Malpaso Dance Company is one of Cuba’s best known international contemporary dance companies. It’s a Joyce Theater Associate Company.
Cubans can really dance because by tradition, dance is how we pray. It’s also how we connect with family, community, and love. It’s what we do after work.
Did you ever wish you could have seen young Martha Graham, José Limón, or Mark Morris? In Malpaso, you can see young Cuban contemporary dance led by Artistic Director Osnel Delgado.
A Little Joyce Magic
The Joyce Foundation has a relationship with Cuban dance that predates President Obama’s cultural opening. They’ve been doing cultural exchanges with Cuba since 2001. In fact, the Joyce Foundation brought Malpaso from Cuba for their international debut at The Joyce Theater as soon as relations opened up in 2014.
Artists are always a bit ahead of the politicians. The Joyce Foundation sent noted American choreographer Ronald K. Brown to Havana with a commission in 2013 to choose a Cuban dance company and choreograph a piece for them. He picked Malpaso and created Por Que Sigues (Why You Follow).
The Joyce brings Malpaso back to New York every year. Each visit gives the company time to grow into its repertory and new choreographic challenges.
This is a key part of the magic of The Joyce. It’s not just a dance theater, but a patron that commissions new work and nurtures the next generation of dancers.
Contemporary Dance with Ballet Technique and Afro-Cuban Feeling
Artistic Director Osnel Delgado founded the ten-dancer company in 2012 with Dailedys Carrazana and Fernando Sanz. Many of the dancers trained at Cuba’s National Ballet School.
Dancers know that the Ballet Nacional de Cuba is one of the world’s great ballet companies. Cuba’s Russian model of arts education produces great artists. Training in Cuba has long been a dream path for dancers from across Latin America.
The Russians have Vaganova Technique as their secret sauce, and we have Afro-Cuban. When you add that to Martha Graham, José Limón, and other methods, you get something special that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Contemporary Dance with Ballet technique and Afro-Cuban feeling is something you want to see.
Born to Dance
Malpaso’s Artistic Director Osnel Delgado is Cuban dance royalty. He is the son of Esteban Delgado Betancourt, a long-time dancer with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (DCC), Cuba’s leading modern dance company. Delgado’s mother is Idania Wambrug who teaches at the National Dance School of Havana.
Delgado grew up in the center of Cuba’s dance world. They don’t teach choreography at the National Dance School, so Delgado just started making little choreographies on his own. He eventually followed his father into Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (DCC).
“Malpaso” means “bad step” in Spanish. It’s part of our Latin character to turn a bad step into something beautiful.
Malpaso Dance Company NYC 2017 – 2018
The company performs at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Wednesday-Sunday, January 17 – 21, 2018 with weekend matinees.
The program includes Face the Torrent (2017) by Sonya Tayeh, Ocaso (2013), a duet with Artistic director Osnel Delgado; and the New York premiere of a Joyce commission of Aszure Barton’s Indomitable Waltz.
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave
(at 19th St)
Malpaso Dance Company NYC 2016 – 2017
Malpaso brings their January 2016 Havana season to the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Tuesday-Thursday, May 10-12, 2016. The program features live music by NYC’s own Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble.
Malpaso performs at Central Park SummerStage Wednesday, August 9, 2017 from 7-10 pm. Free