A charismatic new force in contemporary dance, Havana-based Malpaso Dance Company comes to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival's intimate Ted Shawn Theatre, this weekend, August 5-9, , according to Broadway World news on Wednesday.
Defined by power, passion, and spotless technique, the company's program will include a new work by burgeoning choreographer and company Artistic Director Osnel Delgado with live music by GRAMMY Award-winning composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. This engagement marks Malpaso Dance Company's Jacob's Pillow debut.
Malpaso Dance Company brings a diverse program that celebrates cultural collaboration, dazzling dance, and live music. Choreographed by Malpaso Dance Company's Artistic Director and one of Dance Magazine's "Top 25 to Watch" of 2015, Osnel Delgado's Despedida is set to an original score by Mexican-American composer Arturo O'Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, performed live.
Founded in 2012 by Osnel Delgado, Dailedys Carrazana, and Fernando Sáez, Malpaso Dance Company is committed to bringing the voice of Cuban contemporary dance into the present and global dance community. The company is based in Havana, Cuba and comprised of ten dancers, many of whom studied at Cuba's National Ballet School. Following their 2014 U.S. debut at The Joyce Theater, the troupe was praised for their "pristine technique" (Siobhan Burke, The New York Times) and "chameleon-like nature" (Amsterdam News, Charmaine Patricia Warren). Since 2014 and the improvement of Cuba-U.S. relations, Malpaso Dance Company has announced plans to tour across the United States during 2015/2016 including California, Ohio, Washington, Texas, Oregon, and Massachusetts.
Praised for his "finely kneaded movement, which almost makes you want to grab it in fistfuls" (Siobhan Burke, The New York Times), Malpaso Dance Company Artistic Director and co-founder Osnel Delgado serves as the resident choreographer for the company. An alumnus and current professor of the National Dance School in Cuba, Delgado has received prestigious awards for choreography including the Premio a Mejor Coreografia del Concurso Solamente Solos (Award for Best Solo Choreography) and el Premio Ramiro Guerra (Ramiro Guerra Prize). Recently noted as one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" of 2015, Delgado's choreographic style is "steeped in the island's distinctive style of modern dance, a blend of Graham and Afro-Cuban techniques" and lauded for his innate "vitality, fluidity, and musicality" (Jordan Levin, Dance Magazine).
Malpaso Dance Company Executive Director and co-founder Fernando Sáez will be featured in the PillowTalk entitled It's Happening in Havana, Saturday, August 8 at 4pm. All PillowTalks are located in Blake's Barn; admission is free.
