After almost two days of travel, the Spanish Ballet of Cuba (BEC), directed by maestro Eduardo Veitía, arrived in Shanghai to begin a tour in the Asian giant – for the second time, since the first was between November 2019 and January 2020, with El Fantasma–, which will take you through various cities and provinces throughout the geography of this vast country.
With the show Yo soy Cuba, whose choreographic design is signed by Veitía himself, in collaboration with Eddy Veitía (father), Yessel Ramos and Daunis Noblet, the stage tour began in the elegant Gengsu Theater in Nantong, with capacity for 1,500 spectators, on June 7th.
Yo soy Cuba is an artistic/dance work that is inspired by the music and culture in the Caribbean, a region of confluences, and mainly in the Greater Antilles.
Together with the first dancers Claudia González and Daniel Martínez, the main dancer Eduardo Arango and the BEC corps de ballet, as well as the guest artists Yessel Ramos, first dancer of the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba, and Daunis Noblet and Yankro Y. Jiménez, from Ballet Rakatán, the accompanying musical group Son D’Estilo joins in the sound part, led by maestro Enrique Collazo –musical director of the show–, and made up of four other excellent musicians and singers, who enhance the work.
They deliver a varied catalog of sound with boleros, rumba flamenco, sones, cha cha chá, rumba, columbia, guaguancó, bachata, danzones, danzonete…, which the dancers perform with the brilliance, joy and passion of Cubans, and professionalism. cream, which crosses borders.
Added to this are the set designs and videomapping, by Tamine González, and the costumes by Maray Pereda, which visually transport us to the Caribbean island and its rich folklore.
But the fundamental accent of this solid show, attractive and overflowing with scenic creativity, appears before starting the last frame. The atmosphere changes, the stage dresses the past, and signs and rumors of time pass by, like memories before the viewer.
They are the fundamental “bricks” where our nationality rests, which suddenly cross in a fine and emotional sequence, where nothing is forgotten, and captivates, due to the color, the music and the dance: the Cuban (Siboney), the African (Canto to Elegguá), the Spanish (Mediterranean) and the Chinese (The beautiful Havana, Chinese version of a habanera) as a tribute to the emigrants. And then The Carnival, where everything comes together.
It is the apotheosis. The ovations. A trapping enchantment effect. All of this remains in the memory to dream… with Cuba.
