IDALABERTO BANDERA:
gift of dance, force of tradition

Teatro Oriente, former home of Ballet Folklorico Cutumba in Santiago de Cuba, was in shambles during a July restoration. Seats were pulled out, the stage torn up. How was the group managing? rehearsing? Director Idalberto Bandera would also sigh as we stared into the empty, torn up theatre. We headed to his office, where the noise could not reach us and the fan was blowing, a great pleasure anywhere in the Caribbean during July heat.

Q: Tell us hear about you and Cutumba.
Idalberto Bandera: I can tell you that I first started out as a dancer in 1975, professionally speaking. But, way before that, I was already participating in many dance activities, in the neighborhoods, or communities specifically, performing rumba dances, which was a normal thing in the community, hence, everyone would meet, and dance, or played drums, or if they felt like singing, they sang. In this case, what I always enjoyed was dancing, and with a small dance group that was formed we occasionally performed at sweet-sixteen parties. In these parties there were a series of dances, which we do, as organized as we were. There were fourteen of us, fourteen men and fourteen women in charge of those dance arrangements to perform wherever we were invited. That was the base that established my life as a dancer. I liked to sing, I always tried to sing. Fundamentally, I like to write lyrics for popular music, for example, son or guaracha, I have four songs. It's not well known but it's something I do. Like I said before, I started dancing professionally in 1975 with the dance group Cutumba, which was back then an Eastern folklore dance group. There was a division due to conflict of interests, which led to the formation of a more autonomous Cuban folklore group, which was, in this case, ours, and other part, the other dance group, which was the 2^nd brigade, performed a more experimental type of folklore. That was the foundation that was established— the projects that were developed. And from that point forward, I started working as a professional dancer, I took things seriously, as a professional should, and well, I studied and researched, each and every day persevering my lessons with many professors as well. I was lucky to work with many good professors, many of them no longer with us today. But they live in me, because [with] the way I express my dance moves, I am expressing what they taught me. Spiritually, I mean, they are in me in each and every single one of the steps that, as a dancer, I have created. On one hand, on the side of percussion, I owe it to people like Milián Galí, from whom I had the good fortune to learn from. He was director of the Cutumba dance group. And I am thankful to him and to other figures who were there in the group because, even though I may be repeating myself, I have had the good fortune of working with the best of Cuban folklore tradition. And that helped me to bring it to the group, to the students and people of different generations who started working with the group. I shared the knowledge, and I continue spreading that knowledge with the purpose of Cutumba continuing to keep Cuban folklore alive.

Q: What do you think of the future of Cutumba? What are your visions?
Idalberto: Well, sometimes I'm a little conservative as far as the future of the dance group is concerned. I say conservative, because I have no doubts that Cutumba will achieve the best results since we work on that level. But sometimes there are many obstacles along the way, including now we have no place to rehearse as Teatro Orinete is under construction. We do have another temporary space, which is the movie theatre duplex of the José Martí Institute. We continue the work we do to maintain our development and to ensure a better future for the group.

Q: When you are running low on dancers, where do you turn to?
Idalberto: We mainly feed our group from school trained dancers. There has been a lack of graduations for some time in comparison to previous years where there was an intermediate level specializing in folkloric and modern dance, or contemporary dance, and we'll continue feeding our group with this type of people. But we've also enlisted people off the streets, who have been a part of folkloric groups—hobbyists, but of good quality. And they've come to our company witt talent, but with not as much experience or quality of a professional, or without the demands from a professional, or with the technique of a professional, which, in this case the, we work on giving these types of people these things. We condition them, for example, to the group's style. Those are things because the group has a style that characterizes it through time. We must maintain that style. That's very important for the perennial continuity of Cutumba.

Q: Can you speak some more about Cutumba's style?
Idalberto: Cutumba's style lies in the particular technique we have in each of the folkloric steps that are danced in the group. From this point is where the style comes in. By that I mean, the technical form for the use of the arms, how to dance the steps, and the movements. There is a pattern of movements of posture which characterizes it, that's why I call it a style that characterizes Cutumba. There is a general style in which the dance group uses when it comes to arm and leg movements, how to produce a movement and its style. But when we talk about a particular style, it's the way in which a person with experience can use that to make him or herself look better because they are performing the movements with more fluidity, technique and confidence than others. Because it is a pattern, for example, in my case, I always signed on as a solo performer, as a dancer on behalf of the dance group. I almost never did the same movements as the rest of the dancers in the group. For example, the professors always used me for demonstrations. I would veer away from what I was supposed to do, and would do something different. But they understood that what I was doing was better, had a better quality, was more attractive than what they had put together. So they would say, "Do what Idalberto just did, not what I just said to do". That starting the development within the group, within the repertoire of the group so now there are many steps, figures and things that came about from my creativity. As talents, the choreographers knew when to employ my techniques collectively within the dance group.

Q: Can we talk about the choreographers of the dance group? I know you have to work with different people. Are there choreographies that are yours?
Idalberto: The way I work is that I don't feel the need to be the only one to create choreographies. There are people who are not choreographers yet they have ideas, and those ideas are possible to display within a smaller format, perhaps not for something of high artistic standards for a specific type of audience but better suited for an audience less demandin., We'll give them the opportunity to include their ideas. And when we are observing them, we'll audition them, we always try by all means to correct certain things that shouldn't be or things that should. And that helps the group. Why? Because it's no longer myself, [Ernesto] Armiñan or anyone of the people in charge of the group. For example, [Juan] Teodoro has done some of the choreographies. We've given Alberto, a dancer, a chance as well, and we given Maura Isales an opportunity as well as JóseCarrión. There are pieces that have not been from a single choreographer. There have been works within the repertoire put together by various choreographers. And in this case I was not present. Maura [Isales], Jóse[Carrión] were present, for example. Sometimes not even the head choreographer has been present, [Juan] Teodoro, for example. They are choreographers, but since it's not a task that they have to start off with and it is not part of their profile because they are dancers, but they have very good ideas, we take advantage of those ideas. But they are under no obligation to do so, but we give them the opportunity. That's important.

Q: Let's talk about your type of dance in general.
Idalberto: Our reason for being is as a folklore group commissioned to rescue the folkloric roots and traditions of the region. I'm talking about the Eastern region, I don't pit myself into Santiago de Cuba, I go beyond the horizon. I go around looking, not only in Santiago, as I just mentioned, but in Guantánamo, Camaguey. I generalize region,but I generalize it as Eastern. That's our reason for being: to rescue the traditional folkloric roots that are a part of this region. We can't deny that we understand each other there. At the beginning of our formation as a folkloric group, our themes were mostly of Western origin, I mean from the Western part of Cuba: Yorubá, Palo, Ebembé; many of the things we did. But, with time, we started doing some research and found that we had a rich folklore, a virgin folklore which was about to explode, we enjoyed doing the research, and that's why today we get to benefit from a repertoire that represents traditional and popular dances. It's folklore of the area, and not just the area, but of the nation.

Q: Are you touring a lot these days?
Idalberto: Well, Cutumba started touring in 1983 through Casa del Caribe. We are very proud, and Casa del Caribe is very proud, because of the homage they paid us on their 20^th anniversary.They knew that we were the first Cuban dance group that took part in the first Festival del Caribe. As such, the government of Surinam invited us to participate there as a group from Casa del Caribe as adopted children of theirs. So they now have another group. We went to Spain, Martinique, Guadalupe several times; we've been to Mexico on a couple of occasions, to Cancún; we've been to France about four times. We‘ve gone to Portugal, England, Scotland; we've been to Germany, and four times to the United States. Our tours consist not only of performances, but also learning events, exchanges with communities, schools, universities, and why not, with other dance groups like Luku Melé. I had the opportunity to work with them on the 2001 tour in Philadelphia. I admire their professionalism and dedication. Despite the fact that they are not - - they really are professionals, but they have regular jobs. They do this as a hobby, but they do it with so much love that they look like professionals in the way that they project themselves. So a small group of them were here. We did a cultural exchange program with them; they left very happy, and with hopes to see them in the future again. We can continue that cultural exchange which we started in 2001. We hope to see Oakland. You never know what can happen, but I think we can make some sort of stand there in Oakland. I think the town would enjoy Cutumba's act. Also I've heard there's a large population of Cubans there, and they'll have the chance to see their culture, a recent culture. I mean, a current version of their culture. That's very important and very beautiful.

Q: What do you like to do most, above all?
Idalberto: I'm going to tell you something, I like to dance. What I like to do the most is to dance . I've had the opportunity to develop, and I've developed on the choreography part. I became a good dancer, I was able to work in the spaces and framework that were available, which movements, in which space could be performed to provide a contrast and to make things attractive for the spectator. I still need to work more as a choreographer—I still think there's more to learn. Despite my achievements as a dancer I don't feel fulfilled yet. I believe that being fulfilled means reaching your peak. To me reaching the peak is like death. That's the peak. Reaching the peak is like death because in life you can do all sorts of things, and if you have started a career, that career is infinite. Nothing ends in life, nothing ends. People say, I feel "fulfilled", and I say, fulfilled—that's the end of it. It's the peak of your learning, the peak of your life, the peak of everything that could be done, everything your mind or talent could achieve. So, I believe I can continue doing more choreography and dance. I've given way to younger people, but I have experience, I know how to do it, which is important. If I have to do it at any given point, I'll do it, and I believe I have to continue with the mind set that I will continue dancing. The only problem is the administrative part—for example, here you have to manage things artistically and generally. I mean, you have to do the artistic work, but you also have to represent the administrative part. And the administrative part is in pieces, even though it has important factors, since you have to supervise what is happening on the administrative end. You are the responsible party. Since I like dance, I have to continue dancing. I have to continue what my destiny will allow. That's why I believe everything can be done. I like to play the drums. I like to create choreographies. I like to write works of art, but what I enjoy the most is to dance and to make friends.

I thanked Idalberto for is time and headed back out into the stifling, July heat. With the force and leadership of Idalberto, Cutumba will continue to be the most honored and respected folkloric ensemble in Santiago de Cuba. Look for the company later this year and see for yourself!

Click here for more information about Idalberto Bandera and Ballet Folklorico Cutumba.

Entrevista, fotos y video ©2002 by Julia Sewell
Transcribcion y tranduccion ©2002 by Wright Interpreting
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

IDALABERTO BANDERA:
gift of dance, force of tradition

Teatro Oriente, former home of Ballet Folklorico Cutumba in Santiago de Cuba, was in shambles during a July restoration. Seats were pulled out, the stage torn up. How was the group managing? rehearsing? Director Idalberto Bandera would also sigh as we stared into the empty, torn up theatre. We headed to his office, where the noise could not reach us and the fan was blowing, a great pleasure anywhere in the Caribbean during July heat.

Q: Tell us hear about you and Cutumba.
Idalberto Bandera: I can tell you that I first started out as a dancer in 1975, professionally speaking. But, way before that, I was already participating in many dance activities, in the neighborhoods, or communities specifically, performing rumba dances, which was a normal thing in the community, hence, everyone would meet, and dance, or played drums, or if they felt like singing, they sang. In this case, what I always enjoyed was dancing, and with a small dance group that was formed we occasionally performed at sweet-sixteen parties. In these parties there were a series of dances, which we do, as organized as we were. There were fourteen of us, fourteen men and fourteen women in charge of those dance arrangements to perform wherever we were invited. That was the base that established my life as a dancer. I liked to sing, I always tried to sing. Fundamentally, I like to write lyrics for popular music, for example, son or guaracha, I have four songs. It's not well known but it's something I do. Like I said before, I started dancing professionally in 1975 with the dance group Cutumba, which was back then an Eastern folklore dance group. There was a division due to conflict of interests, which led to the formation of a more autonomous Cuban folklore group, which was, in this case, ours, and other part, the other dance group, which was the 2^nd brigade, performed a more experimental type of folklore. That was the foundation that was established— the projects that were developed. And from that point forward, I started working as a professional dancer, I took things seriously, as a professional should, and well, I studied and researched, each and every day persevering my lessons with many professors as well. I was lucky to work with many good professors, many of them no longer with us today. But they live in me, because [with] the way I express my dance moves, I am expressing what they taught me. Spiritually, I mean, they are in me in each and every single one of the steps that, as a dancer, I have created. On one hand, on the side of percussion, I owe it to people like Milián Galí, from whom I had the good fortune to learn from. He was director of the Cutumba dance group. And I am thankful to him and to other figures who were there in the group because, even though I may be repeating myself, I have had the good fortune of working with the best of Cuban folklore tradition. And that helped me to bring it to the group, to the students and people of different generations who started working with the group. I shared the knowledge, and I continue spreading that knowledge with the purpose of Cutumba continuing to keep Cuban folklore alive.

Q: What do you think of the future of Cutumba? What are your visions?
Idalberto: Well, sometimes I'm a little conservative as far as the future of the dance group is concerned. I say conservative, because I have no doubts that Cutumba will achieve the best results since we work on that level. But sometimes there are many obstacles along the way, including now we have no place to rehearse as Teatro Orinete is under construction. We do have another temporary space, which is the movie theatre duplex of the José Martí Institute. We continue the work we do to maintain our development and to ensure a better future for the group.

Q: When you are running low on dancers, where do you turn to?
Idalberto: We mainly feed our group from school trained dancers. There has been a lack of graduations for some time in comparison to previous years where there was an intermediate level specializing in folkloric and modern dance, or contemporary dance, and we'll continue feeding our group with this type of people. But we've also enlisted people off the streets, who have been a part of folkloric groups—hobbyists, but of good quality. And they've come to our company witt talent, but with not as much experience or quality of a professional, or without the demands from a professional, or with the technique of a professional, which, in this case the, we work on giving these types of people these things. We condition them, for example, to the group's style. Those are things because the group has a style that characterizes it through time. We must maintain that style. That's very important for the perennial continuity of Cutumba.

Q: Can you speak some more about Cutumba's style?
Idalberto: Cutumba's style lies in the particular technique we have in each of the folkloric steps that are danced in the group. From this point is where the style comes in. By that I mean, the technical form for the use of the arms, how to dance the steps, and the movements. There is a pattern of movements of posture which characterizes it, that's why I call it a style that characterizes Cutumba. There is a general style in which the dance group uses when it comes to arm and leg movements, how to produce a movement and its style. But when we talk about a particular style, it's the way in which a person with experience can use that to make him or herself look better because they are performing the movements with more fluidity, technique and confidence than others. Because it is a pattern, for example, in my case, I always signed on as a solo performer, as a dancer on behalf of the dance group. I almost never did the same movements as the rest of the dancers in the group. For example, the professors always used me for demonstrations. I would veer away from what I was supposed to do, and would do something different. But they understood that what I was doing was better, had a better quality, was more attractive than what they had put together. So they would say, "Do what Idalberto just did, not what I just said to do". That starting the development within the group, within the repertoire of the group so now there are many steps, figures and things that came about from my creativity. As talents, the choreographers knew when to employ my techniques collectively within the dance group.

Q: Can we talk about the choreographers of the dance group? I know you have to work with different people. Are there choreographies that are yours?
Idalberto: The way I work is that I don't feel the need to be the only one to create choreographies. There are people who are not choreographers yet they have ideas, and those ideas are possible to display within a smaller format, perhaps not for something of high artistic standards for a specific type of audience but better suited for an audience less demandin., We'll give them the opportunity to include their ideas. And when we are observing them, we'll audition them, we always try by all means to correct certain things that shouldn't be or things that should. And that helps the group. Why? Because it's no longer myself, [Ernesto] Armiñan or anyone of the people in charge of the group. For example, [Juan] Teodoro has done some of the choreographies. We've given Alberto, a dancer, a chance as well, and we given Maura Isales an opportunity as well as JóseCarrión. There are pieces that have not been from a single choreographer. There have been works within the repertoire put together by various choreographers. And in this case I was not present. Maura [Isales], Jóse[Carrión] were present, for example. Sometimes not even the head choreographer has been present, [Juan] Teodoro, for example. They are choreographers, but since it's not a task that they have to start off with and it is not part of their profile because they are dancers, but they have very good ideas, we take advantage of those ideas. But they are under no obligation to do so, but we give them the opportunity. That's important.

Q: Let's talk about your type of dance in general.
Idalberto: Our reason for being is as a folklore group commissioned to rescue the folkloric roots and traditions of the region. I'm talking about the Eastern region, I don't pit myself into Santiago de Cuba, I go beyond the horizon. I go around looking, not only in Santiago, as I just mentioned, but in Guantánamo, Camaguey. I generalize region,but I generalize it as Eastern. That's our reason for being: to rescue the traditional folkloric roots that are a part of this region. We can't deny that we understand each other there. At the beginning of our formation as a folkloric group, our themes were mostly of Western origin, I mean from the Western part of Cuba: Yorubá, Palo, Ebembé; many of the things we did. But, with time, we started doing some research and found that we had a rich folklore, a virgin folklore which was about to explode, we enjoyed doing the research, and that's why today we get to benefit from a repertoire that represents traditional and popular dances. It's folklore of the area, and not just the area, but of the nation.

Q: Are you touring a lot these days?
Idalberto: Well, Cutumba started touring in 1983 through Casa del Caribe. We are very proud, and Casa del Caribe is very proud, because of the homage they paid us on their 20^th anniversary.They knew that we were the first Cuban dance group that took part in the first Festival del Caribe. As such, the government of Surinam invited us to participate there as a group from Casa del Caribe as adopted children of theirs. So they now have another group. We went to Spain, Martinique, Guadalupe several times; we've been to Mexico on a couple of occasions, to Cancún; we've been to France about four times. We‘ve gone to Portugal, England, Scotland; we've been to Germany, and four times to the United States. Our tours consist not only of performances, but also learning events, exchanges with communities, schools, universities, and why not, with other dance groups like Luku Melé. I had the opportunity to work with them on the 2001 tour in Philadelphia. I admire their professionalism and dedication. Despite the fact that they are not - - they really are professionals, but they have regular jobs. They do this as a hobby, but they do it with so much love that they look like professionals in the way that they project themselves. So a small group of them were here. We did a cultural exchange program with them; they left very happy, and with hopes to see them in the future again. We can continue that cultural exchange which we started in 2001. We hope to see Oakland. You never know what can happen, but I think we can make some sort of stand there in Oakland. I think the town would enjoy Cutumba's act. Also I've heard there's a large population of Cubans there, and they'll have the chance to see their culture, a recent culture. I mean, a current version of their culture. That's very important and very beautiful.

Q: What do you like to do most, above all?
Idalberto: I'm going to tell you something, I like to dance. What I like to do the most is to dance . I've had the opportunity to develop, and I've developed on the choreography part. I became a good dancer, I was able to work in the spaces and framework that were available, which movements, in which space could be performed to provide a contrast and to make things attractive for the spectator. I still need to work more as a choreographer—I still think there's more to learn. Despite my achievements as a dancer I don't feel fulfilled yet. I believe that being fulfilled means reaching your peak. To me reaching the peak is like death. That's the peak. Reaching the peak is like death because in life you can do all sorts of things, and if you have started a career, that career is infinite. Nothing ends in life, nothing ends. People say, I feel "fulfilled", and I say, fulfilled—that's the end of it. It's the peak of your learning, the peak of your life, the peak of everything that could be done, everything your mind or talent could achieve. So, I believe I can continue doing more choreography and dance. I've given way to younger people, but I have experience, I know how to do it, which is important. If I have to do it at any given point, I'll do it, and I believe I have to continue with the mind set that I will continue dancing. The only problem is the administrative part—for example, here you have to manage things artistically and generally. I mean, you have to do the artistic work, but you also have to represent the administrative part. And the administrative part is in pieces, even though it has important factors, since you have to supervise what is happening on the administrative end. You are the responsible party. Since I like dance, I have to continue dancing. I have to continue what my destiny will allow. That's why I believe everything can be done. I like to play the drums. I like to create choreographies. I like to write works of art, but what I enjoy the most is to dance and to make friends.

I thanked Idalberto for is time and headed back out into the stifling, July heat. With the force and leadership of Idalberto, Cutumba will continue to be the most honored and respected folkloric ensemble in Santiago de Cuba. Look for the company later this year and see for yourself!

Click here for more information about Idalberto Bandera and Ballet Folklorico Cutumba.

Entrevista, fotos y video ©2002 by Julia Sewell
Transcribcion y tranduccion ©2002 by Wright Interpreting
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.