George Cespedes. Photo: Rebel Youth
George Céspedes is built from his choreographies. Trying to decipher his inner world is like attending the performance of The Last Resort or You, Man of God (Hidden, Scared, Lost), the most recent premiere of the Holguin company codanzawhich in this 2022 celebrates three decades of the triumph of dance and life.
George Céspedes, the leader of “The Children of the Director”, the resident choreographer of Cuban Contemporary Dance He is also from Holguin, and as he says, he was born and raised in the Zayas neighborhood. His vocation of him? To be honest, and he is very good at this, he cannot place himself at an exact moment, perhaps it was at that dance performance weeks before entering the Vocational Art School, when he joined the cast of the prestigious company directed by Miguel Iglesias, or even, one day close to his retirement as a dancer.
The truth is that he never became aware of it, it was enough for him to find an interesting way of expression in each movement, to communicate his concerns without offering answers. Regarding his work as a choreographer, he assured that he is nothing more than an apprentice to the trade.
“A professional choreographer has to create in any circumstance and I still depend on inspiration, finding motivation in the music, the set design, the costumes, since to tell a story I need to draw on everything visible on the scene.”
When inquiring about the nature of his works, which are distinguished by their marked intensity, its creator underlined the interest in exposing man and his existence in the world, and it happens “because essentially I speak about myself, from my experiences and from the concerns who habitually cut off my head”.
Staging of the play You, man of God (hidden, scared, lost) Photo: Wilker López
“The intention of my choreographies is not to show solutions to questions that may have a social or political origin, and I say ‘can’ because it is not my interest to define it as such, but ultimately art, and I as a social entity, do not we escape the context in which we live”.
You, man of God (hidden, scared, lost) was presented on July 1, 2 and 3 from the Raúl Camayd main hall of the Eddy Suñol Theater Cultural Complex in a brief but intense season that included the revival of the piece ABC not that way. Floating population, by the Guantanamo choreographer Yoel González, which was well received by the public, who recognized the technical and interpretative complexity of both proposals with applause and applause.
With original music by Alexis de la O, lighting design and costumes by George Céspedes himself, the work inspired by the poem Man of God, by the Persian-born writer Jallaludin Rumi, was initially conceived for its strong emotional charge for experienced dancers whose experiences They will work as a complement in the interpretation of each movement.
“The teacher Maricel Godoy always wanted me to work with Codanza, but due to work commitments this collaboration had not materialized. The dancers that today make up the cast of the company are very young, for the most part, they are in the process of learning and the choreographic assembly is still very green.
Photo: Wilker Lopez
“I believe that right now, after having danced the piece, they are beginning to understand it, we must continue working on its evolution and perhaps re-release it in a year to assess its growth. My works are usually very intense, intellectual in a certain way, and demand from the dancer a personal commitment to choreography, a work method that can be very difficult to understand by the new generations who are not used to these dynamics”.
However, this was not an impediment to the execution of a heartbreaking piece that played with the emotions of the spectator and that, according to the teacher Maricel Godoy, in statements to the press during the assembly process, nothing better than a choreographic work by George Céspedes to show them the way to interpretative virtue, a premise that Codanza has always defended, convinced that “movements must be inhabited and not pretty so that the choreographer’s message reaches the viewer.”
Welcome to the scene the rigor and spirituality of George Céspedes, always accompanied by proposals as original as they are thoughtful. We in Holguin can only wait for a second collaboration, while our chests swell with pride for the successes of another of “ours” who in Cuba and abroad has already given much to talk about.
George Céspedes’ experiences as resident choreographer of Contemporary Dance of Cuba
Related article:
Codanza premiered a choreographic piece by George Céspedes
Author: Claudia Patricia Dominguez
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Degree in journalism. I adore my little one. I love the music of Buena Fe and I enjoy the texts of García Márquez