Monica Ascencio
The 19th Annual CubaCaribe festival presented A Fire Within, “a celebration of the passion and drive of the artists that move and inspire us.” The dance and music diversity that CubaCaribe presented included the rhythms of the Afro-Cuban, West African, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and more. More importantly, most of the pieces had elements of resistance, struggles, and survival in our society, which is the essence that captivated the community and the experience. During each performance, I saw these elements in their facial expressions and body movements. Artists used this platform and festival to express their voices through dance and drum beats.
A tribute to one of the most recognized pioneers in the Bay Area and the United States for over 40 years, Bobi Céspedes was the opening of the Saturday performance. The emotion and tribute to her work as an artist in the Bay Area were palpable in the theater, near the end presented a strong group of women dancing Bomba, honoring their ancestors, lineage, and resilience on the ODC Theater stage.
Dimensions Dance Theater’s Madness represented the stages of inner strength and the individual essence. The structure and empowerment of the Modern and West African movements pulsated to deliver the message that chaos helps us find meaning within the struggle. Still, individually, we can move through those paths to shape the strength needed for a collective ground. The drum beats establish the excitement and purity of the piece.
Son Huatesco from Los Lupeños de San Jose was a piece that captivated the audience on every level with their footwork, gritos (encourragement shouting), and joy, their fantastic way to move so quickly and with so much elegance, and during the connection with their partners, and the wheel shape created using the dancers’ rebozos (shawls) was an innovative trick for the piece. The company’s engagement was an excellent presentation of the rich culture of Mexico through dance in the 19th century and its roots, Huapango.
The festival was a remarkable success, reminding us that the drum is the heartbeat and energy that brings us together. Singing is the soul’s expression; dance is the expression without words. All generations are part of the cultural struggle and resistance in this world, and the community never leaves.
Monica Ascencio is from San Francisco. She is an active dancer and performer of Brazilian, Latin, and Spanish dance. Her passion for dance and serving the community through the arts is what brought her to ODC, where she has worked since 2013. She hopes to keep inspiring people to dance as an ODC staff member and a Latina dancer in the Bay Area.
CubaCaribe Lights A Fire was originally published in ODC.dance.stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.