NEW YORK — The five main dance companies in New York will participate for the third consecutive year in a festival organized by the Lincoln Center, which asked Cuban dancer and choreographer Pedro Ruiz to create a piece for this event that will unite dancers from the New York City Ballet and Ballet Hispánico on stage for the first time.
The BAAND Together Dance Festival, which was born after the COVID pandemic to attract the public again and celebrate the different styles of dance, will once again bring to the Lincoln stage (between July 25 and 29) the companies New York City Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem and each night each group will present its different show.
Added to these are the choreography performed by Ruiz, from Ballet Hispánico, which will bring together dancers from that company — the largest Latino cultural organization in the US — with those from New York City Ballet for the world premiere of “Pas de O’Farrill,” with which he pays tribute to pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill.
Ruiz — the second Latino chosen by Lincoln for this project, which last year went to Annabelle López — assures that “it is an honor” to have received the commission that has led him to work with the New York City Ballet “a company that has a very high level.”
It was the idea of Ruiz and the artistic director of Ballet Hispánico, also a Cuban dancer and choreographer Eduardo Vilaró, to propose a piece dedicated to O’Farrill, a collaborator of that Latin dance group for which he has performed live with his group, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
“His music is fantastic and I think it’s the perfect one for this occasion and at the same time we have the opportunity to honor him,” Ruiz told EFE.
Ruiz, trained in classical ballet in his native Cuba and who for 21 years was the principal dancer of Ballet Hispánico, chose for this choreography the song “Tanguango” by Astor Piazolla and that O’Farrill recorded for his album “40 Acres and a Burrito”, in which he combines jazz with Argentine tango which he called “Pas de O’Farrill” for the dance festival.
“I am very interested in the work he has done with jazz. Sometimes he uses classical in his music and mixes it with Afro-Cuban jazz or traditional jazz with Latin jazz,” says the dancer, who has turned to this genre for other projects.
Ruiz, who arrived in New York at the age of 19, points out that it is important to him that a piece reach all kinds of audiences, from lovers of the classical to those who prefer the popular.
He assures that working on this project “has been fantastic” and “a challenge” because it allows him to bring together a company like the New York City Ballet, with its classical style, and Ballet Hispánico, a “multifaceted” group, and do what O’Farrill does when he unites Latin and traditional jazz.
“This piece unites Latin jazz with ballet and it’s difficult for both groups. I did it with a classical ballet structure, with variations, but it’s also super fun, sexy, I think the public will love it,” he says.
The well-known dancer assures that it is also important for him to maintain the link with his roots through his work because “we must keep our culture alive at different levels, not only with Latinos, who we are, what identifies me”.
The BAAND Together Dance Festival opens with Ballet Hispánico and the piece “Línea Recta” by choreographer Annabelle López Ochoa, which revolves around flamenco.
2023-07-22 02:40:04
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