{"id":76224,"date":"2016-10-04T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oncubamagazine.com\/?p=76224"},"modified":"2016-10-03T10:47:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T14:47:04","slug":"assen-dance-habana-or-bringing-broadway-to-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/dance\/assen-dance-habana-or-bringing-broadway-to-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Assen Dance Habana or Bringing Broadway to Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Catherine Zeta-Jones of Chicago, or the Nicole Kidman that moved the Moulin Rouge we could go back to the most impressive of the universe of the musicals seen on film. But if we think about recreating the famous Broadway productions in Cuba, we would surely be, at the least, rash.<\/p>\n

However, boldness drives talent and only taking risks gets you tickets to cross the door of good fortune. That\u2019s how the creators of Assen Dance Habana understand it, a new musical show company that will soon makes its debut on the island.<\/p>\n

Ernesto Tamayo, its leader and former actor of Teatro Estudio, is returning to Cuba after living a decade in Mexico. A disciple of great maestros of Cuban theater \u2013 among them Berta Mart\u00ednez and Abelardo Estorino \u2013 Tamayo is bringing with him Argentinian choreographer Alejandro Assen, together with whom he created Assen Dance & Performance seven years ago.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDespite the fact that we are competing with technological development, we have achieved a dance society widely positioned in the tourist destinations of Cancun, the Riviera Maya and Argentina. Today we are extending it to the island,\u201d he explained to OnCuba.<\/p>\n

What is most outstanding about Assen Dance & Performance is its aesthetics, with New York, Las Vegas or Paris referents \u2013 and its concept that the show is active, where the audience doesn\u2019t sit passively to observe, there are not more than four movements and the songs don\u2019t last more than three minutes.<\/p>\n

If we take into account that he always knew that his thing would not be acting but rather production, we understand why Tamayo has set himself the aim of placing Cuba in the most important catalogs of international showbiz.<\/p>\n

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Ernesto Tamayo, director of the company. Photo: Regino Sosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Assen Dance & Performance does not work with professional dancers, according to Alejandro Assen. In Havana the company concentrates graduates from the national school of artistic education. \u201cWe bring together the best Cuba has to show it a new form, that of jazz ballet, of multidisciplinary dancers and singers,\u201d he affirms.<\/p>\n

After a bit over two months of existence, Assen Dance Habana has its presentation card, Sway, almost ready, a production that can be defined as a music hall, which offers a folkloric trip through India, Argentina, Spain, the United States, France, Russia and Cuba.<\/p>\n

His foray into the Dance Broadway Center has allowed Alejandro Assen to assume the artistic direction of a 47-minute work non-stop and that, when finding coherence between the art of dance and commercial show, will compete with the world\u2019s highest standards.<\/p>\n