The American
Danza Contemporanea de Cuba Sadlers Wells, London and national tour
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ounded in 1959, the same year as Castro’s revolution, DCC has only now had its first UK tour. The response from audiences around the country has been ecstatic and there is no question they will be back, for they are without doubt, one of the world’s most exciting dance companies. Not to be confused with Alicia Alonso’s Ballet Nacional de Cuba, who are also in the UK this spring, DCC focuses solely on contemporary dance. Their work is an interesting hybrid of contemporary, classical and Caribbean styles, but is totally modern. Cuba has of course been producing some of the world’s finest contemporary and ballet dancers for decades and their national treasure, Carlos Acosta, has been a great champion of this troupe (he used them in Tocororo). A perfect marriage of technique and talent, the 21 dancers are as fascinating individually as they are as a company. Their fluid style recalls Twyla Tharp or NDT at its best but the fanatical precision is leavened with fun and warmth. Their dancing also has an understated eroticism to it, with none
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of the Latin machismo one might have expected. Their work also celebrates not so much an androgyny but rather a total disregard for gender stereotypes. Unlike with Mark Morris, for example, where the de-sexing often renders it un-sexy, here the gender conventions are just ignored. They don’t need to cast them aside with a flourish, they have moved on. Whatever the mix of genders in the duos or the trios, these dancers remain totally themselves and the result is much more sensual. They’re a new generation and it represents a refreshing new outlook for dance.
DCC – one of the world’s most exciting dance companies
They are touring four pieces and the two I caught were Casi-Casa by the renowned Swedish choreographer Mats Ek and a new piece by their own in-house talent, George Céspedes, called Mambo 3XXXI. Casi-Casa is a glorious piece of dance theatre, at times romantic, then suddenly shocking. The lounge, the front doorstep where you wait for the lover to call and the oven which hides a dark secret, provide the backdrop to a series of domestic vignettes where the company display some virtuoso dancing. A quintet of hoovering housewives adds to the glee. Mambo 3XXXI is Céspedes’ response to the annoying commission (from Sadlers Wells and Dance East) to produce “something Latin”. In interviews he has described how he railed against this initially until he came upon an electronic re-mix of Perez Prado, the Mambo King, which provided the inspiration for the piece. It begins with the whole troupe in rigid lines executing Pilates-like moves. As it progresses not just the music gets de-constructed but also the dances they inspired – mambo, salsa, rumba, cha-cha and the piece takes on a witty self-referential quality. The dancers’ exquisite technique is given full throttle and a symphony of syncopation builds to a climax, which then wittily undercuts the piece. The ending is straight out of The Kids from Fame. H