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| Línea Recta © Paula Lobo, courtesy Ballet Hispánico |
Ballet Hispánico, that venerable and
resilient Big Apple cultural institution, has spent nearly half a century
empowering diversity in a country that, despite growing ever more diverse,
clings desperately to its dying dominant culture. The company, last seen in Madison in 2010, appears at Overture Hall on Thursday, May 9.
Ballet Hispánico was founded in
1970 by Tina Ramírez, the Venezuelan-born, New York-raised daughter of a
Mexican bullfighter and a Puerto Rican teacher. When she retired, a decade ago,
the artistic directorship was taken over by Eduardo Vilaro, who left his native Havana for New York in 1969, when he was six. Vilaro grew up to become a
principal dancer with the company before moving on to found and direct
Chicago’s wonderful, and, alas, now defunct, Luna Negra Dance Theater; his
return to Ballet Hispánico, in 2010, brought his career full circle.
Ballet Hispánico came to Madison
that year with a worn-out repertory of older works by non-Latin male
choreographers working – directly or indirectly – with Latin themes, though set,
fortunately, on a largely Latinx company.
Today, a decade into its rebirth under Vilaro’s direction, the company’s
caught up with the challenges of the twenty-first century.
CulturalOyster:
When you were still at Luna Negra, you told me once that “When we come to the
States we fuse, we change. I’m not 100%
Cuban any more. In Cuba they tell me ‘tu
no eres cubano.’ I’m like damn, who are
we in this country? Can we celebrate who
we’re becoming?
That was 2008, so 11 years ago; it
was a different company, a different time, and the issues of immigration,
cultural fusion, and identity have become much more visible and emotionally charged since then. I think
you’re basically still coming from that same place – celebrating fusion – but
how has your thinking on identity and dance evolved over the last decade?
Vilaro: You know,
yes, I still believe we become something else.
We live as a hybrid. This nation is a hybrd nation; it is not, contrary
to popular belief, a white nation, although that’s the structure that’s been
allowed to play out. So I’m very
interested in exploring cultural intersectionality. Some important cultural
institutions [like Ballet Hispánico] were born between the ‘50s and ‘70s to say
“I’m here, I belong.” And now it feels
like we’ve come to another moment, another catalyst to make that claim and
update it: “Not only do I belong, but I’m part of the fabric, and I’m a leader
in this fabric.”
It’s so important to make works
that celebrate our Latinx lives. We are
also waking up to the fact that the cultures in our own countries of origin are facing
issues of nationalism and supremacy versus diversity and acceptance of race,
color, gender. So [directing Ballet
Hispánico] is a warm, exciting, difficult, full-of-challenges opportunity and I
feel that if I don’t take the bull by the horns we’re going to get further
behind.
CulturalOyster:
The choreographic idiom of Ballet Hispánico is polyglot, too –how do your
dancers train?
Vilaro: It’s funny
– this is going to be another hybrid discussion. I have dancers trained classically and I
enjoy a classical line or the ability to get as close to classical as we can
but our dancers are hybrid themselves in terms of their training. One guy trained in Havana with Ballet
Nacional but also grew up as an Afrocuban learning Yoruba dances – and that
changes the way you approach the movement quality and how it translates in your
body. We have a young man from Tampa
with ballet training and a tap and hip-hop background. The ladies all have very classical backgrounds,
but some of them come from Juilliard so they bring a deep contemporary mixture,
and that’s perfect for our company because we’re showing fusion. The hybridization,
for us, is richer, it makes for stronger utilization of the folk forms a choreographer
might want to expose. You can’t do that
with pure classicism – it looks forced, not real.
CulturalOyster: During
your first year as artistic director of Ballet Hispánico the touring program
was a celebration of the company’s 40-year history. Only one work by a Latin choreographer –
Pedro Ruíz’s (2000) “Club Havana” -- was on the bill. The program looks a lot different this
time. From the press kit, it looks like
all of the choreographers you’re working with now have direct Latin heritage. How
has that changed the company, from the one you inherited to the one you’ve been
leading for almost a decade now?
Vilaro: What we’re
bringing to Madison is our all Latina program – three works, by three women –
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Michelle Manzanales, and Tania Pérez-Salas. It represents the evolution of my curatorial
tenure at Ballet Hispánico. When you first come in you have to work with what
you have. It’s taken the decade I’ve been artistic director to scope out and
develop the right kinds of artists and works for my vision. I think the program
you’re seeing is the actualization of that vision in its totality. When I first came in to take over the range
from a powerful Latina founder who had a very different immigrant experience
than I did, I had to start shaking off some of the things from the past to help
the organization walk into exactly this moment. And it’s excellent – it
couldn’t have happened more gracefully.
We’re now finding and nurturing young Latinx dancers and
choreographers. The idiom is
clearer. You’ll see work that’s clearly
about fusion. López Ochoa’s “Linea Recta”
has some derivatives of flamenco, but contemporizes it and brings it forward –
there’s partnering, the costuming is deconstructed, and there’s an electricity
that shows the original folk form in a new way. It answers the question ‘Who is the fused
flamenco artist?’ – and that’s what this company can do.
The Manzanales piece, “Brazos
Abiertos,” is a true homage to who we are as immigrants – how we feel doing our
identity mambo as we go back and forth.
‘Who am I and how does that affect my identity as a woman?’ As a company we reflect that and make
statements of advocacy and invite the audience into the conversation.
Pérez-Salas is still living and
working in Mexico City, and she’s saying ‘My culture doesn’t define me.’ Her
piece, “Catorce Dieciséis,” is the least culturally accessible – it’s about ‘I
am mexicana and that means my piece is mexicana. I wanted to meditate on the mathematical concept
of pi and that’s what I did.’
The piece is visually stunning. As artistic director I need to show that we
don’t just look a certain way or dance a certain way. I wanted to end the program with this piece
because I want Ballet Hispánico to empower the audience to think differently
about codifying culture.
CulturalOyster:
What about your own work? I’ve always
been a fan of your choreography – you did a piece for Luna Negra that the
company performed here in 2008 – a piece with deep Cuban sensibilities set to
Sephardic music, “Deshár Alhát,” that’s still one of my all time
favorites. I hope you’ll bring some of
your work next time!
Vilaro: Thank you
for that! I just created a new work and
I’m trying to bring back my choreography.
It’s hard finding time when you’re taking a different kind of leadership
role – it impinges on my artistic work, but there aren’t a lot of our voices
out there and we all need to step up.
CulturalOyster:
Eduardo, is there anything else you want to mention?
Vilaro: I guess I’ll
just mention that in January, 2020, we start the celebration of our fiftieth
year. It’s a milestone – and it’s
interesting that we’re not alone. The other companies that made a stand around
the time of the cultural wars of the ‘60s are also celebrating. Dance Theatre of Harlem is also 50, and the
Ailey company just celebrated 60 years.
But there aren’t a lot of Latinx organizations turning 50 here in the
US. I’m honored to have this
opportunity.
__________________________ interview by SK
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