Mick
Jagger, the flamboyant front man for the group,
demonstrated wonderful tact and eloquence as
he spoke “Cuban-Spanish” to his audience on
repeated occasions and made accurate “political”
assessments about the times. Yes, Bob, the times
really are a-changin’. I remembered that Jagger
had done a short stint at the London School of
Economics as a young man, thinking he was going
to be an economist or a politician one day. Well,
he sounded like a politician on March 25th. Maybe
being a rock star and a politician are the same
thing, as he once observed.
And so I am brought around full circle. It only took
fifty years. And I still love rock music and hope for
a better world for all. And without appearing to be
irreverent, I would broach the thesis that the two
representative survivors of political and musical
ups and downs, Fidel and Jagger, both hold the key.
They use different ways of communicating but in
the end they both give us the same message, one
of peace and love.
page 12
EVENTS IN HAVANA
21 Festival Internacional de Danza en Paisajes
Urbanos: Habana Vieja Ciudad en Movimiento
Historic Center of Old Havana April 6-10
Every April, visitors to Old Havana’s historical Centre will find squares, parks, streets, museums and
old houses possessed by a dancing spirit, which organized by dancer and choreographer Isabel Bustos
and her company Retazos, turns balconies, windows, stairs and walls into stages, for the International
Dance Festival in Urban Landscapes: Old Havana City in Motion. The event, which first took place
in 1998, forms part of the International City Dance Network established in Barcelona, and began in
the words of Isabel Bustos with “five or six people who ran from house to house, from balcony to
balcony, from courtyard to courtyard, from garden to garden, two dancers here, two there.” Today,
Old Havana’s plazas and streets fill with over 1,500 participants that include dancers, choreographers,
musicians and painters. It aims to link dance choreography with the visual and expressive nature of
the old city, as well as to interact with passers-by.
Creators from Cuba, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, Chile, Colombia, U.S., Spain, France, Mexico,
Norway, Italy, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, El Salvador, Japan, Sweden. Among other countries, will
participate in the event.
Mornings have been set aside for lectures and workshops; afternoons for master classes, passacaglias
and shows; evenings for shows; and Saturdays and Sunday for children.
The festival will open at 9pm, April 6, at Plaza de Armas, with Andares, choreography by Isabel Bustos
and performed by her company, Retazos. The closing show will be held at 9pm, at Plaza de Armas.
The event will coincide with the 11th 11 Festival Internacional de Videodanza DV Danza Habana
Movimiento y Ciudad, which focuses on the link between audiovisual materials and dance.
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Isabel Bustos
Dancing with Retazos
photos by Y. del Monte
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by Victoria Alcalá
Havana's historical center with be awash with dance in April when plazas, parks, streets,
museums, balconies, windows, stairs and old city walls will be turned into stages by
choreographer Isabel Bustos and her company Retazos for the International Dance
Festival in Urban Landscapes: Old Havana City in Motion.
The Chilean-born spitfire that is Isabel Bustos
has created a modern dance troop, Retazos, in
her own image. Daring, imaginative and creative,
it pushes the boundaries in its search for new
ways of presenting dance. The dancers may not
have the classical background or the physique of
other Cuban dance groups but Isabel has certainly
inspired something within them.
Retazos is an integral part of the week long festival
Havana, City in Motion, which was held for the first
time in 1996. What began in two or three museums
in the city’s historical center has now expanded
to almost every street and square of the Old City.
Since 1998, it has formed part of the International
City Dance Network whose purpose is to blend
choreography with the city’s architecture.
Isabel meets us in Havana with her irrepressible
smile, and the obligatory cigarette perched
between her lips. The undisputed promoter and
guiding light of what she describes as this beautiful
madness” began dancing at a ballet school in
Ecuador where she spent her childhood. Later she
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enrolled in the National School of Arts (ENA) in
Cuba, where her parents were based as diplomats.
There she was taught by two of what she describes
as the “jewels” of Cuban ballet, Loipa Araújo and
Mirta Pla. After graduating she went on to join the
National Modern Dance Company—today Danza
Contemporánea de Cuba. After visits to Quito and Mexico City, she was
granted a scholarship by UNESCO to study
choreography in Paris. It was in France that she
says she began to explore ways to interconnect
the arts to express emotions and feelings.
From Paris, Isabel returned to Havana for good.
Here she created Retazos, based at first in the living
room of her own home. The name means “bits
and pieces,” a concept which, as Isabel explains,
underscores its work. lahabana
“Our lives are made up of bits and pieces: pieces of
other lives, feelings, emotions, thoughts, dreams…
We are fragments of a whole, hence our name.” Isabel says that collaborating with musicians,
sculptors, painters and filmmakers is a way of
incorporating their own poetry with Retazos,
putting together all their “bits and pieces.”
Buildings too, she says, can provide inspiration: “We can bend to the suggestions or to the visual
and emotional values of an old wall, of an arch,
vibrating in harmony with passers-by. It is an
improvisational exercise that fuels our creativity
and enriches the experience of the audience.”
Isabel and Retazos have become an integral part
of Old Havana’s cultural life. Long live the madness
of beauty.
page 16
HAVANA
qUEENS
Party
by Margaret Atkins
photos Davalos and
courtesy Habana Queens
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Paseo del Prado marks the southern limits of Old
Havana. Its wide pedestrian strip with trees and
benches is guarded by eight lions cast from the
bronze of old cannons that at one time were part of
the colonial city’s defense system. In the afternoons,
it is a place for rendezvous, for children playing,
for lovers, roller-skaters and skateboarders, for an
arts and crafts market and for oldsters looking for
a cool breeze and conversation. At night, on the
corner of Virtudes, you can look up at the second
floor of number 309 and you will see two windows
whose glass changes colors from red to green to
purple: it’s the frenetic Havana Queens party.
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The building is the site of the Centro Asturiano,
one of the regional Spanish associations that in the
early 20th centruy provided charitable assistance
to the numerous emigrants from Spain residing on
the Island. There is a grand reception area on the
ground floor with splendid mirrors, photos of the
association’s founders and an image of Our Lady of
Covadonga. There is also an Italian restaurant. The
third floor has a restaurant serving grilled foods.
Right in the middle, on the second floor is the
Havana Gourmet Restaurant. We’ve arrived early
and it’s almost empty. People start getting there
around 9 o’clock so as not to miss a second of
the show and to take advantage of the deal which
includes a tapas table or gala dinner and, after the
show, recorded music to dance the night away.
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We’re introduced to Rosario García, choreographer
and director of the dance company that makes
some 20 music videos every year and has won the
important Premio Lucas (something like the MTV
awards) in the category of best choreography three
years running. Rosario is charming, elegant and
high spirited. She was a dancer and choreographer
of the prestigious Cuban Television Ballet until she
founded her own company called Havana Queens.
“Queens” came from the fact that at the beginning
the group’s members were all female; nowadays
it has grown into a heterogeneous show taking in
the most sabroso Cuban rhythms, guajira music,
pop, hip hop, disco and nueva trova.
I talk with the dancers in the improvised dressing
rooms overflowing with colorful costumes
and mirrors. The troupe comes from different
backgrounds—from contemporary and folklore
dance school graduates to street performers
ready to show off the acrobatics they learned in
city parks. Some of the girls, like Rosario, are from
the TV ballet company. I see a gorgeous mulatto
doing some unbelievable stretches and a shorthaired girl runs in, just in time to get ready. When
we see her on stage later on we are entranced by
her expressiveness that sets her apart from the
others.
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The show starts at 9:30 and it’s organized into
segments that alternate with the voice of Yuliet
Abreu, known by Cubans as “La Papina.” She’s the
daughter of one of the members of the legendary
vocal and percussion group Los Papines to which
she also belongs. Number follows number onstage
and the audience is getting excited with the
frenetic hip movements of the dancers. There
is one contemporary dance number that could
favorably compete with anything being presented
in any great theater in the world. There is breakdancing and clog dancing (an odd feature of this
is that the girls wear the clogs on their hands,
not on their feet!) in syncopated rhythm. The
audience is really warming up to these rhythms,
it doesn’t matter which part of the world they are
from. The show ebbs and flows, something like
the universe until we believe that it is the universe
itself; nothing exists beyond this room, this
euphoria, this strength and the dedication of such
tireless bodies. The choreography is impeccable,
daring and, at times, challenging. The dancers are
enjoying every moment and the audience bursts
into applause and cries out. And when you think
the show is over, it isn’t, because the artists stay
and go on dancing just for the love of dancing and
so a whole other show is created, a spontaneous
show that is new every single night, unique.
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When we are leaving, the lights are still on in the second floor windows. Everything will begin anew
tomorrow. Maybe you too will get to enjoy these queens and their kings who light up the Havana nights
under Rosario’s steady, loving hand. Prado No. 309 is the address for rapture. It’s the Havana Queens
Party.
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Miguel
Iglesias
swimmer turned dancer
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When Miguel Iglesias, director of Danza
Contemporánea de Cuba, was still in
grammar school, he told his dad he wanted
to be a dancer. Without saying a word,
his father began to guide his son towards
sports, especially swimming. Miguel
became pretty good at it and eventually
graduated from the Higher Institute of
Sports and Physical Education. But his
wish of becoming a dancer had never
died. He danced whenever and wherever
he could at social centers, comparsas
during the carnivals, anywhere.
In 1967, encouraged by a friend who was
dancing with the Cuban Television Ballet,
he did an audition and passed the test.
Two years later, in 1969, he traveled to
Camagüey to work with the newly-created
ballet. He studied there under Russian
dancer Azari Plizetski (Alicia Alonso’s
partner for many years) and Loipa Araújo
(one of the jewels of the Ballet Nacional
de Cuba) and attended every course and
workshop he could get hold of.
One day, he attended Medea y los negreros,
by Ramiro Guerra’s Conjunto Nacional de
Danza, and in his own words, it was like “a
slap in the face” that woke him up to what
he wanted to do with dance. He resolved
to join the company and left for Havana.
He didn’t achieve his dream right away
in the meantime he even studied Spanish
Literature at the University of Havana. In
1975, in spite of a sprained ankle, he did an
audition and became the newest member
of Conjunto Nacional de Danza.
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According to Miguel, he is a man of action, not
an intellectual who dances. He has never left any
opportunity go by—he premiered both Marianela
Boán’s and Rosario Cárdenas’ first choreographies;
he has danced and acted. He has been in the right
place at the right time.
He was offered the direction of the company
twice, in 1981, when he said no, and in 1984. He
was 37 and still physically fit to continue dancing,
but accepted because there many things that he
thought were not right with the company. After
Ramiro Guerra, the company’s founder, there had
been 14 successive directors, and some who knew
nothing about dancing. Miguel describes it like a
child who has had 14 stepfathers with everything
that this implies. His goal became to unify the
company and managed not only this but made
his company the “mother” of many other modern
dance companies in Cuba, like DanzAbierta or
Danza Combinatoria.
the most professional manner and believe in their
honesty. Their love for dance unites them in their
enterprise.
Thirty-one years later, Miguel Iglesias’ Danza
Contemporánea de Cuba is one of the most
universal companies in the dance scene in the
world and has proven its ability to adapt and
interpret varied styles. Iglesias has preserved the
innovative spirit of its founders and is faithful to
the original premises, which has allowed him to be
open to the latest trends in dance in the world.
“To talk about cubanía today,” Miguel Iglesias
confides, “is much more complex than years ago.
Young people have other forms of expression and
that does not make them less Cuban than our
traditions. I think as a Cuban because I’m a Cuban,
but I am also a citizen of the world and do not feel
the need to show folkloric scenes to reaffirm the
Cuban character.”
As Danza Contemporánea’s director, he feels the
need to share an artistic affinity with the people
who work by his side, to listen to their opinions in
Danza Contemporánea de Cuba
Founded in 1959 by celebrated choreographer and
teacher Ramiro Guerra who introduced modern
dance in Cuba, this company would become the
backbone of Cuban contemporary dance with
Lorna Burdsall, Santiago Alfonso, Irma Obermayer
and Eduardo Rivero as founding members, just to
mention a few. It has premiered over 250 works
with the premise of integrating modern theatre
to current dance styles, African and Spanish roots
and the rich popular Cuban cultural heritage.
Most of its members, who are graduates of the
National School of Arts, are characterized by
their technique and ductility. The company has
toured extensively the Americas, Europe and
Africa and has performed at the most important
international dance festivals with works by famous
choreographers, such as Doris Humphrey, classical
Cuban pieces including Suite Yoruba by Ramiro
Guerra, or Michelangelo by Víctor Cuellar, and
newer works also by Cuban choreographers. In
recent years, the company, which is now directed
by former dancer Miguel Iglesias, has worked in
collaboration with international choreographers
Jan Linkens, Luca Bruni and Kenneth Kwamström,
among others, although it has continued its
experimental trend with works by Cuban dancers
and musicians, such as Jorge Abril’s solo Cara o
cruz, with music by Leo Brouwer and Guido López
Gavilán.
Miguel Iglesias
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Rumba in Havana’s Cayo Hueso district
by Ricardo Pérez and Victoria Alcalá
“Without rumba there is no Cuba, and without Cuba there is no rumba
Anonymous
Rumba is one of the most famous and well-known
genres of popular Cuban music. Born, according to
the majority of scholars, in the poor neighbourhoods
of the province of Matanzas—approximately 100
km away from Havana—it is characterized by the
sensual movement of hips and shoulders while
dancing, with an aggressive attitude on the part
of the man and a defensive attitude on the part of
the woman, and by the chanting of one or several
soloists who sing melodies of 8 bars in 2/4 meters,
repeated over and over again even if the lyrics
change, which alternates with a chorus. At first,
it was accompanied by everyday utensils turned
into musical instruments such as wooden boxes,
spoons and bottles, and later on by a percussion
set made up of congas, cowbells, claves and
bongos, or three congas with low, medium and
high registers and a wooden box beat with sticks,
among other variations.
Rumba can be broken down into three types:
yambú, columbia and guaguancó:
Yambú, which has fallen into disuse, is the oldest,
going back to the mid 19th century. Although the
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dance represents the flirting of the female with the
male dancer, it uses a slow beat, the movements
are soft and unhurried, and there is no pelvic
movement that is meant as the erotic possession
called vacunao, thus the repeated warning in the
chants that ‘there is no vaccination in the yambú’.
Another more recent style is the columbia,
originated in the rural areas and essentially for solo
male dancers, although there have been women
famous for their interpretation of this dance. The
music follows the pattern of a ‘dialogue’ between
a soloist and a chorus where two distinct parts
are clearly identified—one part for singing and the
other for dancing, the latter being called capetillo.
The city-born guaguancó is basically the pursuit
of the woman by the man, she trying to evade
him and he trying to ‘vaccinate’ her, an action
that has become so stylized that it may be even
suggested with the flip of a handkerchief, and is
an opportunity for the dancers to shine. Groups
that specialized in playing guaguancó—called
‘choruses’— originated in the late 19th century,
creating their own chants whose narrative lyrics
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have come down to the present day. As customary,
the different styles have combined, and it is not
strange in a guaguancó for a man to put on a
display of talent incorporating movements from
columbia or for the couple to pay homage to their
ancestors evoking the ceremonious airs of the
old yambú. Therefore, rumba is a generic term
covering a variety of musical rhythms.
Around the 1920s and 30s, rumba began to
spread out from its humble surroundings, the
tenement houses and poor neighbourhoods, and
became popular in another style yet, the stage
or ballroom rumba, which was accompanied not
only by percussion instruments, but by wind and
even string instruments. Rumba was introduced
in Europe, and traveled all the way to the United
States by way of Xavier Cugat’s orchestra, playing
first in Los Angeles and later at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel in New York. The rhythms and melodies of
rumba were present in the birth of Afro-Cuban
jazz.
This style of somewhat sophisticated rumba is the
one you find at Cuban cabaret shows, with the
women wearing dresses of endless flounces and
ribbons and a long train. But to those who want to
get acquainted with it in a setting that resembles
its popular and humble beginnings, the place to
go is the Callejón de Hamel (Hamel Alley) in the
neighbourhood of Cayo Hueso in the municipality
of Central Havana.
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Callejón de Hamel is one of the shortest streets
in the city, barely 200 meters long, delimited by
Aramburu and Espada streets. It owes its name
to Fernando Belleau Hamel, of French-German
descent, who smuggled weapons during the
American Civil War and who in the early 20th
century, settled down in Havana in this deadend street that now bears his name. He opened
a foundry and built houses for his workers. The
alley’s first fame came during the 1940s and 50s
when the home of trovador Tirso Díaz became
the gathering place for a group of singers and
composers—friends of Ángel Díaz, Tirso’s son—
who constituted the founding members of filin,
a renovating movement in Cuban song, which
introduced novel harmonies from jazz (which had
at the same time assimilated them from French
impressionism) and gave a deliberate colloquial
character to the lyrics.
Since then, Callejón de Hamel, especially the
stretch between Hospital and Aramburu streets
has a new lease on life: sculptures and installations
made of scrap material take onlookers by surprise;
multicoloured paintings with íremes y orishas—
deities of Afro-Cuban religions—lighten up the
once bare walls; the herb peddler installs himself
ready to offer his herbs for curing colds and
lovesickness alike; Salvador’s studio-workshop
pays tribute, with its name, to the legendary singer
of Afro-Cuban ritual melodies Merceditas Valdés,
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who was born a few blocks away; and as in all
popular merrymaking in Havana, rumba regains
its dominance, singing and dancing, uniting
neighbours and visitors, recalling old customs and
making up, along the way, the traditions of the
future.
Every Sunday at noon, a get-together known as
“La rumba de Cayo Hueso” takes place at Callejón
de Hamel. Made up of a group predominantly of
women, it has been baptized as the Rumba Morena.
This is the best place to dance or simply to enjoy
watching a good rumba. Deep in the heart of the
Cayo Hueso neighborhood, you are surrounded
by art and ancestral urges, witness to a surfeit of
identity and intensity.
Rumba, a dance that is so full of symbolic content,
goes for around three straight hours. It is so
powerful that it is able to drag anyone in, no matter
where in the world they come from. This event has
become a meeting place for people from diverse
cultures, all of whom add color and enrich the
meaning of the get-together.
This fusion occurring among the neighbors of
Cayo Hueso and other districts in the city, flooded
by visitors who need to be actively involved in
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what is happening there, creates an interesting
level of energy that practically forces everyone
to be dancer-participants. These encounters on
the Callejón de Hamel are intoxicating events
moving in an upward spiral of increasing heat. The
rumberos want to tell us a story that needs to flow
through our imaginations.
It is wonderful to watch the girls of the Rumba
Morena passionately playing the percussion
instruments in a very unique manner. The beat
of the cajón, congas and cencerro presents a
greater challenge for the dancers, forcing them
to interpret the language of these instruments. A
strong spirit and will is needed to dance to these
percussive rhythms. The senses join with the body
in a surging rush of excitement.
Rumba is a big part of the daily lives of Cubans,
especially of those living in neighborhoods like
Cayo Hueso, preserving the historical memory of
their roles and evolution. The most beautiful thing
is the ability to express how you live, what you
aspire to and where you have come from, through
dance. That is where the true value of the rumba
lies.
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Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba
by Margaret Atkins
Can anyone say they really came to Cuba if they
never heard the unmistakable sound of batá
drums reverberating through the Havana night?
Can anybody say they know this Island if they
have never felt the beating of the drums throbbing
in their chest or watched believers frenetically
dancing non-stop in an ancestral impulse that
arises from the very roots of our national culture?
None of todays dance or music manifestations
can be understood without knowing about the
folklore that was cooked up in that cauldron of the
times, filled with the cultural elements of Africa,
Spain, Haiti, France and Asia. Since it was created
in 1962, the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba
has been responsible for the conservation and
dissemination of our traditional legacies.
The company came into being as one of the most
important cultural institutions in Cuba at the
beginning of the Revolution and its ranks originally
included such giant cultural figures as writer and
poet Rogelio Martínez Furé and choreographer
Adolfo Reyes. There were also some very talented
singers and dancers who had never had any prior
professional training such as Lázaro Ross, Nieves
Fresneda and Zenaida Armenteros. Right from the
start, the group had very clear goals: salvaging
and claiming as their own the genuine traditional
music and dance forms that, after being rigorously
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page 27
researched, could be recast into an artistic
style that would fulfill all of the most stringent
demands of contemporary theater. Over 2,000
performances in Cuba and around the world,
awards and recognitions collected at important
events, a strong presence over many years...these
all point to the fact that this is a highly successful
artistic enterprise.
Directed these days by Manolo Micler and with
a young crop of singers and dancers who have
graduated from Cuban arts schools, the Conjunto’s
obvious prestige can be witnessed at the FolkCuba
Workshops held twice a year, in January and June.
Participants come to these workshops from all
around the world to learn about the secrets of the
mambo, cha-cha-chá, mozambique, pilón, rumba
and all the other dances associated with AfroCuban ritual. They take dance classes, percussion
lessons, train in Yoruba chants and delve into
Cuban culture for an intense fortnight under the
guidance of experienced teachers.
Especially striking in their appearance, the dances
associated with Yoruba rituals and the practice
of Santeria are the most visible and well-known
numbers in the Conjunto repertoire. The Yoruba
religion recognizes a supreme being named Olofi
and secondary deities called Orishas who serve
as intermediaries between the supreme being
and humans. Orishas have characteristics that
are close to human, with distinct personalities,
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virtues, defects, names, colors, typical clothing,
objects and attributes that identify them. The
dances dedicated to them are accompanied by the
sound of traditional drums, the Batá, which create
incredibly complicated rhythms. Conga, Carabalí
and Abakuá traditions as well as the entire rumba
group (Yambú, Columbia and Guaguancó), along
with the comparsas that originated to accompany
the slaves’ secular festivities during Spanish
colonial times and survive to this day as ingredients
of multitudes of popular fiestas throughout the
Island, make up the company’s African repertoire.
Of course, there are also traditional numbers
originating in Spain such as the punto guajiro and
the zapateo, or the French and very Creole version
of contradanza, or the danzón (which continues
to be Cuba’s National Dance) and all those other
unique musical expressions that make up the
essence of all that is Cuban.
Every show overflows with color, virtuosity and
energy. Audiences are literally bewitched by
their special way of expressing the rhythms. The
drums are pounding away at our hearts, producing
an effect much like the one affecting those who
become enthralled and possessed during intense
ceremonials. It is like the endless flow of Cuban
rural improvisers’ poetry, rhyming décimas for
hours on end. Everyone should see and hear the
national folkloric group of Cuba, the Conjunto
Folklórico Nacional, to experience the best in this
music and dance genre.
page 28
Ritmo Cuba Salsa Festival:
a springtime showcase
by Ricardo Alberto Pérez
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18th-25th
APRIL
2006
page 29
In the 1970 and 80s, Cuba experienced a surprising
boom in salsa dancing. You could practically
breathe it in the air, from the mass media to the
very streets where, every time any of the popular
salsa bands could be heard playing, people would
spontaneously start dancing and awestruck
crowds would provide enthusiastic audiences.
Remembering all that, it is gratifying to see that
over twenty years later, Havana’s first Ritmo Cuba
Festival is going to be held from April 18 to 24 and
will be focus on salsa dancing. It will be responsible
for promoting even more the teaching of that style
and the tremendous possibilities it has to become
enriched as it fuses with other dance styles.
The event came into being as a response to the
fact that salsa festivals are regularly being held all
over the world, but never in Cuba, when, ironically,
Cuba is acknowledged by most people to be the
birthplace of that rhythm and the dance.
The Havana Festival will be upon us shortly
sponsored by a private salsa school known as La
Casa del Son, located on the corner of Empedrado
and Compostela streets in Havana. The school is
run by Silvia Canales and she has been one of the
principal instigators of the idea of the festival.
Organizers of the event tell us that this spring we
will be seeing the best salsa dancers from all over
the world brought together here in Havana. Most
of them happen to be Cubans who have been living
abroad for years and now they are coming back
home to show their compatriots what they have
learned during their absence. We have heard that
some of the couples are not all-Cuban; however,
although one of the partners may not be from the
Island, the dominant partner is sure to be Cuban.
Some of the names to look out for are Alberto
Valdés, Andria Panayi, Jennnyselt Galata Calvo,
Jorge Luna, Roly Maden, Yeni Molinet, Yanek
Revilla and the Alexis and Cristina Duo, just to
mention a handful.
The Festival will include a solid program of
workshops and classes that will be providing a
remarkable opportunity for some very talented
young dancers who are living in Cuba to be able to
show their talent and attain a bit more exposure.
All the activities revolving around those days in
April will converge on the Old Havana area, making
good use of the beautiful scenario of that area’s
historical and colonial sites. Three different kinds
of classes will be taught, using two of the large
rooms at the Museo de La Revolucion and one at
the San Miguel Hotel.
Another interesting main attraction will be the
night-time fiestas that will be held at La Casa de
la Música de Galiano, at Club 1830 and at La Gruta.
The evening program on Friday and Sunday nights
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page 30
will have the privilege of taking place in one of
the large halls at the Gran Teatro de La Habana
Alicia Alonso. A number of tourist trips will also get
added to the fiestas and classes.
Big-name Cuban musicians who are currently very
much in the public eye and high on the popularity
charts will be supporting the Festival. Those that
have already confirmed their presence are groups
such as El Niño y La Verdad, and El Noro y Primera
Clase.
Something else that will make this event very
attractive for salsa fans is the fact that many of the
teachers present will be specialists in the different
salsa styles that have been created all over the
world. Many of these have been embellished by
a variety of other cultural influences. To have
so many trends present at one single event will
provide a more exact and realistic view of the size
of the salsa phenomenon these days.
Although Ritmo Cuba is essentially not a
competitive event, the talent and artistry of the
over forty teachers taking part will be exhibited at
shows at the evening fiestas on the weekend.
La Casa del Son will be the main site for the
festival but it is not the only Cuban school to be
participating. Around six other schools will be
there, including Villa Danza, La Casa del Tango and
Prat Café. This will be an ideal occasion to bring
together the work of our Cuban schools in order
to encourage cooperation among them, thereby
making it more feasible to hold future events of
the same kind. Springtime 2016 in Havana will
definitely be a showcase for salsa, the dance style
that clearly identifies and defines Cuba to the
world.
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Dancing
in the Night in Cuba
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page 32
Cuba has a well-known reputation for its
invigorating nightlife designed mainly for a more
spontaneous type of entertainment style. But at the
same time, these evening shows are characterized
by the fact that they pay rigorous attention to
artistic canons. Some of the factors that have
contributed to the legendary showmanship are
the richness of Cuba’s popular music and the
sensuality of our dancers.
For over 70 years, the main dance-based show
of this type is the one at the famous Tropicana
Cabaret, located in the Marianao district of
Havana. Its first show took place in 1939 and ever
since then it has been receiving recognition from
all over the world as “a Paradise under the Stars”
brought to life by its line-up of exotic dancers and
intoxicating rhythms.
For all these years, the Tropicana Show has
contributed much to the concept of how an
excellent group of dancers can combine mastery
and professionalism to captivate the interest of the
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most demanding of audiences. Obviously, these
performances rely on a dazzling array of costumes
which have been designed to highlight typically
Cuban characteristics. The wild colors and sequins
form a fantasy-based canvas put together with
style and taste and with an eye to emphasize the
striking bodies of the dancers.
This genre of dance show has been proliferating
all over Cuba. Their success lies in the fact that
they have excellent choreography that attempts
to communicate attractive stories from our past.
And so, through the medium of dance, today’s
audiences can become even more familiar with
them.
Other nightclubs that are an integral part of
Havana nightlife history are the Cabaret Parisién
at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the Salón Rojo at
the Capri Hotel, the Copa Room at the Riviera
Hotel and the El Turquino show at the Habana
Libre Hotel.
page 33
As tourism to Cuba increased during the 1990s, the number of new hotels multiplied as did other tourist
facilities, and many of them were creating shows using local artistic talent, principally dancers. As time
went by, the dancers working in these shows became more and more professional, going on to perform
at other shows, even taking part in successful international tours.
Besides the capital of Havana, nightlife in Cuba’s many beaches and in other cities like Cienfuegos,
Trinidad or Santiago de Cuba has been enlivened by shows in which dance is a major component. As a
byproduct of this creative explosion, the entertainment genre of the cabaret or nightclub spectacle has
become firmly implanted throughout the Island.
In addition, Cuba has developed new styles of creating and staging cabaret shows, especially by combining
a number of different artistic manifestations. The dance numbers make use of the rich palette of Cuban
music such as the son, danzón, guaracha, guajira, mambo, rumba, cha-cha-chá, pilón, mozambique,
salsa, timba and conga. Many of these shows give the audiences an opportunity to interact directly with
the performers, thereby adding freshness and spontaneity to the performances. The result creates a
definitely unforgettable evening for all.
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photo María del Pilar Rubí
An Army of Little
Girls in long skirts
by Margaret Atkins
For a long time, before those Walt Disney characters
burst into the repertoire of Cuban children, the
most popular costumes at kids’ parties were
gypsies for the girls and little Gallegos for boys.
It’s easy to understand that the mestizo nature
of the Cuban nation right from its origins would
hold onto so many cultural vestiges from Spain.
Centuries of Spanish colonialism, descendants of
the Spanish and Creoles born on the Island but
raised listening to the memories of their parents.
Immigrants from the provinces of Galicia and
Asturias, from Valencia, the Canary Islands and
Aragon…all these groups made their imprints on
the formation of Cuba. Many of them would get
together in their mutual assistance societies that
today still conserve the traditions and folklore of
their different regions. “I have two countries: Cuba
and Spain”, would be recited by a little dancer at
one of the shows that would be put on, in little
theatres and in the large halls of Havana where the
society dance groups would perform.
castanets and high-heeled shoes are the key
ingredients. Schools sprout everywhere and are
open to all without the rigorous selection criteria
of the famed Cuban dance academies. Little girls
can make their dreams come true, for a day at
least, in shows even if their future paths will be
distant from the world of dance. And in those
future days these dance teachers and their classes
will be fondly remembered along with the magic
In the afternoons, after school, an army of little
girls in long skirts, their hair pulled back in a
tight bun and adorned with a flower, march to
their Spanish dancing lessons. Fans and combs,
Continue to read full article + slideshow
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page 35
of the stage complete with makeup and colorful
costumes. Ah yes, and the intoxication of applause.
I have watched little white, black and mulatto girls
from all levels of Cuban society in the same group
as little girls with Downs Syndrome and difficult
teenagers.
The salon where mothers await the end of class
becomes a meeting place for friends. Sometimes
a father appears, clumsily combing out his
daughter’s hair. Talk turns to dresses and dance
shoes, sewing and choreographies in preparation
for the shows. Dance school involves everyone; it
creates bonds and multiplies efforts. Many of the
teachers have been trained by the same schools
where they now teach. Some schools manage
to send instructors to Spain to perfect their
techniques. The preferred dances are those called
“Classical”: Galician and flamenco, but there are
also folklore groups concentrating on dances from
Aragon, Valencia, the Canary Islands and others.
The need for music to accompany the dancing has
motivated the teaching of instrumentalists and we
see guitars, tambourines, cajas and bagpipes at
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the salons, often acquired with much sacrifice and
sometimes through the help of generous donors
from Spain.
My daughters dance in one of the many Spanish
Societies of Havana. They are part of that army of
little girls: long skirts and flowers in their hair. As
they are growing up, I think I shall look back with
nostalgia to those days of heels tapping on the
floor. I am comforted by the thought that these
schools are still around, still growing strong. And
even if my girls don’t continue on stage as adults,
I’ll be able to hear the rhythm of castanets again in
my home when my grand-daughters take Spanish
dancing lessons.
María del Pilar Rubí is a
freelance
photographer
(www.pilarrubi.com) who
works closely with the
subjects of her pictures thus
creating an atmosphere of
trust.
page 36
Irene Rodríguez and her Spanish Dance Company
by Margaret Atkins
Many times as I have driven down the Malecón
on my way to Old Havana, I have admired the
caryatids of the beautiful building that is home
to the Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura, or
Spanish American Cultural Center. And many
times I have promised myself to attend some of the
many cultural events that take place there. So it
was a very pleasant surprise when Irene Rodríguez
chose this venue for our interview. We met at the
institution’s small yet well-equipped theater where
she and her successful Spanish dance company
were rehearsing.
Even for anyone who hasn’t had the privilege of
seeing Irene on stage, it would be quite easy to make
her out among the four young women who were
stamping their feet away. Very young and very selfassured, she conducted the rehearsal, oftentimes
demonstrating herself how a step or movement
should be made. She greeted us courteously but I
sensed that she was somewhat upset because we
had arrived 15 minutes late. Later on we learned
that punctuality for Irene is a sacred word and a
matter of principle—every minute counts—and
that she demands of her dancers not only the best
results but strict discipline and hard work.
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It is precisely discipline and perseverance the
virtues that she values above everything else and
she firmly believes that they can make a dancer
(or any artist, for that matter) beyond any physical
disposition or innate talent. And Irene Rodriguez
indeed possessed all those virtues and more when
at the “ripe old age” of 11, Eduardo Veitía, Director
of the Spanish Ballet of Cuba, asked her to join his
company to take lessons there. Five years later,
she graduated as a ballerina and became part of
the corps de ballet of the company.
Little did her mother suspect when she enrolled
her daughter in classical ballet at the Andalusian
Cultural Center of Havana that little Irene would
duck out of class and join the Spanish dance
classes which she clearly found closer to her
spitfire nature…and heart. Irene’s mother is very
important in her life. She is not only her mom but
also the company’s representative. The talented
daughter speaks of her mother with respect and
much appreciation, aware of the decisive role that
her mother has played in her life and successful
career. Although her mom’s dream was for Irene to
become a ballerina, she supported her daughter’s
wish of studying Spanish dance. After her five-year
training under Veitía, she became a full member of
the Ballet Español de Cuba where she rose to First
Dancer and also became a teacher, choreographer
and maître.
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She studied Acting at the University of the Arts
(ISA) and received Gold Diploma upon graduation
in 2007. She has played a few roles in the theater
and she is convinced that this experience is an
important factor in her choreographies. When
she auditions dancers for her company, she looks
for integral professionals who are knowledgeable
and skilled in different genres of dancing, as well
as theatrical talent. In her opinion, if you don’t
have dramatic aptitudes, dancing becomes mere
gymnastics. This is why it is not easy for her to find
the right dancers, despite the many schools that
now teach Spanish dance from very early ages.
Little girls donning long black skirts with flounces,
shawls and flowers in their hair on their way to
dance classes after school has become of late a
common sight in Havana.
The girls and boys of the Irene Rodríguez Company
do not hide their pride in being part of this very
young dance troupe founded in January 2012. The
long rehearsal hours, the endless repetitions the
young director puts them through have produced
rave reviews everywhere they have performed.
Apart from the work she carries out with her own
company, she is the Spanish dance choreographic
adviser and maître of the Cuban National Ballet,
and at the request of Alicia Alonso, in 2012 she
became the artistic director of the La Huella de
España Festival--the Spanish Imprint Festival.
page 38
Her many choreographies have been performed
by the Spanish Ballet of Cuba, students from the
Spanish Dance Faculty of the University of the Arts
and outstanding students from the National Ballet
and Opera School, besides her own company.
Some of her most famous choreographies—
acclaimed by both audiences and critics—are Suite
del Sombrero de Tres Picos (a Spanish classic),
Al-Ándalus (Flamenco), the work in two acts
Emigrantes, which covers several dance styles,
including Afro-Cuban, neoclassical and flamenco;
and El crimen fue en Granada based on the poem of
the same name by Spanish poet Antonio Machado
and which garnered her the First Prize at the 7th
Alicia Alonso Spanish-American Choreography
Competition in 2012. This prize is only one in
a long list of accolades and awards received by
Irene as dancer, choreographer, promoter of
Spanish culture in Cuba and collaborator with
the Spanish Associations in the island. Because
of this important work, the Federation of Spanish
Associations in Cuba presented her with the Miguel
de Cervantes y Saavedra Award for her extensive
career as leading figure in Spanish dance and for
her contribution to disseminating Spanish culture.
Outside Cuba, she has taught summer courses in
Mexico for the PROART Academy for several years.
In front of the camera, you hardly notice Irene
Rodríguez’s restless nature that prevents her
from losing even a second in her life. Courteously
but firmly, Irene lets us know that she needs
to continue with rehearsals for an upcoming
performance. Outside the building, I picture Irene
in her endeavor to take her company on a long
journey that inevitably, and fortunately, can only
lead to excellence.
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Dance and the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso
At the beginning of this year 2016, following a
thorough restoration process, the Gran Teatro
de La Habana reopened its doors. For decades, it
has had the reputation of being the grand home
of dance in Cuba. The brand new feature on this
occasion is the change in its name. As of January
1, 2016, the Gran Teatro de La Habana became
the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso. This
transformation was celebrated with ballet on its
stage.
So that we may understand to a certain degree
how we have arrived at this juncture, let us go back
to the year of 1837, the year of the inauguration of
the Teatro Tacón’s. That grand opening launched
a theater arts movement in Cuba such as has
never been seen to date. The beauty, size and
sheer monumentality of the building attracted a
large number of artists and artistic impresarios.
The first dance performances date back to 1838,
inserted in the dramatic companies since these
included Spanish dancers who performed for the
audiences during intermissions.
We must point out that in the beginning, dance
was rather on the fringes of the other theatrical
manifestations such as opera, drama and music.
Between the 1840’s and 60s, various dance shows
were staged, right up to 1868 when the start of
the wars of independence in Cuba brought about
a visible decline in the Tacón Theater’s program.
It is also interesting to mention that at that time,
dance and ballet performances in Cuba were
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accompanied by the piano, not the full orchestra;
this had the effect of cheapening the shows.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Gran
Teatro welcomed foreign companies but dance
continued to occupy a secondary role. This state
of affairs began to change in 1948 when Cuba’s first
professional ballet company was born: the Ballet
Alicia Alonso. It evolved from the ballet school of
the Sociedad Proarte Musical, founded in 1931,
which gave Alicia Alonso her first instruction in
the art of the dance.
By 1948, Alicia was a dancer with an already wellestablished international reputation and she had
great influence on her colleagues in the American
Ballet Theatre, which during those days was
undergoing some internal problems. That situation
made it possible for Alicia to bring a group of its
dancers to her recently formed company so that
they didn’t have to be unemployed. That is one of
the reasons why it has been said that Alicia’s ballet
company was born with both international and
Cuban elements. The new company embarked on
an ever-expanding trajectory based on a deepseated taste for the ballet.
With the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, the
company continued fortifying its work giving rise
to the first Cuban dancers who were able to achieve
absolutely respectable technical-artistic levels.
They started winning prizes at the most important
international competitions. This went hand-in-
page 40
hand with the process of gaining audiences so that
ballet became a “grassroots phenomenon.”
There came a time when the company had such
a great influence on the public that when the
theater underwent some renovations, an attempt
was made to rename it the Gran Teatro de Ballet
y Ópera de Cuba. Cuba made that investment
because of the professional level achieved by the
Ballet Nacional de Cuba, as it came to be officially
known after the Revolution.
Right from the 1960s, ballet performances have
formed the backbone of the Gran Teatro’s program.
Different contemporary dance companies, from
Cuba and abroad, have performed there. The
theatre’s facilities became the headquarters for
the Ballet Nacional Cuba and the prestigious
International Ballet Festival of Havana, both of
which are a great source of pride for Cuba.
A wide range of comments and opinions surfaced
when it was learned that the emblematic theater
would be named Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia
Alonso when it reopened its doors. On the subject
of Alicia’s artistic merits that justify that honor,
ballet critic and historian Francisco Rey Alfonso
has written:
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The figure of Alicia Alonso has great dimensions,
bringing together a group of facets that few artists
in the world have managed to take on. First, she is
considered to be the best ballerina of her generation
in the entire world. Then, together with Fernando
Alonso, she was one of the founders of a phenomenon
going by the name of Escuela Cubana de Ballet
(Cuban School of Ballet) something that was hugely
transcendental because for over four centuries,
all over the world, only four schools of ballet are
recognized, including ours plus the Russian, the
English and the French Schools. Therefore the fact
that on a small Caribbean island such a phenomenon
occurred is exceptional. Besides, since 1967 she has
been functioning as the Director of the Company
and she has been busy both as choreographer and
professor, adding luster to the world ballet scene
and to our country.
After hearing Rey Alfonso’s arguments I came to
be convinced that among the eleven or so names
the theater has worn since its origin, no other
previous name has had the profound significance
of this one.
page 41
AliciaAlonso
The Grand Dame of Cuba
by Stephen Gibbs
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page 42
To enter Alicia’s Alonso’s office is to visit an inner
sanctum. She works in a small room, tucked away
behind the unassuming headquarters of the Cuban
National Ballet, on Calzada in Vedado. Outside,
gaggles of young ballerinas gather. Inside, an
army of efficient secretaries protect her from the
uninvited. The room itself is dark, and spartan. The shutters
are drawn. There is little furnishing apart from
a single bookshelf and a large mahogany desk.
Behind it sits the woman who has been the face of
Cuban Ballet for almost seven decades. In the 1950s, Alicia Alonso was voted one of the
most beautiful women in the world by Harpers and
Queen Magazine. You don’t doubt it. Immaculately
made up, her jet black hair tied back, wearing a
long flowing gown, she is elegance defined. She
greets me with a “good morning” in American
English. Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martínez
Hoya was born in Havana in 1920. Her family had
no shortage of money. When it was noticed she
had a talent for music and dance, she was quickly
enrolled in the Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical.
At 16, she married a fellow ballet student Fernando
Alonso, and the two moved to New York. In
those days the move was not so unusual for well
connected Cubans. She soon became one of the
founding members of the American Ballet Theatre.
By the late 1940’s, she was considered one of the
world’s greatest dancers.
“If you wanted to be a ballet dancer back then, you
had to leave the country,” she explains. But Alonso
remained determined to promote ballet in Cuba,
and so in 1948, in Havana, she set up the Alicia
Alonso Ballet Company.
The school was largely funded by the then
burgeoning Cuban high society, with wealthy
patrons happy to have their names associated with
such a distinguished project. The Cuban Ministry
of Education also made a modest subsidy.
But by the mid fifties, the company had run into
financial difficulties, and also political problems.
Facing increasing domestic upheaval, President
Batista attempted to recruit the Alonso Ballet
Company to his cause. He wanted the group to
dance on demand, often in order to distract people
from nearby student protests. When the dancers
refused, all funding was cut.
The school folded temporarily, and Alicia left
Cuba once again, this time to join the Monte Carlo
Ballet. She returned when Batista’s government
was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
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page 43
“Fidel Castro sent me a message,” she recalls. “He
said, ‘What do you need to make the company the
way you want it?’ So we sent him a big list of our
dreams.” Within weeks, the school was receiving
generous funding. It was renamed the Ballet
Nacional de Cuba.
In one of the more evocative, and true, tales of
the Cuban Revolution, the group then went on a
tour of Cuba, demonstrating ballet to people in
the most remote parts of the island. Most of the
audience had never seen the dance before.
“It was beautiful,” she says. “People were amazed.
But they understood what we were doing so
quickly. Ballet is a natural art, the art of movement.”
Throughout her career Alicia Alonso has struggled
with her eyesight. In the 1940’s she was first
diagnosed with a detached retina, and she has been
through several operations since. She is now nearly
blind, but still actively supervises all the Cuban
National Ballet’s work, and choreographs, using
her loyal assistants to interpret her directions.
Cuban ballet, while influenced by Russian and
Soviet styles, is now recognized the world over
as having its own unique form. Alicia Alonso says
it reflects how Cubans really are. “The woman is
very feminine and the man is very masculine. They
dance as partners. And we move in a very light
way.”
The grand dame of Cuba admits that it has been
difficult to perform in a world dominated by
commercial temptations. Over the years, several
Cuban dancers have defected and failed to return
to Cuba after tours abroad. It is not a subject she
likes to discuss. “It is like growing a beautiful big
tree, only to see people taking branches away,” she
says. “It hurts.”
But the tree keeps re-growing. This year, the school
Alicia founded will celebrate its 68th birthday.
“I explain what I want, and show them by moving
my arms and they understand perfectly well.”
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page 44
Cuban Ballet Dancers
in the World
Photos by Alex Mene
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page 45
The Ballet Nacional de Cuba has been acknowledged
as one of the four great ballet schools in the world
thanks to its method of training its dancers. This
has stamped each one of its dancers with a very
distinctive mark, something which makes them
recognizable on any stage where they perform.
The reasons for this are many, not the least of
which is their physical quality. To a great degree,
this training permits them to join other companies
which espouse transformations and avantgarde ideas and to incorporate themselves into
contemporary dance.
The fact that Cuban ballet dancers are able to be part
of so many different schools and companies shows
how much the fundamental concepts of Cuban
dance have to contribute to dance in the entire
world. Many Cuban dancers have been successful
over the years in a variety of different countries
but I would like to start with the exceptional
phenomenon of the Carreño family. Perhaps the
most well-known and promoted member of this
family has been José Manuel Carreño. As a shy
young man in 1989, he obtained the gold medal at
the New York Festival and a year later conquered
the Gran Prix in Jackson, Mississippi thereby
opening the doors to some significant contracts.
In 1993, José Manuel joined the American Ballet
Theater, remaining with that company for around
eighteen years while also being able to dance with
other important companies such as the English
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National Ballet, the Royal Ballet of London, the
Ballet of Tokyo, the Mariinsky, the La Scala Theater
of Milan, the Colón Theater of Argentina and
Danza Contemporánea de Cuba. In recent years,
he has become the artistic director of California’s
San José Ballet.
José Manuel’s uncle Lázaro Carreño, directly
associated with him because of his passion for the
dance from a very young age and former Premier
Danseur of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba with a list
of successful performances with many foreign
ballet companies, has stated: “Ballet is an art and
the ballet dancer is a machine; but that machine
must be honed and trained every single day, in
rain, thunder or lightening, whether we feel well
or not.”
Lazaro’s other nephew, Joel Carreño, was also
Premier Danseur in the Ballet Nacional de Cuba
and today he is dancing with the Norwegian
Ballet; his cousin Alyhaidée has a successful
career dancing in the Dominican Republic. All
the Carreño family members have been teaching
classes at various institutions for many years and
so the family tradition is alive and well as a truly
natural process.
When we speak of the trail left by Cubans on the
world’s foremost stages, a special spot is occupied
at the top of the list by Carlos Acosta, perhaps the
most well-known in his homeland for his origins
page 46
and simplicity. For years, Acosta starred in the
Royal Ballet of London, performing at the most
prestigious theaters in the world. Recipient of
the National Dance Prize of Cuba, he caused an
appreciative stir when he decided to return to
Cuba to create a dance company that would allow
him to continue his career in a more contemporary
vein.
Another interesting case is that of Joel Suárez, a
Cuban dancer now with the Vanguardia Company
of Germany known as “Sasha Waltz and Guests.”
He has admitted that his learning experience
occupies a very important place in his work in
contemporary dance, after having devoted twelve
years of his life to classical ballet, eight as a student
and four in the National Ballet of Cuba. These days
he appears to have found his niche and he feels
deeply motivated to be there.
Xiomara Reyes left Cuba at a very young age when
she was part of the “New Guard” of the Ballet
Nacional. This is an extraordinary idea promoted
by Laura Alonso where seventeen and eighteenyear-olds can perform in the great classics. At
that time she was invited by the Royal Ballet of
Flanders, where she remained for seven years,
attaining the status of first solo dancer. In January
of 2001, after winning a number of international
prizes, she joined the American Ballet Theater
as soloist and in April of 2003 was promoted to
principal ballerina, a position that has brought her
success upon success.
Among some of the more recent experiences of
Cuban dancers abroad are the case of Viengsay
Valdés who danced a season in Don Quixote at
the Ballet Concierto of Puerto Rico, young Arián
Molina who has been invited by the Pennsylvania
Ballet to dance the lead in Swan Lake and Grettel
Morejón who has been invited for a tour of Italy in
the Sofia Festival Ballet Company’s Sleeping Beauty.
The laurels attained by Cuban dancers in
complicated situations and facing difficult
challenges have been a great source of motivation
and influence for the present and future
generations of dancers in Cuba who dream of
stardom and all the recognition deriving from it.
We seem to have an endless source of figures that
are able to represent our pride. Names such as
Hayna Gutiérrez, Romel Frómeta, Yolanda Correa
and Víctor Gilí immediately come to mind.
I am also convinced that all of these special men and
women will continue to demonstrate that unique
touch which has been called “lo cubano.” They are
well-aware that in order to triumph on the great
stages of the world, they must pass through the
metamorphosis that will convert them from ballet
dancers to artists, adding spirit to all the merits
attained by their bodies.
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page 47
Carlos Acosta presents his new company:
Acosta
Danza
My heart has always been in
Cuba. This is why I wanted to
create the company here and
not in London where I had
the chance of doing so. But
my origins are very humble
and my country gave me
the opportunity to become
a dancer, so now I want to
give back to my country
everything I can.
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page 48
Carlos Acosta’s ambition is to create a company
that is the dream of every choreographer, one
that combines every style, from classical to
contemporary dance.
His company, Acosta Danza, will be making its
debut on April 8 at the Gran Teatro de La Habana
Alicia Alonso with a program of contemporary
dance that will remain on stage for two weekends,
and on April 16 and 17, the company will perform
classical pieces.
“I want the Cuban people to see me, and of course
I will dance with my company,” said the 42-yearold dancer, who retired from the Royal Ballet last
year.
“My heart has always been in Cuba. This is why
I wanted to create the company here and not in
London where I had the chance of doing so. But
my origins are very humble and my country gave
me the opportunity to become a dancer, so now
I want to give back to my country everything
I can,” he added.
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With this project, Acosta also seeks to create a
platform from which to launch the Cuban talent
unto the world.
Acosta Danza is made up of 25 dancers from
different backgrounds, styles and nationalities.
“In an increasingly globalized world, Cuba is
rich music- and dance-wise, and that is what I
want to explore, to reflect the characteristics
of this island,” he said. “I intend to transfer my
philosophy, everything I have learned throughout
my career. I want to bring new ideas, create
windows for artists and choreographers from
other places to come to Cuba,” he added.
“Now I’m in the middle of a transition, leaving aside
the career of the classical repertoire and exploring
new forms. I would also like to go on a national
tour and go to places where dance companies
usually do not perform.”
page 49
Acosta seeks to insert his company in the Cuban dance landscape following a contemporary line, but
without neglecting the technical development of classical ballet.
He also added that some circuits have already shown interest in including the new Cuban company in
their programming. The New York City Center has scheduled a week of performances by Acosta Danza
for March 2017.
On April 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13, the Acosta Dance Premiere Season proposes a contemporary program made
up of Alrededor no hay nada, The Faun, El cruce sobre el Niágara, De punta a cabo and Carmen, the latter
with choreography by Acosta.
April 16 and 17 will focus on classical ballet with several pas de deux, including Act 2 of Swan Lake, La
Sylphide, Winter Dreams and Carmen.
In addition, the company will dance The Dying Swan, Diana and Actaeon, End of Time, A Buenos Aires, Je
ne regrette rien, Les Bourgeois and Majísimo.
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page 50
dance
Acosta Danza Premiere Season
Monday-Friday, 8:30pm; Sundays, 5pm
Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso
Premiere by the newly created company of Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta with a selection of contemporary
work (April 8, 9, 10, 12 & 13) and classical pieces (April 16-17):
April 8, 9, 10, 12 & 13:
April 8, 9 & 12:
Alrededor no hay nada, based on poems by Joaquín
Sabina and Vinícius de Moraes, choreography by
Goyo Montero
The Faun
April 10 & 13;
El cruce sobre el Niágara, choreographed by
Marianela Boán; De punta a cabo, by Alexis
Fernández (Maca), and Carlos Acosta’s version of
Carmen.
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April 16 & 17:
Pas de deux of Act 2 of Swan Lake, La Sylphide,
Winter Dreams and Carmen, and The Dying Swan,
Diana and Actaeon, End of Time, A Buenos Aires, Je ne
regrette rien, Les Bourgeois and Majísimo. Also, the
world premiere of Anadromous by choreographer
Raúl Reinoso, music by de Ezio Bosso and Yann
Tiersen.
page 51
dance
Swan Lake
Ballet Nacional de Cuba
April 22,23, 28 & 29, 8:30pm; April 24, 5pm
Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso
The Ballet Nacional opens the season with Swan
Lake, version by Alicia Alonso based on Marius
Petipa’s and Lev Ivanov’s original choreography,
music by Tchaikovsky.
Alma Flamenca
April 8 & 9, 8:30pm; April 10, 5pm
Sala Covarrubias, Teatro Nacional
Performance of flamenco by the Alma Flamenca
Company.
La danza y sus estilos
March 19, 5pm
Centro Hispano Americano de Cultura
Concert program by the Rosario Cárdenas and
Laura Alonso dance companies.
Ciudad de Guantanamo
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dance
Los días de la danza
April 22-30
Teatro Mella
Every evening, a different show with different
Cuban dance manifestations.
Música Popular con la
Compañía de Danzas
Tradicionales JJ
April 9, 16, 23 & 30. 4pm
El Sauce
JJ Traditional Dance Company, directed by
Johannes García.
La música prodigiosa de
Cuba
April 10, 17 & 24, 10pm
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
The Yoldance Company directed by Yolena Alonso
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page 53
Visual Arts
photos by Alex Mene
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.
Edificio de Arte Cubano
Contaminación
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano
Through
April 17
Estampas del aire. Aguafuertes españoles del siglo xx shows some of the most significant
pictorial trends in Spain from the second half of the 20th century through the production of
artists from four different generations, who are exponents of abstraction, el expressionism,
new realism, el informalism and pop art, among others
Through
June 19
Los rostros de la modernidad. The entry of Cuban visual arts in the modernity of the avantgarde and its various trends can be seen in 45 photos made from 1925 to 1957 by 15 important
photographers, including Jorge Arche, Arístides Fernández, Víctor Manuel, Wifredo Lam,
Amelia Peláez and Mariano Rodríguez.
Through
August 19
Cardinales is a group of paintings in which cuban artist Carlos Alberto García used a mixed
technique on cloth. The medium- and full-scale pictures were created especially for this
occasion. The artist has defined his work as “very much connected to early 20th-century
avant-gardes, especially Expressionism.
Galería Galiano
Through
April 9
Palacio de Lombillo
Los renegados. A manifestation not
often seen in Cuban art shows:
sculpture, is the focus of this solo
exhibition by Pedro Luis Cuellar,
who also exhibits drawings that
have inspired some of his pieces.
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Through
April 10
Secuencia, exhibit by the young
artist Robin Pau, which based
on the cinema, strengthens the
narrative capacity of painting by
means of images that seem to stop
motion.
page 54
Factoria Habana
Factoría Habana
Through
April 15
Signos. Arte e industria y viceversa, which has been conceived as an installation that brings
together objects, texts, artefacts, photos, ceramics, graphic works, video and printed
materials, aims at emphasizing creative experiences in which a balanced fusion between art,
design and industry, and elements of the urban and architectural environment takes place
through the works of Carlos José Alfonzo, Juan Carlos Alom, Félix Beltrán, Alberto J. Carol,
Gonzalo Córdoba, María Victoria Caignet, EMPROVA, Cirenaica Moreira, Miguel Díaz, Felipe
Dulzaides, Leandro Feal, Mario Gallardo, Mario García Joya (Mayito), Carmelo González,
Roberto Gottardi, Arturo Infante y Renier Quert, Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Roberto Matta,
Ernesto Oroza, Amelia Peláez, Manuel Piña, René Portocarrero, Idelfonso Ramos, Leyden
Rodríguez, Mariano Rodríguez, Humberto Solás y Héctor Veitía, Lesbia Vent Dumois, as well
as the projects Ediciones en Colores, TELARTE, Arte en la Fábrica, Arte en la Carretera and
Arte en el Muro.
Casa de la Obrapía
Through
April 17
Trascendencia, by Eurico Borges,
vindicates dreams, desires and
fantasies of its creator from
abstraction.
Galería Artis 718
Through
April 15
Desvío de recursos includes part
of the most recent production
by Adriana Arronte, whose
installations and video refer to the
recovery and the shift of esthetic
and
conceptual
recourses,
and the fusion of disciplines, a
characteristic of postmodernism.
Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez de la
Naturaleza y el Hombre
Through
April 10
Diálogo entre penumbras: show by
Rigoberto Mena, one of the most
important contemporary Cuban
abstract painters.
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Sala Abelardo Estorino.
Ministerio de Cultura
Through
June 11
Cosas de mujeres, group show by
Jacqueline Brito, Flora Fong, Alicia
Leal, Julia Valdés and Lesbia Vent
Dumois.
Galería Habana
Through
April 9
$0$, by Yunier Hernández, refers
to the anguish felt by the artist
in relation with money: “I fear its
growth and the multiplicity of
powers it establishes in social life.”
Restaurante Fabio
Through
April 14
Entre signos pictóricos is an
exhibition by Carlos René Aguilera
and Alejandro Barreras.
Restaurante Fabio
Through
April 17
Es mejor dudar, works by Esteban
Leyva and Esteban Leyva, Jr.
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Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales
Through
April 8
Open Studio de senseLAB8, group
show with works by Mario Sergio
Álvarez González, Pablo V. Bordón
Pardo, Lianelis Cruz Ocampo,
Laura Espinosa, Paulina Farkas,
Bárbaro Fabián González Escobar,
Lisa Gómez Blanco, Lázaro
Guerra Guerra, Yamil Orlando
Jiménez José Madrigal Despaigne,
Julivic Márquez, Pavel Méndez
Hernández,
Leonardo
Muñiz
Zaldívar, Iván Perera, Milton
Raggi Vinueza, Daniela del Riego, Alberto
Alejandro
Rodríguez,
Lázaro Saavedra, Nicolás Sánchez
Noa, Laura Suárez, Andrea Tacuri
García, Ana Gabriela Valdés
Suárez, Lester Valdés Rodríguez.
Through
April 8
Travels, solo show by Padraig
Tarrant, and Irish artist now living
in New York, in which he maps
his own migratory journey and
of others who have had similar
experiences.
Through
April 17
Espacios, by the young and
well-known artist Rachel Valdés
Camejo.
F. Kafka. Descripción de una lucha,
solo show by Joaquín Cabrera Liza
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
Through
May 6
Through
May 5
La Vasija 2015 is an exhibition of
vessels, tiles, panels and murals
presented in competition. They
praise the origins of ceramics,
whose roots lie in vessels, but
these contemporary artists give
them a completely new twist.
Opens
April 27
The Seattle-La Habana-Tehran
Poster Show, exhibition of posters
made by designers from these
three cities.
Galería El Reino de Este Mundo.
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí
Through
April 18
Taller Experimental de Gráfica de La Habana
Through
April 15
La madre de todas las artes is an
exhibition by over 50 artists, such
as Lidzie Alviza, Luis Enrique
Camejo, Los Carpinteros, Ernesto
García Peña, Arturo Montoto,
Mabel Poblet, Wilfredo Prieto
and Sandra Ramos, whose central
theme is the interest shown by
a significant number of Cuban
artists in architecture.
Castillo de la Real Fuerza (verja perimetral)
Through
May 4
Ascención, exhibits photographs,
paintings and installation by
Glauber
Ballestero,
Ariamna
Contino, Adrián Fernández, Alex
Hernández,
Frank
Martínez,
Frank Mujica and Jorge Otero.
The exhibition deals with power
relations among individuals in
today’s society and the ignoble
paths taken by some of the people
who aim to have access to it.
Gráfica XY works by acclaimed
artists Belkys Ayón, Diana Balboa,
Jacqueline Brito Jorge, Yamilys
Brito Jorge, Jeannette Brossard,
Tamara Campos, Anyelmaidelín
Calzadilla, Irina Cepero, Ketty Díaz,
Antonia Eiriz, Dania Fleites, Ana
Rosa Gutiérrez, Isolina Limonta,
Yilian Marie, Leonor Menes,
Miriannys Montes de Oca, Eidania
Pérez, Sandra Ramos Salomé and
Lesbia Vent Dumois.
Invierno: Show by Guadalupe
Palacios, guest artist from the
Bayamo Graphic Workshop.
The Prado Museum in Havana
exhibits faithful and full-size
reproductions of 53 emblematic
works from the famous museum
in Madrid. The exhibition covers
the principal painting schools
represented in the institution.
Guided tours Fridays, 3pm and
Saturdays, 10am by Art History
students from the University of
Havana.
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page 56
photography
Fototeca de Cuba
Through April 17
Hiljainen valo-luz silenciosa works by artists Kristoffer Albrecht and Timo Kelaranta, which reflect the relation of
Finnish photography with the soft light of Nordic countries.
Through April 24
El Rock en la Fotografía. Visión de Jill Furmanovsky: Photographs that bear witness to the long and close
relationship of the outstanding British photographer with the world of rock and roll.
Casa Benito Juárez
Opens
April 16
Galería Villa Manuela
Sin mucho rodeo, by photographers
Lourdes Bermúdez Trimiño and
Sonia Mirabal Gómez
Throughout
April
Casa Victor Hugo
Through
April 30
Esquinas de mi Habana, show of
emblematic corners in Havana
coordinated by the Historical
Photographic Library of the Office
of the City Historian.
Galería Servando
Through
April 11
Comercio de rescate: Group show
by Juan Carlos Alom, David Beltrán,
Roberto Díaz, Leandro Feal,
Ximena Holuigue, Reynier Leyva
Novo, Julio César Llópiz, José M.
Mesías, Marc Roig y Rogier Delfos,
Thomas Ruff, Ezequiel Suárez and
Ranfis Suárez.
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La piel del otro, shows works
by Lidzie Alvisa, Reinaldo Cid,
Adrián
Fernández,
Cirenaica
Moreira, Jorge Otero, René
Peña (Pupi), Daylene Rodríguez
and Alejandro Ulloa. The show
offers a look at photography
about the great themes in the
history of Cuban art: gender,
race, identity, political/social
topics and the demythologization
and socialization of the use of
photography as an everyday
document of self reaffirmation.
Museo Casa Natal de José Martí
Throughout
April
De Martí a Fidel, de Dos Ríos
al Moncada, Hasta la Victoria
Siempre. Julio Larramendi exhibits
photographs of monuments and
sites from all over Cuba related to
José Martí.
page 57
MUSIC
Contemporary
Fusion
X Alfonso
Photo Alex Mene
The contemporary fusion and electronic music
scene has expanded recently as new bars and clubs
have opened party promoters have organized
events in parks and public spaces. Good live music
venues include Bertolt Brecht (Wed: Interactivo,
Sunday: Déjá-vu) and El Sauce (check out the
Sunday afternoon Máquina de la Melancolía) as
well as the newly opened Fábrica de Arte Cubano
which has concerts most nights Thursday through
Sunday as well as impromptu smaller performances
inside.
lahabana
In Havana’s burgeoning entertainment district
along First Avenue from the Karl Marx theatre to
the aquarium you are spoilt for choice with the
always popular Don Cangreco featuring good live
music (Kelvis Ochoas and David Torrens alternate
Fridays), Las Piedras (insanely busy from 3am) and
El Palio and Melem bar—both featuring different
singers and acts in smaller more intimate venues.
page 58
MUSIC
Contemporary
Fusion
Los Ángeles
Photo Alex Mene
Balneario Universitario El Coral
Fridays &
Saturdays
1pm-1am
Submarino Amarillo
Electronic music with rapping,
DJing,
Vjing,
Dj-producers,
breakdancing
and
graffiti
writing, among other urban art
expressions.
Café Concert El Sauce / 5 pm
Sundays
La Máquina de la Melancolía, with
Frank Delgado and Luis Alberto
García
Every other
Friday
Soul Train, a show of soul music
Sat & Sun
Rock cover bands
Diablo Tun Tun
Gens
Baby Lores
Salón Rosado de La Tropical / 9 pm
Barbaram Pepito’s Bar / 5 pm
Tuesdays
Vendaval
Saturdays
Los Francos
Sundays
Discoteca Onda Retro
Tuesdays
Roberto Fonseca
Wednesdays
Interactivo
Saturdays
David Blanco
Fridays
Electronic music with Sarao.
April 6
Waiting for Nadia, Dead Point and
Trendkill
Casa de la Amistad
Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht / 11 pm
Sundays
5 pm
Rock ’n’ Roll with Vieja Escuela.
En Guayabera
Wednesdays
10:30 pm
Hip-Hop Night
Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional / 5 pm
Gato Tuerto
Saturdays
10 pm
Miel con Limón
Havana Hard Rock / 6 pm
Saturdays
11 pm
Tercera y 8
Mondays
11 pm
Mondays
9pm
Tenor Bernardo Lichilín and DJ
Eddy Sánchez
lahabana
Tuesdays
Luis Barbería
Wednesdays
Qva Libre
page 59
Photo by Alex Mene
Photo Alex Mene
Salsa / Timba
Casa de la Música de Miramar
Casa de la Música Habana
Mondays
11 pm
Sur Caribe
Tuesdays
11 pm
Pedrito Calvo y La Nueva Justicia
Fridays
11 pm
José Luis Cortés y NG La Banda
April 4
4 pm
Maykel Blanco y su Salsa Mayor
Salón Rojo del Hotel Capri
Sundays
11 pm
Juan Guillermo
Sundays
5 pm
Pupy y Los que Son Son
April 5, 12 & 19
5 pm
El Noro y Primera Clase
Jardines del 1830 / 9 pm
Fridays
Azúcar Negra
Sundays
Grupo Moncada
Wednesdays
11 pm
Manana Club
Alain Daniel
Casa de 18 / 8 pm
Carpa Trompoloco
Fridays
6 ppm
José Luis Cortés y NG La Banda
Tercera y 8
Café Cantante. Teatro Nacional
Mondays
11 pm
Wednesdays
11 pm
Popular dance music hosted by
Blanca Rosa Blanco
Fridays
Iván y Fiebre Latina
Saturdays
Ahí Namá
En Guayabera
Saturdays
10:30pm
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Haila y su grupo
page 60
MUSIC
JAZZ
Jazz Café
Calle 88A No. 306 e/ 3ra y 3ra A,
Miramar. +53 (07) 209-2719
Mellow, sophisticated and freezing due to extreme
air conditioning, the Jazz Café is not only an
excellent place to hear some of Cuba’s top jazz
musicians, but the open-plan design also provides
for a good bar atmosphere if you want to chat.
Less intimate than La Zorra y el Cuervo – located
opposite Melia Cohiba Hotel.
Café Jazz Miramar
Shows: 11 pm - 2am
This new jazz club has quickly established itself as
one of the very best places to hear some of Cuba’s
best musicians jamming. Forget about smoke filled
lounges, this is clean, bright—take the fags outside.
While it is difficult to get the exact schedule and in
any case expect a high level of improvisation when
it is good it is very good. A full house is something
of a mixed house since on occasion you will feel
like holding up your own silence please sign!
Nonetheless it gets the thumbs up from us.
UNEAC
April 14
5 pm
Jardines del Teatro Mella
La Esquina del Jazz, hosted by
showman Bobby Carcassés
Café Miramar
Wednesday
8 pm
Zule Guerra (singer) & Blues D’ La
Habana
Mondays
4 pm
Lunes de la Juventud
Tuesdays
10 pm
Casabe World Music
Saturdays
10:30 pm
César López (saxophonist) and
Havana Ensemble
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April 30
6 pm
Yadasny Portillo (pianist)
Museo Nacional de Bellas
Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano
April 21
6 pm
Alexis Bosch (pianist) & Proyecto
Jazz Cubano
page 61
MUSIC Bolero, folklore, son & trova
Asociación Yoruba de Cuba
Fridays
8:30 pm
Diablo Tun Tun / 5 pm
Obbiní Batá(folkloric group
Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional / 5 pm
Thursdays
Elaín Morales
Café Teatro Bertolt Brecht
April 30
4 pm
Rafael Espín and guests
Casa de África
April 9
4 pm
Trova with Ray Fernández
El Jelengue de Areíto / 5 pm
Tuesdays
Conjunto Chappottín
Wednesdays
Trova
Thursdays
Conjunto Arsenio Rodríguez
Fridays
Rumberos de Cuba
Sundays
Rumba
Hotel Telégrafo
Cheketé, Sosa
Eduardo
with the folkloric group
Obiní Batá
Casona de Línea
Sundays
8 pm
Thursdays
Fridays
9:30 pm
Ivette Cepeda.
Hurón Azul, UNEAC
Trova
Bolero Night
Saturdays
9 pm
Casa del Alba
Pabellón Cuba / 4 pm
April 8
4 pm / Annie Garcés
April 15
6 pm / Gerardo Alfonso
April 28
6 pm / Vicente Feliú and guests
Tres Tazas with trovador Silvio
Alejandro
Fridays
Casa de la Música Miramar
Delirio Habanero / 10 pm
Thursdays
Abel Maceo y Buena Vida
Fridays
Son en Klab
Saturdays
Sonyku
Soneros de la Juventud
Thursdays
5 pm
Centro Iberoamericano de la Décima
5pm / El Jardín de la Gorda with
trovadors from every generation.
April 24
Museo de Artes Decorativas
April 6
5 pm
Argelia Fragoso
Le Select / 9 pm
Gato Tuerto
Fridays
5 pm
La Hora Infiel, with music, visual
arts, literature and more.
Daily
8 pm
Gato Tuerto Nights, hosted by
Julio Acanda
Barbaram Pepito’s Bar / 10:30pm
2 y 16 de abril
Osdalgia
En Guayabera / 8:30pm
Tuesdays
Yoruba Andabo
Fridays
Yaíma Sáez
Saturdays
Grupo Moncada
Casa de 18 / 4 pm
Tuesdays
Joanna
Wednesdays
Héctor Téllez
Thursdays
José Valladares
Fridays
Leidis Díaz
Sundays
Georgeana
Club Amanecer / 5 pm
Fridays
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Conjunto de Arsenio Rodríguez
page 62
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page 63
classical MUSIC
Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís / 6 pm
April 6
The Century Men Choir from the US will sing works by American composers.
April 9
Concert by Hernán López-Nussa and his trio.
April 14
Pianist Gabriel Chorens, oboist Oscar Leonardo and soprano Indira Hechevarría will perform
works by Polish musicians Andrzej Panufnik and Witold Lutoławski.
April 16
Concert by the Entrevoces Choir, conducted by Digna Guerra.
The Chilean pianist Roberto Bravo, accompanied on the violin by Montserrat Prieto, will play
works by Armando Manzanero, Víctor Jara, Agustín Lara and César Portillo de la Luz, among
others.
April 23
Concert by the Camerata Romeu.
April 30
The Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana, conducted by Daiana García, and soloists Marco
LoRusso (accordion), Alejandro Martínez (cello), Aldo López-Gavilán and Harold López-Nussa
(piano), Yasek Manzano (trumpet) and Frank Ernesto Fernández (oboe), among others, will
play works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland and Luis Bacalov.
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí
Saturdays
4 pm
Concerts by chamber soloists and ensembles.
Sala Ignacio Cervantes
April 10
Recital by clarinetist Arístides Porto and guests.
April 24
The Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil of the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, conducted by Guido
López-Gavilán, will play works by Cuban composer César Pérez Sentenat.
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page 64
Centro Hispano-Americano de Cultura / 5 pm
April 23
Concert by the instrument group Nuestro Tiempo, conducted by Enrique Pérez Mesa,
permanent conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Casa Victor Hugo
April 29
5 am
Duo Cáliz, made up by Luis Manuel Molina (guitar) and Vicente Monterry (clarinet).
Oratorio San Felipe Neri / 6 pm
April 23
Chileans Roberto Bravo (piano) and Montserrat Prieto (double bass) will play works by Bach,
Chopin, Luis Advis and Enrique Soro, among others.
April 30
Concert by the ISA Symphony Orchestra.
Sala Gonzalo Roig. Palacio del Teatro Lírico Nacional
April 24
5 pm
Cuerda Dominical, with guitarist Luis Manuel Molina.
Sala Covarrubias. Teatro Nacional / 11 am
Sundays
Performances by the National Symphony Orchestra .
Teatro Martí
April 5
The Century Men Choir from the US will sing works from their sacred and gospel repertoire.
April 5
Concert Shakespeare vs Cervantes 400 años después… commemorating four centuries of
the death of the famous writers. Spanish soprano, composer and orchestra conductor Pilar
Jurado, Ricardo Gallén (guitar) also from Spain, and Cuban pianists Frank Ledesma and Fidel
Leal will play works by John Dowland, Thomas Campion, Benjamin Britten, Tomás Marco and
Pilar Jurado, among others.
Iglesia de Paula
April 7
Performance by the Holland Choir from Michigan and the Entrevoces Choir from Cuba,
conducted by Digna Guerra.
April 15
The Cuban organist Moisés Santiesteban and the Ventus Habana Quintet will play works for
wind instruments from the Age of the Enlightenment.
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page 65
Theatre
Teatro Trianón
Photo Alex Mene
Decamerón
Teatro El Público / Production: Carlos Díaz
Fridays & Saturdays 8:30pm; Sundays 5pm
Teatro Trianón
Several stories from Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron are put on stage with more than a hint at
Cuba today. Those who expect nudity galore from Carlos Díaz are in for a surprise.
Mar nuestro
Guan Melón!! Tu Melón!!
Grupo Teatro Nuestro / Production: Ileana Chávez
Jueves, 5 pm, Centro Hispano Americano de Cultura
El Ciervo Encantado / Production: Nelda Castillo,
Through April 10, Fridays & Saturdays 8:30pm; Sundays,
5pm, Sala El Ciervo Encantado
Obra del dramaturgo cubano Alberto Pedro
Torriente, en la que tres mujeres a la deriva en el
mar de los Sargazos, intentan buscar la felicidad.
Diez millones
Argos Teatro / Production: Carlos Celdrán, Through
May 8, Fridays & Saturdays, 8:30pm; Sundays, 5pm, Sala
Argos Teatro
This play by Carlos Celdrán explores the emotional
education of a child and teenager in the past
decades in Cuba, his relationship with his parents,
History and the events that shaped his life.
Once again the El Ciervo Encantado Company
delves into the complex current situation in Cuba
as its main theme through the many “go-getters”
that have surfaced as a result of the economic
difficulties and tourism.
El maestro y la ninfa
Teatro del Silencio / Production: Rubén Sicilia, Opens
April 15, Fridays & Saturdays 8:30pm; Sundays, 5pm, Sala
Tito Junco. Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht
A bucolic landscape on a mountain. A guru
accompanied by a singular young girl and a love
story seem to take the audience through the
extraordinary, to the universal and human in any
era.
Si vas a comer, espera por Virgilio
Pequeño Teatro de La Habana / Production: José Milián, Fridays & Saturdays, 8:30pm; Sundays , 5pm, Café Teatro
Bertolt Brecht
Rerun of the multi-prizewinning play by José Milián, one of Cuba’s most important contemporary
playwrights and director of the company. Conceived as a tribute to Virgilio Piñera, key figure in Cuban
theater, narrative and poetry, who was marginalized during the 1970s due to his iconoclastic position
and homosexuality, the play stands out for the candor, humor and profound humanism, which the great
Cuban intellectual’s personality is dealt with.
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page 66
For kids
La Cuca
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays, 3pm, Teatro de títeres El Arca
Directed by Sara Millares with music by Ernesto Lecuona, this mask puppet show and live actors who
sing will perform a unique version of the popular children’s tale La Cucarachita Martina.
Tuda y Paki
April 14-17, 3pm, Teatro de títeres El Arca
Coproduction between Guiñol a Roulettes, from Switzerland, and Retablos, from Cuba. In this adaptation
of a story by Pierre Alain Rolle, Tuda and Paki are two giants who play at creating the world. What begins
as a simple game turns into a battle that almost finishes life in our planet. Eventually, all of the animals
join forces and manage to restore order and happiness.
Concierto de la cantoría Concierto de la cantoría
infantil del Coro
infanto-juvenil del
Nacional de Cuba
Teatro Lírico Nacional
April 3, 10am
Sala Abelardo Estorino. Ministerio de Cultura
Concert by the children’s choir of the National
Choir of Cuba.
April 8, 3:30pm, Vitrina de Valonia
Concert by the children’s & youth choir of the
National Lyrical Theater.
Historias ilustradas
Through April 24
Biblioteca Pública Rubén Martínez Villena
Around 30 illustrated story by Carlos Guzmán,
with fantastic and funny characters made up by
the artist.
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page 67
EVENTS IN HAVANA
15 Muestra Joven Icaic
April 5-10
Centro Cultural Cinematográfico ICAIC, 23 y 12 & Chaplin
Movie Theaters, Fábrica de Arte Cubano
An event for stimulating awareness and
consideration of the audiovisual production of
new video/filmmakers and getting into contact
with daring and inquisitive works usually produced
outside the official production. The competition
is directed at young Cuban filmmakers who will
compete for prizes in the categories of fiction,
documentary and animated films, poster and
original script. The event also includes showings
of international contemporary cinema, theoretical
meetings, discussions, seminaries and workshops
with important filmmakers. Cuban filmmaker
Fernando Pérez’s most recent film, Últimos días
en La Habana or Chupa pirulí, along with Enrique
Pineda Barnet’s fiction short Aplausos will open
the event (april 5, 5pm, Chaplin Theater). This year
27 fiction films, 17 documentaries and 9 animated
films have selected out of 95 to compete for the
prizes.
More information at: www.muestrajoven.cult.cu
Primer Encuentro sobre
Teatro para un sitio
especifico (Art for a
Specific Site)
April 25
Casa Gaia (Teniente Rey 157 e/ Cuba y Aguiar, Old Havana)
This first meeting devoted to theater in nonconventional spaces and the free dramaturgy
of the spectators will focus on the following
topics: theater for a site, mutation of a common
space in a stage: the live architectural space;
participation theater and spontaneous theater:
dramaturgy of the spectator and the actor’s ability
to improvise; micro-theater; its introduction in
Cuba; introduction of new theatrical traditions
in the city and problems involving theater space
in a private venue; significance of these forms
of theater practice today, future prospects,
competitions and festivals.
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page 68
EVENTS IN HAVANA
XII Festival
Internacional de Títeres
de Matanzas
April 19-24
City of Matanzas
Workshops for professionals and amateurs, shows,
theoretical events, concerts, exhibitions and the
presentation of specialized books, among other
actions, will take place during the International
Puppet festival in Matanzas, which is called “the
city of puppets.” The festival will be celebrating
the 60th anniversary of the Guiñol Nacional de
Cuba, the first professional puppet company on
the Island.
XII Festival
Internacional de Cine
Pobre
April 20-24
Gibara, Holguín Province
When many people were predicting its closure,
the successful International Low-Budget Film
Festival—Cine Pobre—is back. Founded by the late
Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solás, it has been held
in the small town of Gibara since 2003. Besides the
competition itself, which awards prizes for fiction
and documentary films, there are also meetings,
ancillary showings, concerts, and art exhibitions.
The festival guarantees a broad range of approach
and topics, aspiring to become an alternative to
commercial filmmaking, promoting artistic quality
with production costs kept to a minimum.
Festival Piña Colada
April 1-4
Ciego de Ávilae
The first Piña Colada Festival was held in Camaguey
in 2004, and since its second edition, it has been
held in the central province of Ciego de Avila.
The largest fusion music festival in Cuba will host
around 300 Cuban and international musicians of
various styles and genres of contemporary music.
Cuban musicians will include Maykel Blanco y
Salsa Mayor, Leoni Torres y su grupo, Raúl Paz,
Polito Ibáñez, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas,
Interactivo, Diego Gutiérrez, Alexander Abreu y
Habana D´Primera, Tendencia, Will Campa y su
grupo, Zule Guerra, JG y su grupo, SMS and Ivette
Cepeda, just to name a few.
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page 69
El Litoral
Havana’s
best places to eat
El Atelier
Bella Ciao
Café Bohemia
Café Laurent
Experimental fusion
Homely Italian
Café
Spanish/Mediterranean
Interesting décor, interesting
menu.
Great service, good prices. A
real home from home.
Bohemian feel. Great
sandwiches, salads & juices
Attractive penthouse
restaurant with breezy
terrace.
Calle 5 e/ Paseo y 2, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-2025
Calle 19 y 72, Playa
(+53) 7-206-1406
Calle San Ignacio #364, Habana
Vieja
Calle M #257, e/ 19 y 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-831-2090
Los mercaderes
Cuban-Creole
Beautiful C19 colonial
building. Great fresh pastas.
Calle Crespo #55 e/ San Lázaro y
Refugio, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-863 7510
otra manera
Casa Miglis
El Chanchullero
international
Swedish-Cuban fusion
Spanish/Mediterranean
Beautiful modern decor.
Interesting menu and good
service.
Calle #35 e/ 20 y 41, Playa.
(+53) 7-203-8315
Oasis of good food & taste in
Centro Habana
Fabulous value hole in the
wall tapas. Trendy.
Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y
Lagunas, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-864-1486
Teniente Rey #457 bajos, Plaza del
Cristo, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-872-8227
El Cocinero
Corte Príncipe
río mar
D.eutimia
internacional
Italian
international
cuban/creole
Industrial chic alfresco
rooftop with a buzzing
atmosphere
Sergio’s place. Simple décor,
spectacular food.
Contemporary décor. Great
sea-view. Good food.
Absolutely charming.
Excellent Cuban/creole food.
Calle 26, e/ 11 y 13, Vedado.
(+53) 7-832-2355
Calle 9na esq. a 74, Miramar
(+53) 5-255-9091
Ave. 3raA y Final #11, La Puntilla,
Miramar
(+53) 7-209-4838
Callejón del Chorro #60C, Plaza
de la Catedral, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7 861 1332
La fontana
internacional
Habana mía
International gourmet
iván chef
spanish
El litoral
International
Consistently good food,
attentive service. Old school.
Endless summer nights.
Excellent food and service.
Brilliantly creative and rich
food.
Watch the world go by at the
Malecón’s best restaurant.
Calle 46 #305 esq. a 3ra, Miramar
(+53) 7-202-8337
Paseo #7 altos e/ 1ra y 3ra.
Vedado
(+53) 7-830-2287
Aguacate #9 esq. a Chacón,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-863-9697
Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-2201
santy
sushi/oriental
Nazdarovie
soviet
Authentic fisherman’s shack
servicing world-class sushi.
Well designed Soviet décor
excellent food & service.
Calle 240A #3023 esq. a 3ra C,
Jaimanitas
(+53) 5-286-7039
Malecon #25, 3rd floor e Prado y
Carcel, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-2947
nero di seppia
san cristóbal
Italian
cuban/creole
The new location for
Havana’s best pizza chef,
Walter. Same food, great
locale.
Calle 6 #122 e/ 1a y 3a, Miramar
(+53) 5-478-7871
Deservedly popular.
Consistently great food.
Kitsch décor.
San Rafael #469 e/ Lealtad y
Campanario, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-9109
page 70
El Litoral
Style of food
TOP PICK
International
CostExpensive
Type of place Private (Paladar)
Best for Quality décor, good service and great food.
Best new place recently opened.
Don’t Miss Drinking a cocktail at sunset watching the
world go by on the Malecón
Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado.
(+53) 7-830-2201
Nazdarovie
Style of food
TOP PICK
Soviet
CostModerate
Best for Getting a flavor of Cuban-Soviet history along
with babuska’s traditional dishes in a classy locale.
Don’t miss Vodka sundowners on the gorgeous terrace
overlooking the malecon.
Malecon #25 3rd floor e/ Prado y Carcel, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-2947
Santy
Style of food
TOP PICK
Sushi
CostModerate
Best for Fabulous sushi, wonderful ambience
overlooking fishing boats heading out to sea. World
class.
Don’t miss Getting a reservation here.
Calle 240A #3023 esq. 3raC, Jaimanitas
(+53) 5-286-7039
La
Guarida
www.laguarida.com
TOP PICK
Style of food: Contemporary fusion
Cost: Expensive
Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Authentic, charming and intimate atmosphere
in Cuba’s best known restaurant. Great food,
professional. Classy.
Don’t Miss Uma Thurman, Beyoncé or the Queen of
Spain if they happen to be dining next to you.
Concordia #418 e/ Gervasio y Escobar, Centro Habana.
(+53) 7-866-9047
page 71
Café Bohemia
TOP PICK
Style of foodTraditional
CostModerate
Best for taking a break from long walks and seeking
shelter from the stifling Cuban.
Don’t miss location in the cool inner courtyard of the
colonial building.
Ground floor of the Palacio de la Casa del Conde de Lombillo,
Calle San Ignacio #364
(+53) 5- 403-1 568, (+53) 7-836-6567
www.havanabohemia.com
Iván Chef Justo
Style of food
TOP PICK
Spanish
CostExpensive
Best for Spectacular innovative food. Light and airy
place where it always seems to feel like Springtime.
Don’t Miss The lightly spiced grilled mahi-mahi served
with organic tomato relish. Try the suckling pig and stay
for the cuatro leches.
Aguacate #9, Esq. Chacón, Habana Vieja.
(+53) 7-863-9697 / (+53) 5-343-8540
Los Mercaderes
Style of food
TOP PICK
Cuban-Creole
CostModerate
Best for Beautiful colonial house. Popular place with
quality food and great service.
Don’t miss The balcony view to the colonial epicenter of
La Habana Vieja.
Calle Mercaderes No. 207 altos e/ Lamparilla y Amargura.
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-830-2287
Casa Miglis
Style of food
TOP PICK
Swedish-Cuban fusion
CostExpensive
Best for The beautifully designed interior, warm
ambience and Miglis’s personality create the feeling of
an oasis in Central Havana.
Don’t Miss Chatting with Mr Miglis. The Skaargan
prawns, beef Chilli and lingonberries.
Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y Lagunas, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-864-1486
www.casamiglis.com
page 72
Havana’s
best Bars & Clubs
Traditional Bars
El Floridita
Hemingway’s daiquiri bar.
Touristy but always full of life.
Great cocktails.
Obispo #557 esq. a Monserrate,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1299
1950s
Traditionals
Sloppy Joe’s
Bar
Cervecería
Antiguo Almacén de la
Madera y el Tabaco
GUEST PERFORMERS INCLUDE
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
MEMBERS
Recently (beautifully)
renovated. Full of history.
Popular. Lacks a little ‘grime’.
Sociedad Rosalía de Castro, Egido
504 e/ Monte y Dragones, Old
Havana
(+53) 5-270-5271
Ánimas esq. a Zulueta, Habana
Vieja
Microbrewery located
overlooking the restored
docks Simply brilliant.
Avenida del Puerto y San Ignacio,
La Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-866-7157
Contemporary Bars
el cocinero
espacios
TaBARish
fac
Fabulous rooftop setting,
great service, cool vibe.
Laid back contemporary bar
with a real buzz in the back
beer-garden.
A comfortable place to chat
/ hang out with your friends.
Great service.
Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado
(+53) 7-832-2355
Calle 10 #510, e/ 5ta y 31,
Miramar
(+53) 7-836-3031
Calle 20 #503, e/ 5ta y 7ma.
(+53) 7-202-9188
X Alfonso’s new cultural
center. Great concerts, funky
young scene.
(next to the Puente de Hierro)
(+53) 5-329-6325
www.facebook.com/fabrica.
deartecubano
Contemporary bars/clubs
bolabana
don cangrejo
Love it/hate it—this is the
oldest Friday night party
place and is still going strong.
Outdoor by the sea.
Ave. 1ra e/ 16 & 18, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3837
Packed night after night with
a young dressed-up clientele
wanting to party. Don’t go
looking for Buena Vista Social
Club!
Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa
(+53) 5 -294-3572
Corner Café
Great live music every day.
very frequently by locals.
Good tapas.
Calle B e/ 1ra y 3ra. Plaza de la
Revolución
(+53) 7837 1220
Sangri-la
For the cool kids. Basement
bar/club which gets packed
at weekends.
Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar
(+53) 7-264-8343
Gay-friendly
cabaret
las vegas
Can get dark and smoky but great
drag show (11pm) from Divino—one
of Cuba’s most accomplished drag
acts.
(+53) 7-264-8343
fashion bar
havana
A superb example of queer class
meets camp, accompanied by a
fantastic floor show.
San Juan de Dios, esq. a Aguacate,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1676
café bar
Madrigal
Pop décor, fancy cocktails, and the
staff’s supercilious attitude, this
is a gathering spot for all types of
folks.
Calle 17 #809 e/ 2 y 4, Vedado
(+53) 7-831-2433
page 74
Corner Café
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar/clubs
Best for Frequently by locals. Great tapas.
Don’t Miss Live music every day.
Calle B e/ 1ra y 3ra. Plaza de la Revolución
(+53) 5-264-8343
Espacios
TOP PICK
Best for Laid back lounge atmosphere in the garden
area which often has live music. Good turnover of
people.
Don’t Miss Ray Fernandez, Tony Avila, Yasek Mazano
playing live sets in the garden.
Calle 10 #510 e/ 5ta y 31, Miramar
(+53) 7-202-2921
Sangri-La
TOP PICK
Best for Hanging out with the cool kids on the Havana
Farundula in the most popular bar/club.
Don’t Miss The best gin and tonic in Havana.
(+53) 5-264-8343
Bolabana
TOP PICK
Contemporary
Best for Trendy new location near Salón Rosado de la
Tropical
Don’t Miss Hipsters meet the Havana Farándula
Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa
page 75
Sloppy Joe´s Bar
TOP PICK
Bar / Traditional
Best for Immense original bar lovingly
restored. Good service, History.
Worst for Not quite grimy. Too clean.
Ánimas, esq. Zulueta La Habana Vieja,
(07) 866-7157
Fábrica de Arte
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar
Best for X Alfonso’s superb new cultural center has
something for everyone
Don’t Miss Artists who exhibit work should
demonstrate ongoing creativity and a commitment
for social transformation.
(next to the Puente de Hierro)
Fashion Bar
Havana
TOP PICK
GAy friendly
Best for A superb example of queer class meets camp,
accompanied by a fantastic floor show.
Don’t Miss The staff performing after 11pm
San Juan de Dios, esq. a Aguacate, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1676
Bertolt Brecht
TOP PICK
Best for Hanging out with hip & funky Cubans who
like their live music.
Don’t Miss Interactivo playing on a Wednesday
evening.
Calle 13 e/ I y J, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-1354
page 76
Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís
Havana’s
best live music venues
Concert venues
karl marx
theatre
World class musicians
perform prestigious concerts
in Cuba’s best equipped
venue.
Calle 1ra esq. a 10, Miramar
(+53) 7-203-0801
Basílica San
Francisco de
Asís
A truly beautiful church,
which regularly hosts
fabulous classical music
concerts.
Oficios y Amargura, Plaza de San
Francisco de Asís, Habana Vieja
fábrica de
arte
sala
covarrubias
X Alfonso’s new cultural
center. Great concerts inside
(small and funky) and outside
(large and popular!).
Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado (next to
the Puente de Hierro)
teatro nacional
Recently renovated, one
of Cuba’s most prestigious
venues for a multitude of
events.
Paseo y 39, Plaza de la Revolución.
jazz
café jazz
miramar
la zorra y
el cuervo
jazz café
Clean, modern and atmospheric.
Where Cuba’s best musicians jam
and improvise.
A staple of Havana’s jazz scene,
the best jazz players perform here.
Somewhat cold atmosphere-wise.
Cine Teatro Miramar
10:30pm – 2am
Ave. 5ta esq. a 94, Miramar
Galerías de Paseo
Ave. 1ra e/ Paseo y A, Vedado
Intimate and atmospheric, this
basement jazz club, which you
enter through a red telephone box,
is Cuba’s most famous.
Calle 23 e/ N y O, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-2402
salsa/timba
café cantante
mi habana
Attracts the best Cuban
musicians. Recently
renovated with an excellent
new sound system.
Ave. Paseo esq. a 39, Plaza de la
Revolución
(+53) 7-878-4273
casa de la
música
casa de la
música
centro habana
miramar
salón rosado
de la tropical
A little rough around the
edges but spacious. For better
or worse, this is ground zero
for the best in Cuban salsa.
Smaller and more up-market
than its newer twin in Centro
Habana. An institution in the
Havana salsa scene.
The legendary beer garden
where Arsenio tore it up.
Look for a salsa/timba gig
on a Sat night and a Sun
matinee.
Galiano e/ Neptuno y Concordia,
Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-8296/4165
Calle 20 esq. a 35, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-0447
Ave. 41 esq. a 46, Playa
Times: varies wildly
(+53) 7-203-5322
page 77
contemporary
café tatro
bertolt brecht
Think MTV Unplugged when
musicians play. Hip, funky
and unique with an artsy
Cuban crowd.
Calle 13 e/ I y J, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-1354
don cangrejo
el sauce
Love it/hate it—this is the
oldest Friday night party
place and is still going strong.
Outdoor by the sea.
Great outdoor concert
venue to hear the best in
contemporary & Nueva Trova
live in concert.
Ave. 1ra e/ 16 y 18, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3837
Ave. 9na #12015 e/ 120 y 130,
Playa
(+53) 7-204-6428
teatro de
bellas artes
Small intimate venue inside
Cuba’s most prestigious arts
museum. Modern.
Trocadero e/ Zulueta y
Monserrate, Habana Vieja.
trova & traditional
Barbaram
pepito´s bar
Some of the best Cuban
Nueva Trova musicians
perform in this small and
intimate environment.
Calle 26 esq. a Ave. del Zoológico.
Nuevo Vedado
(+53) 7-881-1808
gato tuerto
Late night place to hear
fabulous bolero singers. Can
get smoky.
Calle O entre 17 y 19, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-2224
tradicionales
de los 50
salón 1930
compay segundo
The 1950s traditionals, a
project created over 10 years
ago, pays tribute to the
Golden Era of Cuban music:
the 1950s.
Buena Vista Social Club
style set in the grand Hotel
Nacional.
Sociedad Rosalia de Castro, Egido
#504 e/ Monte y Dragones,
Havana Vieja
(+53) 7-861-7761
Hotel Nacional
Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-835-3896
page 78
Havana’s Best Hotels
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
Simply the best…
Iberostar
Parque Central
Luxury hotel overlooking
Parque Central
Neptuno e/ Prado y Zulueta,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-6627
Santa Isabel
Luxurious historic mansion
facing Plaza de Armas
Narciso López, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8201
Saratoga
Terral
Stunning view from roof-top
pool. Beautiful décor.
Wonderful ocean front
location. Newly renovated.
Paseo del Prado #603 esq. a
Dragones, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8201
Malecón esq. a Lealtad, Centro
Habana
(+53) 7-862-8061
Boutique Hotels in Old Havana
Florida
Beautifully restored colonial
house.
Obispo #252, esq. a Cuba, Habana
Vieja
(+53) 7-862-4127
Palacio del
Marqués...
Cuban baroque meets
modern minimalist
Oficios #152 esq. a Amargura,
Habana Vieja
Business Hotels
Meliá Cohíba
Meliá Habana
Oasis of polished marble and
professional calm.
Attractive design & extensive
facilities.
Ave Paseo e/ 1ra y 3ra, Vedado
(+53) 7- 833-3636
Ave. 3ra y 70, Miramar
(+53) 5-204-8500
Hostal Valencia
Immensely charming, great
value.
Oficios #53 esq. a Obrapía,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1037
Occidental
miramar
conde de
villanueva
Delightfully small and
intimate. For cigar lovers.
Mercaderes #202, Lamparilla
(+53) 7-862-9293
H10 Habana
panorama
Good value, large spacious
modern rooms.
Cascades of glass. Good wifi. Modern.
Ave. 5ta. e/ 70 y 72, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3583
Ave. 3ra. y 70, Miramar
(+53) 7 204-0100
For a sense of history
Ambos Mundos
Mercure Sevilla
A must for Hemingway
aficionados
Stunning views from the roof
garden restaurant.
Calle Obispo #153 esq. a
Mercaderes, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7- 860-9529
Trocadero #55 entre Prado y
Zulueta, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8560
Hotel Nacional
Eclectic art-deco
architecture. Gorgeous
gardens.
Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-835 3896
Riviera
Spectacular views over wavelashed Malecón
Paseo y Malecón, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-4051
Economical/Budget Hotels
Bosque
Deauville
Saint John’s
Vedado
On the banks of the Río
Almendares.
Lack of pretension, great
location.
Lively disco, tiny quirky pool.
Popular.
Good budget option with a
bit of a buzz
Calle 28-A e/ 49-A y 49-B,
Reparto Kohly, Playa
(+53) 7-204-9232
Galiano e/ Sán Lázaro y Malecón,
Centro Habana
(+53) 7-866-8812
Calle O e/ 23 y 25, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-3740
Calle O e/ 23 y 25, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-4072
page 79
Havana’s
best private
places to stay
Sueño Cubano
Mid range - Casa Particular (B&B)
1932
Miramar 301
Visually stunning, historically
fascinating. Welcoming.
Campanario #63 e/ San Lázaro y
Laguna, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-863-6203
Luxury House
4 bedrooms private luxury
villa with swimming pool
Habana
Julio y Elsa
Beautiful colonial townhouse
with great location.
Cluttered bohemian feel.
Hospitable.
Calle Habana #209, e/
Empedrado, y Tejadillo, Habana
Vieja.
(+53) 7-861-0253
Consulado #162 e/ Colón y
Trocadero, Centro Habana
( +53) 7-861-8027
Up-scale B&Bs (Boutique hostals)
Sueño cubano
Old palace carefully restored,
seven rooms, suites with
bathrooms and featuring 24
hour service.
Calle Santa Clara número 66 entre
Oficios e Inquisidor. Habana Vieja
0053 78660109
0039 339 1817730
Cañaveral House
Vitrales
Casa Escorial
But undoubtedly the most
beautiful about private homes
in Cuba
Hospitable, attractive and
reliable boutique B&B with 9
bedrooms.
Attractive accomodations
with a panoramic view of
Plaza Vieja
39A street, #4402, between 44 y
46, Playa, La Habana Cuba
(+53) 295-5700
http://www.cubaguesthouse.com/
canaveral.home.html?lang=en
Habana #106 e/ Cuarteles y
Chacón, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-866-2607
Mercaderes # 315 apt 3 e/
Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza
Vieja, Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-268 6881; 5-278 6148
[email protected]
Apartment rentals
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments
Gorgeous 1-bedroom
apartment beautifully
decorated apartment
overlooking Plaza Vieja.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y
Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja
(+53) 5- 403-1 568
(+53) 7-836-6567
Casa Concordia
Beautifully designed
and spacious 3 bedroom
apartment. Spanish colonial
interiors with cheerful, arty
accents.
Concordia #151 apto. 8 esq. a San
Nicolás, Centro Habana
(+53) 5-254-5240
www.casaconcordia.net
Tropicana
Penthouse
A luxurious penthouse
with huge roof terrace and
breath-taking 360 degree
views of Havana and the
ocean.
Galiano #60 Penthouse Apt.10 e/
San Lázaro y Trocadero
(+53) 5-254-5240
www.tropicanapenthouse.com
Suite Havana
Elegant 2-bedroom
apartment in restored
colonial building. Quality loft
style décor.
Lamparilla #62 altos e/
Mercaderes y San Ignacio,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-829-6524
Luxury Houses
Villasol
Casablanca
Rent Room elegant and wellequipped. Beautiful wild
garden and great pool.
Elegant well-equipped villa
formerly owned by Fulgencio
Batista. Beautiful wild garden.
Calle 17 #1101 e/ 14 y 16, Vedado
(+34) 677525361
(+53) 7-832-1927
(+53) 5-360-0456
Morro-Cabaña Park. House #29
(+53) 5-294-5397
www.havanacasablanca.com
Michael and
María Elena
This leafy oasis in western
Havana has an attractive
mosaic tiled pool and three
modern bedrooms.
Calle 66 #4507 e/ 45 y Final,
Playa
(+53) 7-209-0084
Residencia
Mariby
A sprawling vanilla-hued
mansion with 6 rooms
decorated with colonial-era
lamps, tiles and Louis XV
furniture
Vedado.
(+53) 5-370-5559
page 80
TOP PICK
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments Red
Best for 3 small balconies (facing the Patio of the
Palace), 1 spacious bedroom with air conditioning
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished, plenty of
light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja,
Habana Vieja [email protected]
(+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567
TOP PICK
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments Blue
Best for i1 internal balcony, 1 spacious bedroom on the
mezzanine with air conditioning.
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished, plenty of
light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja,
Habana Vieja [email protected]
(+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567
Sueño Cubano
TOP PICK
Best for Old palace carefully restored, seven rooms,
suites with bathrooms and featuring 24 hour service.
Don’t Miss Relax at any of the four terraces, feel the
mellow touch of antique and original Cuban furniture.
Calle Santa Clara número 66 entre Oficios e Inquisidor.
Habana Vieja
0053 78660109
0039 339 1817730
WWW.SUENOCUBANO.COM correo [email protected]
Cañaveral House
TOP PICK
Best for Large elegant villa away from downtown
Havana. Great for families or groups of friends.
Don’t Miss Basking in the sun as you stretch out on
the lawn of the beautifully kept garden.
39A street, #4402, between 44 y 46, Playa, La Habana Cuba
(+53) 295-5700
http://www.cubaguesthouse.com
page 81

lahabana - Authentic Cuba Tours

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