Lecuona

Fiery affairs, devouring lust, disastrous jealousy, broken hearts, brutal longing, contempt, rancor, and indifference in lyrics that border on the kitsch and dazzlingly beautiful melodies – these are the exuberantly romantic songs written by Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963). They captivated choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras in the mid-eighties, and two decades later in 2004, Grupo Corpo celebrated the all-time greatest genius of Cuban music, opening for the first time since 1992 an exception to the house rule that the dance company would only dance to soundtracks especially composed for them. The result is a 38-minute ballet simply called Lecuona, an infatuating sequence of pas-de-deux followed by a single ensemble number created by Rodrigo Pederneiras to twelve aching love songs and one Waltz by the famous composer of Siboney. Lecuona has a singular character among all the other ballets by Grupo Corpo. Visual and scenery change color every time a new couple takes the stage to dance to one of Ernesto Lecuona’s songs. The scenery and lighting design (by Paulo Pederneiras and Fernando Velloso) outlines the scenic space with cubes made of monochromatic light that move within the black box as the partners dance. Domineering, the male dancers get on stage donning patent leather shoes, shirts, and slacks in different shades of black. On gauzy dresses with plenty of slits and cleavage, the fiery female dancers of Lecuona put on high heels (from 2 inches high to 5-inch heels) and dress from head to toes in one invariably warm color that relates to the light shade chosen for their couples. After the pas-de-deux, six couples take the stage to dance a waltz in a gigantic cube made of mirrors (now the women wear long lilting white dresses). Each dancer is multiplied in the play of mirror reflections and the final number becomes a big bright ball from a bygone era.

Source :  Grupo Corpo