Celebrating Cuban Dance: Lizt Alfonso's Dance Cuba

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On Wednesday, November 9th, I attended Lizt Alfonso’s production of Dance Cuba in the Music Hall Center in Detroit. It was choreographed by Lizt Alfonso, Diana Fernandez, and Yadira Hernandez. Dance Cuba travels with 18 dancers and an amazing musical group that is on stage, not in an orchestra pit. As stated by Tom Paul, artistic director, the last time Lizt Alfonso’s Dance Cuba performed in Detroit was in 2003. Having been thirteen years since the last performance, everyone was excited to see what was in store.
This production was based on the Cuban dances and music from the 1950’s to today’s style of Cuban dance. Not only did Lizt Alfonso incorporate Cuban dance in this production, but she also weaved ballet, flamenco, and Afro-Cuba …show more content…

The costumes ranged from green, purple, orange, pink, white, blue, 50’s style flowy dresses that were knee length to white or brown see through pant suits. Typically, the types of shoes worn by the women were either black, nude, or white ballroom style heels, black jazz flats, or simply barefoot. The men on the other hand wore pants and long sleeve flowy shirts that were typically dull in color and the shoes they wore were either black jazz shoes or no shoes at all. There was one piece in Act I that was very different from the others. There costumes in this piece were all white and no shoes. The women had on full length white dresses with a white head piece that covered over half of their face and no shoes and the man that danced in this piece wore a white long sleeve shirt, white pants, a white beanie hat, and no shoes. During this piece there was candles used as props that the women held while dancing. This was not the only piece that had props. Another piece some women had hand paper fans and the other half had brooms that they danced …show more content…

In the Riverdance, the men were very rigid, focused, formed lines and shapes all across the stage, and did fast repetitive footwork. Instead of men doing this style dance, in Dance Cuba, women did this style of dance. The first piece in Act II reminded me of how the men were focused, rigid, and intense. The women were trying to show their power and the way they danced made you feel the intensity they were trying to portray. The women were very focused and serious, unlike how they were in the first Act. The other piece that reminded me of the Riverdance, was one closer to the end of the production. This specific piece was performed by eleven women. They would form a line that went across the entire stage from left to right and do repetitive footwork that was very quick, just like the men in the Riverdance. Then the women transitioned out of the strait line and made a V-shape, still using the entire space on the stage. They continued their fierce footwork and never missed a

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