From the Choreographer's Desk...

Why dance in Cuba?

 

Although I have danced in New York for most of my career, it was in Cuba that I found my artistic home. I lived in the small apartment of a dancing family, playing with their kids, sharing their rationed rice and beans, and becoming challenged and enchanted every day by their brilliant movement and music.

 

They were hungry for my ideas and I was hungry for theirs, so we found many opportunities to collaborate over the years, despite a lack of working phone lines, broadband, or diplomatic ties. I would teach and type and waitress for months in the U.S. so I could visit Cuba and dance until the money ran out.

 

My dancing evolved, as did my worldview. Now that everything is shifting between Cuba and the U.S., I have a chance to share that intoxicating blend of dance and music that has ignited me for 30 years.

 

I have become a cultural ambassador, with a unique ability to bring a positive image of the U.S. to each group of young artists I encounter in Cuba.

 

These artists are beyond welcoming and enthusiastic; each time we get in the studio we break down barriers that years of political negotiations could never touch. Dancing together requires a give-and-take that our world leaders should practice!

 

Every dancer, every audience member, comes away from these exchanges with a new sense of possibility. Havana Love Letters speaks to our shared future in the universal languages of love, music, and dance.