El Acercamiento / The Approach

HISTORIAS DEL EMBARGO - PLACE-SPECIFIC INTERVENTION

By Ani Kazandjian

Performance by Ani Kazandjian, Gabriel Jimenez and Cuban tobacco "torcedor", and text by Cuban collaborators

This project was inspired by the artist's research of the US embargo and its effects in the lives of Cubans, and by her father's love of Cuban cigars. This multimedia performance will take place at a tobacco farm in Pinar del Rio. It will include found footage of Pierre Salinger, JFK's Head of Press, a reading of statements gathered by Cuban people with their thoughts about the embargo, and the creation of limited edition cigars. 

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March 25, 5-6pm

Tobacco Farm, Pinar del Rio

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EL SILENCIO SE HACE VOZ, UNA INVITACION A VOLAR - SILENCE BECOMES VOICE, AN INVITATION TO FLY - AN URBAN INTERVENTION

Conceived by Carmina Escobar and Cuban collaborator Agustin Hernandez

Inspired by readings of Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano and referencing the imagery of Magic Realism, El Silencio Se Hace Voz, una invitación a volar  is a poetic action set in the first lights of morning in which a woman bird journeys all the Malecon in La Habana singing a wordless song of unyielding relentlessness to envision the realm of possibilities for a different world. This ritual performance attempts to tap into the unconscious and play into the tacit perceptions of the bystanders. The piece is designed to be performed in Havana's iconic Malecon.

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March 26, 6:30-7pm

Malecón and D Street, Vedado, La Habana

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YOU CHOOSE: A FOLKTALE JOURNEY FOR TWO - AN URBAN INTERVENTION

By Fiona Dornberger

Two people will be guided on a "choose your own adventure" journey lead by animal characters from Cuban and U.S. folktales. The partners will open 6 envelopes, in an order of their choosing. In each envelope will be a folktale, a direction of a location to travel, and an activity that is meant to bring the partners together, regardless of their background. The tasks will deal with intimacy, vulnerability, giving, and teamwork. Through the activities, the partners will create their own folktale journey by interweaving Cuban and U.S. childhood stories in a manner of their own choosing.

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March 27, 4:00-5:30pm

Starts at Plaza de la Catedral and moves to various sites throughout Habana Vieja. 

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BOLA - AN URBAN INTERVENTION

Conceived by Ruben Rubio

CalArts artists and their Cuban collaborators will gather at a local neighborhood park to play ball. Their game is designed to be an icebreaker, a celebration of the game and its historic role as a signifier of the heath of US/Cuba relations, and an opportunity to occupy, together, a public space through ludic means.

 

March 28, 6-7pm

Neighborhood park, Calzada and D Street, Vedado, La Habana

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APARTMENT 34 - A PLACE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE

Conceived by Joana Knezevic

Performed by Heaven Gonzalez with Cuban collaborator

The piece was conceived as part of a larger performance series inspired by the life, work, death, and legacy of Cuban artist Ana Mendieta. Two artists, two countries, two women, two bodies on the Cuban coast. They represent two parts of Ana Mendieta: the Ana who was born in Cuba, and the Ana who migrated to the US as part of Operation Peter Pan. The two performers come together in Guanabo beach to perform an homage to the sand silueta works created by Ana Mendieta in that same beach some decades earlier, after her return to her homeland.

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March 29, 4pm

Guanabo Beach, La Habana

 

RUEDA - A DEVISED THEATER PERFORMANCE

Conceived and directed by Evelyn Serrano

Devised with CalArts cast members Heaven Gonzalez, Derek Jackson, Fernando Mitre, Talya Levine, Eloy Neira, Diana teixeira, Elizabeth Noriega, Karina Fathi, Inobe Thomas, Micah Mora, Ruben Rubio, and CalArts faculty Carmina Escobar

Design Team: Dan Gower, Briana Patillo, Tanya Orellana, and Juliana Romero

Using the performative matrix of the rueda de casino, a popular Cuban social dance form, a group of Cuban and U.S. artists devise an original performance work that will explore the liminal spaces created by the politics and poetics of home, loss, displacement, and (r)evolution through the lens of three women caught in the middle. RUEDA (wheel) traces journeys in Cuba and the U.S., and the liminal spaces in between. It pierces through transnational borders, sea monsters, and co-opted national narratives of oppositionality to illuminate the intimacy of encountering each other, of courage and (r)evolutionary future thinking.

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March 30, 8pm

March 31, 8pm

El Ciervo Encantado Theater, Vedado, La Habana

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US-CUBA NAMASTE PROJECT - A PERFORMANCE

By Briana Patillo in collaboration with Cuban yogi Eduardo Pimentel

Briana and Eduardo will lead a group of Cuban and US participants through a yoga-based performance that will explore themes of mirroring, resonance, and unity.

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March 31, 9-10am

El Ciervo Encantado Theater, Vedado, La Habana

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