Students from the University of the Arts in Cuba presenting and discussing creative final exercises in dance and technology.
Photo: Taken from the Technologies that dance Facebook page
Havana, October 2nd- With a decade of its existence, the Technologies that dance project strengthens its work by promoting the interrelationship of different art manifestations, as well as exchanges with Cuban and foreign institutions.
According to co-directors Andrés Abreu and Roxana de los Ríos, this initiative arose in the context of the International Video Dance Festival “Habana: Movement and City”, as a need to expand the vision of dance creation through audiovisual means.
Currently, they affirm that “continues to remain the main artistic event that the project assumes; However, both on a conceptual, creative, pedagogical, interdisciplinary and geocultural level, Technologies that dance aims to push the boundaries and even break the boundaries of the hybrid and transdisciplinary concept that encompasses videodance.
In this sense, it seeks to “expand the vision and action of dance in its historical and possible relationship to technology”.
For his part, Abreu emphasizes the need to focus on expanding the interrelationships of Cuban dance with other artistic processes that even go beyond the audiovisual language and imply an interdisciplinary development between dance and other creative means of a technological nature.
“We intend to facilitate the collaborative work of choreographers, dancers, musicians, visual directors and new media artists based on the creation of video dance, installations, performances and shows,” he explains.
Likewise, he affirms: “It’s about influencing from our management to promote a creative field that is generally marginalized because it knows no borders, tends to be experimental, anti-orthodox and not very commercial”.
award and support
Technologies that dance presents an award of the same name, which already has nine editions and supports the production of the winning project. In order to achieve this, sustained cooperation between the cultural services of the Norwegian embassy in Cuba every year is essential, the organizers of the event admit.
Abreu highlights that “Dance and technology work has received other important stable support nationally and internationally, including the Brownstone Foundation and the Ibero-American Videodance Network.
Likewise, the contribution of the Cuban Art Factory cultural center based in Havana is highlighted since its opening.
According to Abreu, an association with the system of national art events was also achieved, which “has facilitated the presence of video dance and dance and technology works at the Havana Biennials, the Gibara Film Festival, the Dance in Construction project, the DanzanDos and Atlántico Norte Codanza- Festivals, in addition to the Vladimir Malhakov Prize”.
In the same way, he adds: “Thanks to these efforts, Cuban dance and technology exhibitions have been presented in France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the United States.”
Look to the future
The latest achievement of the project is the inclusion of Dance and Technology in the Dance curriculum of the Faculty of Dance Arts at the University of the Arts of Cuba.
It is the “result of constant work in close collaboration with the faculty of this academic institution,” emphasizes Abreu.
In addition, the recent alliance of the project with the Creative Spaces initiative of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana stands out. Similarly, it commemorates the “historic relationship” of the San Antonio de los Baños International Film and Television School with the International Video Dance Festival.
Assessing a decade’s accomplishments, Technologies that dance co-directors point to the project’s growth that “not even the pandemic couldn’t stem.”
For Abreu, “its achievements are still modest, but consistent with its local and global context, as well as its association with a creative manifestation that innately pushes the boundaries and seeks the alternative.” (2022)