The Festival ‘Arts of Cuba’ will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC., USA, May 8/20, 2018, with a whole range of art forms from the island and abroad.
The event will gather Cuban artists and performers who reside on the island and abroad, letting US audiences know about the Cuban arts scene, the beauty and humanity of its people, their imagination and creativity. The festival is aimed at presenting a holistic program that showcases Cuban culture through the traditional and contemporary forms, such as music, dance, theater, film, visual arts, design, fashion and cooking. Sponsored by the Kennedy Center and the Cuban Music Institute, the National Performing Arts Council, the Cuban Film Institute and the Fine Arts Council, the Washington based center puts at the festival’s disposal its three main theaters, including its concert hall and opera house, ensuring a variety of performances.
Music will open with the so called ‘Diva of the Buena Vista Social Club Project’, singer Omara Portuondo, and is set to continue with concerts by Rolando Luna, Aldo López Gavilán, the Failde Orchestra, Yissi and Bandancha, Ulises Hernández and Havana’s Mozarteum Lyceum Orchestra, Zule Guerra and the Havana Blues Quintet, Jorge Luis Pacheco ‘Pachequito’, Pablo and Haydee Milanés and La Reyna and La Real from Cuba.
Also on hand will be the López Nussa family and the famous Los Van Van orchestra from Cuba, Dafnis Prieto from Miami, Adonis González Matos and Mauricio Herrera from New York, Yaite Ramos Rodríguez, better known as ‘La Dame Blanche’ from Paris, Yosvany Terry and his Afro-Cuban Quintet, the Dizzy Gillespie Project and Afro-Cuban Experience also from New York, Keyla Orozco and her Tap Project from Washington, D.C. / New York, Aymée Nuviola and Tiempo Libre from Miami.
The return of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet company to the United States will take place at the Opera House, the Kennedy Center’s largest theater, with performances to mark the ballet company’s first tour of the United States 40 years ago which started at the Washington based center. Also included in the dance program: Malpaso and the Irene Rodríguez dance ensembles at the institution’s Terrace Theater. The Cuban Teatro El Público and Argos Teatro company are also set to perform at the Terrace and the Family Theaters.
The work of designers and fine artists from the island will also be on display, including pieces from renowned Cuban artists Manuel Mendive, Roberto Fabelo and Roberto Diago, and joining the arts exhibitions will be New York painters José Parla and Emilio Pérez, whose work has been shown at the Havana Fine Art Biennials.
‘Arts of Cuba’ will also screen six very well-known Cuban movies: Memories of Underdevelopment from 1968 by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; Portrait of Teresa from 1979 by Pastor Vega; Lucía from 1968 by Humberto Solás; Strawberries and Chocolate from 1994 by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, nicknamed Titón, and by Juan Carlos Tabío; Suite Habana from 2003 by Fernando Pérez, and Conducta from 2013 by Ernesto Daranas. The famous Cuban movie posters will also be on display at the festival, including 25 originals that cover from 1964 to 2015, showing serigraphs of Cuban and foreign films. The festival dedicated to Cuba will also include the Kennedy Center’s free stage The Milenium, where live performances will be shown on its website.
