Posts Tagged ‘tango’

Cuban Dance Group Debuts in NYC, February 18-22

HavanaDreaming about Cuba but haven’t quite figured out how to take advantage of the new travel agreements? There’s a wonderful dance group coming to New York City next week to get you prepped.  Havana Rakatan, the hot, sexy Cuban dance show from acclaimed Havana-based Ballet Rakatan will be making its U.S. debut at City Center, 135 West 55th Street, in Manhattan, February 18 – 22. In my opinion, it’s a shot of hot Cuban excitement that will help beat the Arctic blast and melt the mountains of snow forecast for later this week.

This is the first presentation of City Center’s A Bailar: Dance at the Center Latin dance festival which runs from February 18 – March 7. The Festival continues with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s m¡longa, a dance presentation focused on the sultry world of Buenos Aires tango. The final performance is Voces, Suite Flamenca, a new work from flamenco superstar Sara Baras.

The easiest way to get tickets (while staying warm) is at www.NYCityCenter.org or by calling (212) 581-1212.

Back to Cuba for the moment.  I really encourage you to get your tickets before they’re sold out. Havana Rakatan is a dazzling mix of salsa, mambo, jazz, bolero, son, cha-cha-cha and rumba, accompanied by the eight-piece Cuban son band Turquino, which will perform live onstage.

MilongaThe show presents a high-energy slice of Havana culture that charts the evolution of Cuban music and dance over the country’s 500-year history, from the West African rhythms brought by slaves beginning in the mid-16th century, to the jazz, mambo and bolero of the 1940s, the rumba and cha-cha of the 1970s, and the salsa and son of modern-day Havana. As I heard in both Havana and Trinidad last week, it’s son that brings it all to an exciting finish, combining elements of Spanish guitar and song with African rhythms and percussion. This is the heart of modern Cuban music and dance, and you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to experience it in New York.

Ballet Rakatan is one of Cuba’s most successful cultural exports. The company was founded by dancer-turned-choreographer Nilda Guerra in 2001 and has since toured throughout the world. Most of the dancers are graduates of the renowned Escuela Nacional de Arte de la Habana, one of Havana’s premier dance schools that offers contemporary dance training mixed with Cuban dance and Latin styles. It’s exciting that they’ve chosen New York City for their U.S. debut.

SaraThe performance schedule is:

Havana Rakatan, February 18-22: Wednesday, February 18 and Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 pm; Friday, February 20 at 8 pm; Saturday, February 21 at 2 and 8 pm; and Sunday, February 22 at 2 and 7 pm.

m¡longa, February 26 – March 22: Thursday, February 26, Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28 at 8 pm; and Sunday, March 1, at 2 pm.

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, March 4-7: Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 pm; Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at 8 pm.

“Forever Tango” and “Let It Be”: Dance and Music Take Broadway by Storm

If you’re looking for straightforward musical or dance immersion on Broadway, there are two shows that you should consider. You won’t need to pay attention to the dialogue, or prep in advance by reading a play synopsis.  These shows are all about music and dance.

First, there’s still time for you to see “Dancing with the Stars’” famous duo Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy in “Forever Tango”. Their fantastic run ends August 18, although the show continues through September 15.  The two are an athletic, gorgeous embodiment of the tango, and it’s pure joy to see these television stars close up.  The other fourteen dancers are pretty spectacular, too, and you’ll start to wonder if you might actually be able to dance like that if you had a great partner to guide you around.  Also in the show through August 18 is the Nicaraguan Grammy Award-winner Luis Enrique. The screams and applause from the audience will let you know his importance in the salsa world, even if you might not be familiar with his name. Luis Fonsi, another Latin Grammy Award-winner, takes over on August 20.  While some of the tango numbers may be less than conventional – including the comedic tango numbers – the quality and attitude of the dance and dancers are impeccable.  You’ll be mesmerized by every flick of the leg, every athletic spin, and the remarkable expressions on each dancer’s face.  The eleven musicians who play the accordions, piano, violin, and other instruments are worthy of a concert by themselves; and the costumes are sexy tango.

http://forevertangobroadway.com Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street.
Tickets: www.telecharge.com, 212-239-6200.

If dance isn’t something you’d like to watch but you’d prefer to do, then “Let It Be” might be more suited to your taste.  Suspend belief for two and a half hours and you can almost imagine that the Beatles are really on stage at the St. James Theater, as the four performers (and one guest director) take the audience through a musical chronicle of the Beatles’ famous hits.  Some of the songs are better performed than others, and you might have a debate amongst yourselves as to which Beatles impersonator is actually the truest, but no matter, you’ll have a fun time twisting and shouting all the way to the finale.  Come early to watch the 1960s television commercials and answer the Beatles trivia questions shown on the monitors.  Throughout the theatrical concert, actual video footage from the Beatles’ travels to New York is interspersed with other shots of the time.

http://www.letitbebroadway.com/ St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street.
Tickets: www.telecharge.com, 212-239-6200.

Does either of these qualify as theater?  That’s up to you. I enjoyed them both.

Planning a trip to NYC?