The Joyce Master Class: Malpaso Dance Company

Malpaso Dance Company

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

FEE: $20

Artistic Director Osnel Delgado will teach the Cuban Technique of Modern Dance, which is a fusion of North American Modern Dance (including Anna Sokolow, Martha Graham, José Limón, Merce Cunningham), European ballet, and traditional Afro-Cuban dances and rhythms. The central teaching of the class is based around contraction and release technique, combined with spine undulation movements from Afro-Cuban dance styles. The across the floor combinations encourage a focus on rhythm of and musicality. The combination of influences (American, European and African) manifest within Cuban dance provides the students a unique (transcultural) experience of movement.

Osnel Delgado, artistic director of Malpaso Dance Company,  danced with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba from 2003 to 2011, before founding Malpaso. He has worked with choreographers Mats Ek, Rafael Bonachela, Kenneth Kvarnström, Ja Linkens, Itzik Galili, Samir Akika, Pedro Ruiz, Isidro Rolando and George Cespedes, among others. Delgado has created works for DCC, Rakatan and Ebony Dance of Cuba. Delgado is a 2003 graduate of the National Dance School of Havana, where he is also a professor of dance studies.

Founded in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company is made up of some of Havana’s most beguiling young dancers who can be counted on to display a refreshing, contemporary aesthetic—a picture of the new Cuba, in dance form.

See Malpaso Dance Company at The Joyce Theater Jan 9-13

The Joyce Master Class Series is supported by a grant award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special support has been provided by the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. Community Connections is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

Photo by Laura Diffenderfer