Ballet Hispánico Returns to the American Dance Festival
Ballet Hispánico, the nation’s largest Latinx cultural organization and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, returns to the American Dance Festival on July 21 & 22, 2023, at 7:30pm. Activities include a post-performance discussion on July 21 and a children’s matinee at 1:00 pm on July 22, all taking place in the Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University, Bryan University Science Center, 125 Science Drive, Durham, NC. The company will present a mixed bill curated by Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro featuring repertory favorites and two new commissions. Tickets start at $12 and are available here.
In the ADF-commissioned Papagayos, Omar Román De Jesús follows a mischievous character who puppeteers humanity while simultaneously scoffing at the people’s plight. Feverishly, the Papagayo dissolves everyday agency in a solvent of absurdity. Checks and balances mutate, seemingly at random. This is a shapeshifting story of power, influence, and identity in the face of unauthorized control. Club Havana is Latin dancing at its best. The intoxicating rhythms of the conga, rumba, mambo, and cha cha are brought to life by choreographer Pedro Ruiz, himself a native of Cuba, as he imagined his very own “Club Havana.” The show will also include William Forsythe’s New Sleep (Duet),which first premiered in 1987 by the San Francisco Ballet, and Línea Recta by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, which premiered at the Apollo Theatre in 2016.
William Forsythe’s New Sleep — a neoclassical master work scored by composer Thom Willems – demonstrates Forsythe’s ability to deconstruct classical vocabulary and maintain a strict precision without confining the physical expression within the movement. His work was long admired by Ballet Hispánico founder Tina Ramirez who, for many years, sought an opportunity for the Company to present one of his pieces. In honor of Tina, two members of the Company will perform an excerpt from New Sleep (Duet) at each performance.
From one of today’s most sought-after choreographers comes a powerful and resonant work that explores an intriguing aspect of flamenco dance: the conspicuous absence of physical partnering. While maintaining the integrity and hallmark passion of the genre, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa imagines an original and explosive movement language premised upon the theme of partnership and performed to flamenco guitar by Eric Vaarzon Morel in Línea Recta.
Ballet Hispánico is the largest Latinx/Latine/Hispanic cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. Ballet Hispánico’s three main programs, the Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships bring communities together to celebrate the multifaceted Hispanic diasporas. Ballet Hispánico’s New York City headquarters provide the physical home and cultural heart for Latinx dance in the United States. The Ballet Hispánico mission opens a platform for new social dialogue, and nurtures and sees a community in its fullness. Through its exemplary artistry, distinguished training program, and deep-rooted community engagement, Ballet Hispánico champions and amplifies Latine voices in the field. For over fifty years Ballet Hispánico has provided a place of honor for the omitted, overlooked, and othered.