May 18, 2022 – “Duo de la Escoba” (“Duet with the Broom”) will have its world premiere at the Santa Fe College (SF) Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall when Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company returns to the area at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The dance honors Alberto Alonso, “the most relevant Cuban choreographer ever” according to Malpaso’s executive director, Fernando Sáez.
Tickets for the performance are $25-$30 in the Orchestra section, $15-$20 in the Mezzanine, and $10-$15 in the Balcony. Tickets for SF students and staff with college ID cards are free in the Balcony only. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Hall Box Office at 352-395-4181 and online from Showpass at showpass.com/malpaso-dance-company.
Once a dancer, founder and choreographer for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Alonso was a Master Artist in Residence at Santa Fe College (SF) for 14 years before his death in 2007. He is credited as being the founder and creator of the Cuban ballet style that combines Russian and Western techniques with a Latin flair.
“This is the first time that a world premiere of this caliber has been staged at Santa Fe College,” said Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department Chairperson Alora Haynes. “Duo de la Escoba” is part of a longer piece, “El Solar” (“The Slum”) that Alonso created in 1964 and which later became a musical film, “Un Dia en el Solar” (“A Day in the Slum”). “The dance is an emblematic duet that integrates classical dance and Cuban rumba,” Sáez explained.
Malpaso—a contemporary dance company that works with internationally known choreographers and nurtures Cuban choreographers—will also perform the national premieres of two other dances, “Elemental” and “Stillness in Bloom.” Choreographed by Robyn Mineko Williams of the USA, “Elemental” is a kaleidoscopic dance infused with Cuban influences. “Stillness in Bloom,” choreographed by Aszure Barton of Canada, is an examination of human nature in times of isolation, annihilation and longed-for reunions.
Also on the program are “Lullaby for Insomnia,” a solo inspired by the iconic Cuban singer Bola de Nieve and choreographed by Daileidys Carrazana of Cuba, and “woman with water,” choreographed by Mats Ek of Sweden with an expressionist style.
Malpaso Dance Company’s performance is sponsored in part by Joyce Theater Productions and by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department.
For ticket details, call the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall Box Office at 352-395-4181.