Bárbara Llanes: Singing is life itself

By Mercy Ramos Photos: Norlys and Courtesy of Bárbara

Renowned Cuban classical singer Bárbara Llanes says her career is more than work. It’s her hobby, it’s what she does for fun, it’s her raison d’être, it is life itself. If she’s not singing, she says, it’s because she’s unwell or has a problem.

50 Years of Brilliant Camagüey Ballet

By Alfredo Boada / Photos: Roberto Morejón and Prensa Latina

Renowned both in Cuba and many parts of the world for excellent performances and the artistic quality of its young members, the eastern Cuban, Camagüey Ballet Company (BC) is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2017.

José Martí: Theater: A Historical Scene

By: Rosa María González López, Photos by: Emilio Herrera and Prensa Latina Archives

It is difficult to think of a city or capital of any country without its theater, a place that offers a necessary escape; that public place whose origins go back in time, and to which one comes as spectator or accomplice, or both…a place that is a witness of events withstood by the life and culture of its people.

Art Education New Paths

By: Jesús Adonis Martínez / Photos by Prensa Latina

Celebrated Cuban artists, such as ballet dancers Carlos Acosta and José Manuel Carreño, jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, painters Pedro Pablo Oliva, Roberto Fabelo and Flavio Garciandía, all have something in common. All of them attended, at some point in their lives, Cuba's art schools, discovering the subtle mysteries of artistic creation.

Cirque dreams Comes to Moon Palace

Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort, the entertainment resort destination with the highest standards for five-star all inclusive vacations in Cancun, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Riviera Maya in Mexico, will present the critically acclaimed Broadway hit Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy this summer from June 29th to August 5th, 2012.

Pachencho’s Wake

By: Cary Chaviano / Ilustration by Francisco Pacasio Blanco (Blanquito)

For the past 27 years the people of Santiago de las Vegas take to the streets on February Fifth for a celebratory funeral of a mythical character named Pachencho, who returns to life to the rhythm of drums and shots of rum.

Circus in Cuba: A Contagious Passion

A few metres from Havana’s western beaches and busy Fifth Avenue, stands the Trompoloco big top, bearing the name of a popular Cuban clown from the 1960s and 70s, and the entrance and complement to the Isla del Coco (Coconut Island) Amusement Park.

Season Theatre, Puppets’ Charm

By: Kiro / Photos Courtesy Teatro de las Estaciones

One cannot discuss puppets in Cuba without noting the monumental work of Teatro de Las Estaciones (Theatre of the Seasons), a group created just 15 years ago in the western town of Matanzas, committed to preserving the heritage of puppet theatre in Cuba.

The Royal Ballet in Cuba A Memorable Dance Event

By: Pedro Quiroga Jimenez / Photos by Ismael Francisco and Royal Ballet Archives

The Cuban public's expectations were more than satisfied in July with the London Royal Ballet's five memorable performances notable for choreographic diversity and the long awaited performances by Spanish Tamara Rojo and Cuban Carlos Acosta.

Playback Theatre

Anneris Ivette Leyva / Pablo Cozzaglio

In Cuba, Carlos Borbón, no relation to the reigning king of Spain, gives interviews with the same originality with which he leads his players. On the last Saturday afternoon of each month, Havana's "Spontaneous, or Playback, Theatre" occupies a roof in Old Havana, where the audience not only finds satiric, reflective or tragic performances but also gets involved in bidirectional communication, the roles of emitter and receiver fusing in the heat of the tropical sun.

Street Dancing

It was the middle of the night, but Madera Street in Havana’s Plaza de Armas was alight and, in the best of real and imagined scenes, therewas dancing within the luminous shadows of the columns of the Captains’ Palace. This was 1996 and the first time Retazos.

The Colmenita Cuban Children on the World Stage

By Pedro Quiroga Jiménez Photos: Cubaplus

La Colmenita (the little beehive) emerged from a dream and hobby of Carlos "Tin" Cremata when he was still a student at the Cuban Theatrical Art Institute directing aquatic and judo performances with young people. The nucleus of La Colmenita was formed from some of these youngsters and children of three, four and five years from the popular television series "Cuando yo sea Grande" that he also directed.