STAGE TUBE: Ballet Hispanico Company Comes to Israel

By: Christina Mancuso Sep. 06, 2016

The Ballet Hispanico Company from New York is coming for the first time to Israel to open the Herzliya Performing Arts Center's 2016-17 dance series. The company will have 4 performances at the arts center, followed by additional performances in Beer Sheva, Jerusalem, Haifa and Modi'in.

The Herzliya Performing Arts Center's dance series is one of the most successful series in the country, with a record of 1650 memberships in the previous season. The series is special for its exclusive dance performances brought from abroad by the center's initiative, as well as performances from the leading companies and artists in Israel.

Since the founding of Ballet Hispanico in 1970 in New York City by Tina Ramirez, its repertory reflects a dance and musical range that constantly changes due to the mutual influence between the Latin and Hispanic immigrants from Spanish speaking countries and the American culture in which they create.

In the USA the company is considered the Hispanic-American equivalent of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: "Ballet Hispanico is a sort of Latino counterpart to Alvin Ailey: a group that draws on and celebrates an ethnic tradition, but is not limited by it. Dazzlingly varied and spectacularly executed, the opening performance was a pleasure from beginning to end" (The Boston Globe)

Ballet Hispanico's Artistic Director since 2009 is Eduardo Vilaro, a first generation Cuban-American, who began his journey with Ballet Hispanico in 1985 as a dancer in the company and assisted founder Tina Ramirez with the development of dance education residencies. He trained throughout New York City in dance institutions such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and the Martha Graham School. In 1999, he was a recipient of Columbia College Chicago's Albert P. Weissman Award and founded the Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago for which he created over 20 ballets while collaborating with Latin American musicians and the Chicago Symphony.

The goal of the company is to challenge the accepted perception of the "Latin Stereotype" and change it by using dance as a form of expression that reflects the true, diverse and constantly changing face of the fast growing Hispanic American community across the USA.

As part of its work, the company also includes community programs and a dance school, brings classes and workshops to young dancers from the USA and all South and Central America countries as well as gives scholarships to talented teens from New York City's suburbs.

Due to the importance and high quality of its cultural contribution, the company's latest performance was broadcast in New York City's Lincoln Center and all across the USA as part of "Dance in America" in which the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater companies also participated.

The 14 company dancers will perform the following pieces:

El Beso- Choreography by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano and set to Spanish Zarzuela music. With original costumes by Venezuelan fashion designer Angel Sanchez.

Bury me standing- A duet created for the company by Spanish choreographer Ramón Oller, set to music of traditional gypsy melodies, including Klezmer music and Balkan folk songs.

Danzón- A collaboration between choreographer Eduardo Vilaro and the Grammy award winning Latin jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera. A reinvention of the traditional and quintessentially Cuban dance form with contemporary language.

Sombrerisimo- This athletic work for six male dancers by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, a half-Colombian choreographer, makes references to the surrealist world of the Belgian painter René Magritte, famous for his paintings of men in bowler hats. In this piece, Ochoa humorously expresses the Latin masculinity.

Sortijas- A duet choreographed by Cayetano Soto, one of the most dynamic and groundbreaking Spanish choreographers of his generation, set to the music of the late American-born singer Lhasa de Sela.

Club Havana- Cuban choreographer, Pedro Ruiz, has drawn on Havana's 1950s history, together with ballroom and modern dance styles, to create this swirling party. The intoxicating rhythms of the Conga, Rumba, Mambo, and Cha-Cha are brought to life as Pedro Ruiz imagined his very own Club Havana.

In addition to the performances, the company will have workshops for young dances and various audiences in 10 cities around Israel, sponsored by the American Embassy.

Performances dates:

Herzliya Performing Arts Center

November 23, 2016 - 20:30

November 24, 2016 - 20:30

November 25, 2016 - 13:00

November 26, 2016 - 21:00

Tickets at www.hoh-herzliya.co.il or 1700-702929 (Israel).

Be'er Sheva Performing Arts Center

November 28, 2016 - 20:30

Tickets at www.mishkan7.co or 08-6266400 (Israel).

Jerusalem Theatre

November 29, 2016 - 20:30