These themes and other deeper ones are part of the research of the Cuban teacher, choreographer and dancer Neri Torres, who has dedicated herself to the promotion of Afro-Cuban culture outside the island. Thanks to her classes, the dance performances of her IFE-ILE company and the festival that she holds annually, she conveys to many a passion for a rich and complex culture, but above all open to those who wish to get closer. Indeed, the African heritage does not only fall on black skins. The combination of Spaniards with Africans on this continent has generated interesting nuances. No wonder the phrases “he who doesn’t have Congo has Carabalí” or “and your grandmother, where is she?” have become popular, a line that starts from the poem And your grandmother, where is she?by the Puerto Rican Fortunato Vizcarrondo.
In a conversation with DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, Neri Torres revealed that when she arrived in Miami in 1991 “the Afro-Cuban dance space did not exist.” The dancer, with experience on numerous stages in Cuba, including the emblematic Tropicana, and who studied at the National School of Art Instructors and later at the Higher Institute of Art, pointed out that although Afro-Cuban was not very well seen in those years , “there were many more possibilities to do dance things than now, in fact, there was more movement in dance terms”. That is why she lamented that “everything has become much more commercial and less cultural in many ways, although there are groups that are now more solid.”
In response to the question about the commercialization of religious aspects, he indicated that “this religion was of poor people, slaves, who helped each other, and spirituality was based precisely on helping others.” But, “once this religion arrived in Miami, it became another company. And all these neoliberal policies that each one is for himself, and is very individualistic, have led to the commercialization of religion.
“And now it is becoming like castes of people that the more money they have to get to do that saint, that initiation, the better it is. And no, it was never like that, this was a religion of humble people. Everything is being commercialized, from the wardrobe aspect, from the music, everything, and there are things that are problematic when they are commercialized, especially when they have to do with faith and spirituality. But I think all religions are like that. The material aspect in the world is too much in the forefront, and we are losing spirituality. And dance has a lot to do with spirituality,” she pointed out.
The beginnings in Miami
Always grateful, Torres does not forget the late Pedro Pablo Peña, known for having supported numerous dancers leaving Cuba for exile. “When I arrived I started working with Pedro Pablo Peña’s company, which was called Creation Ballet (and later changed to Miami Hispanic Ballet), which always welcomed people like me who came from Cuba and ended up there. I thank him very much, it was the first hand I received at that time, ”she recalled.
In addition, he worked at Ballet Concerto, directed by Sonia Díaz, where he taught popular dance classes, although “at that time, purely Cuban things were not so much on the scene.” In 1993 Víctor Cuéllar, one of the choreographers of Danza Nacional de Cuba (now Danza Contemporánea de Cuba), opened a company in Miami, where Torres even managed to “dance things that he cannot dance in Cuba.”
Torres adds a complete formation, since she began in ballet, then she continued to contemporary dance, until she reached folklore. Regarding this transition, she highlighted that “once I became an emigrant, that’s when you really realize who you are, you see the differences, what makes you stand out from other people. Your identity is enhanced once you leave the country.”
And it didn’t take long for her dream to materialize. In 1996 she founded the Afro-Cuban dance company IFE-ILE. It is worth noting that the name of the company comes from Ilé-Ife, which is considered as the oldest city of the yoruba peoplein Niger.
“I said, ‘how are we in Miami and there’s nothing?’ That gave me the idea to do a doctorate also because I have begun to investigate the background of our culture and how it has spread throughout the world,” said Torres, who has been recognized with a Proclamation from the City of Miami and a Certificate of Merit. Florida State Artist.
Starting from this line of research, he has focused on describing Cuban immigration and “how the people who came first (especially in the 1960s) did not welcome Afro-Cuban dances and culture. That was always practiced undertone and cataloged it as the culture of [Fidel] Castro, which has a slightly racist tint.”
“There is also another aspect that is how the people who come are adapting to what is there, in historical and social terms.” In fact, she quoted a story she recently read about two friends who broke up. “One stopped treating his black friend,” lamented the teacher, who has worked on stage with Celia Cruz, Andy García, Gloria Estefan, Willy Chirino, Albita Rodríguez, among others.
That is why Torres values the defense of these cultural roots that connect so many: “I think it is important because it is a culture that is in danger of extinction with all globalization and the huge human displacement that is being seen in the world. They are cultures that provide a sense of belonging to people. Dance, creating community, makes it easier for people to get together, to sing, to dance, and to share and break their cultural spaces most of the time. There are many people who feel seduced by that charm that Afro-Cuban culture has, which attracts not only because of the dance, but because of the joy of living that it emanates.”
As he stated, “we emigrants have that on our shoulders to be cultural ambassadors and maintain that culture, because we don’t know what will happen to Cuba, we already see all the problems that are occurring. Collective memory is important, the memory of all those who came before me, my teachers, and everything that this tradition has contributed, which is not recognized, let’s say, as ballet or contemporary dance.
“Everyone in Cuba, black, white, Chinese, when they hear a conga, they join. That is important to keep. And that is the attraction of Cuban culture, which has contributed to so many other cultures as well as to American pop culture, all the culture that is consumed at the moment has a large percentage of Cuban culture; and I am not being a chauvinist, it is a completely verifiable fact”, settled the researcher.
Among his academic works, the compilation of essays “Perspectives on Fusion Dance in the Caribbean and the Sustainability of Dance” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019), which grew out of a series of lectures she gave in Barbados, while she was a professor at the University of the West Indies.
“Since I had a background of doing festivals in Miami, I decided to do some conferences at the university, much more inclined towards the academic aspect of dance. He always had a space to discuss what was happening with the dance. In 2004 we invited Katherine Donan, who was known as the black matriarch of American dance. She was the one who created the fusion of ballet dances with black dances to achieve a rapprochement between all and that people also respect black culture in the United States, ”she stressed.
A festival that enhances Afro-Cuban values
With his company, Torres further expanded the scope by creating the IFE-ILE Afro-Cuban Dance Festival, which this year takes place from August 3 to 6 in its 23rd edition. The theme is “Untamed Dance: Rituals of Resistance for the 21st Century”, and it is done in fusion with the International Biennial Caribbean Dance Conference, created by Neri Torres in Barbados in 2014.
Faced with the question of how the roots inherited from the African continent coexist in Miami (the traditions brought by Dominicans, Colombians, Brazilians or Haitians, for example), he opined that “everyone lives together in their space and in their neighborhoods, and we get together at certain events.” For example, Haitian Weiselande ‘Yanui’ César and Bahamian A’Keitha Carey will participate in this edition of the festival, who will give workshops. The main guest this year is Andrea E. Woods Valdés, full professor at Duke University.
Torres teaches modern dance techniques, folklore, dance history, choreography and other subjects at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). For the festival, her university students will participate with the piece Obini“dedicated to Cuban women and all women in the world who try to make sense of their children’s lives when the environment does not allow it.”
Obini
Courtesy/Neri Torres
Torres advanced the synopsis of this work: “We share unusual paths, struggles, losses… Even so, we resist, protected by the elements that empower us and by the eternal hope of the vital breath that we engender: we are mother earth.”
As she added, the choreography shows “how women help each other, and that we are not only weak, we also have the part that we can also be strong in many situations, and that, in the end, Oyá’s poetry is ‘we give life , and also sometimes we lose it’, it is the first and the last breath. In addition to citing Oyá (the first Amazon in the world), Oshún and Yemayá are cited, who are the mothers themselves.
This “mixture of Afro-Cuban and contemporary dance” will be performed by Kaelin Walker, Jensen Springer, Chandell Molinar, Kayla Kuhajda, Laura Hellmuth, Ailis de Luna, Alyssa Aranda and Marayah Angeliz.
Obini. Courtesy / Neri Torres
Courtesy / Neri Torres
Among the guests at the gala on August 6 at 8:00 pm at the Koubek Center, he mentioned the group Dance Heals Project, which comes from Philadelphia to present a piece; and also the dancers Yodeny and Yoeny Martell.
“IFE-ILE musicians and dancers will present a rumba stamp and a selection of popular Cuban dances such as cubatón, mozambique and timba. The academic panels and the conga will be held at the HistoryMiami Museum, and the workshops and dance performances will be at the Koubek Center,” she said.
Finally, Torres thanked “the sponsors of the event, The Miami Herald and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.”
Here You can consult the complete program of the festival, which will have activities at the HistoryMiami Museum and at the Koubek Center of Miami Dade College.