Sala Roldán, Amadeo Roldán Theatre
Calzada y D, El Vedado
Tel. +(53) 7 832 4521-22

Yanelis García populates her paintings with light, gentle, colour-filled figures-with a naiveté that indicates her autodidactic education-in oneiric scenes more akin to children's fantasies than to the phantom and dying creatures that inhabit adults' nightmares. Although this exhibition is outside the mainstream of contemporary Cuban painting, technically or conceptually unpretentious, it can be a refreshing and entertaining stop as one explores the oldest part of the city.

With twelve works that include paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography, this exhibition has the added attraction of showing twelve short documentaries by Cuban TV and film director Roberto Chile, of each of the participating artists: Frémez, Kcho, Javier Guerra, José Villa, Alain Pino, William Pérez, Choco, Jesús Lara, José Fúster, Jorge Luis Santos, Roberto Fabelo and Dausell Valdés.

The 2005th anniversary of the birth of the famous Cuban painter Wifredo Lam, one of the greats of the 20th-century avant-garde, occasions a unique tribute. The house where Lam resided on his return from Paris in 1942 is the setting for the exhibition of fourteen paintings made during his two brief Havana sojourns. Although the neighbourhood of Marianao is not exactly next door, this is an exhibit that is not to be missed.

Sixty-one drawings, paintings, engravings and sculptures by one of the most important Latin American artists today, José Luis Cuevas from Mexico, who is credited with hundreds of personal and collective exhibitions in important galleries the world over.

From Seville, Spain, two significant artists of contemporary Spanish painting: Luis Gordillo and Manolo Quejido. While Gordillo-2007 Velázquez art prize-winner-exhibits paintings, drawings and engravings, Quejido has brought a sample of the retrospective he presented at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in 2006. According to curator José Lebrero Stals, both collections share the view that a piece of art work is not a totality in itself and that the notion of insistence and repetition makes way for new situations.

Cuban painter Flora Fong is ever faithful to her topics, such as the flora of the country, and never abandons her peculiar brush strokes as in confirmation of her Chinese ancestry, but this time in monumental pieces structured in steel plates, which constitute “a new dimension" for the painter.

These festivals began in 1962 as homage to Santiago de Cuba-born composer José (Pepe) Sánchez (1856-1918), considered the father of the Cuban trova. Several generations of musicians from different musical trends within this genre have participated in this event, including exponents of the most traditional trova music, of filin (an evolution of bolero and trova), and of the so-called 'nueva trova'. Santiago de Cuba-the cradle of the Cuban song-hosts this festivity which goes beyond the established settings and takes the city's streets and parks by storm in a celebration where musicians and singers from abroad join their Cuban counterparts. The closing of the festival on March 19th, Troubadour Day, in commemoration of the anniversary of the birth of Pepe Sanchez, becomes a special moment when the city awakens to the tune of delightful serenades.

Created in 2000, this festival aims at highlighting the prominent role of the documentary, a film genre that has been somewhat consigned to oblivion by the promotional mechanisms of the larger movie festivals, yet with a tradition of significant quality and acknowledgement in Cuba, among other factors, thanks to the work of the late prize-winning Cuban film-maker, Santiago Alvarez. Although the festival began as a national event dedicated to the memory of the most relevant Cuban documentary maker of all time, throughout the years it has attracted the attention of a number of filmmakers from Latin America, Europe and the United States. With films in competition, parallel screenings and theoretical discussions, the Festival constitutes a space for exchanging opinions and experiences among filmmakers and lovers of this genre.

A homage to the 50th anniversary of La paloma de vuelo popular, a collection of poems written by the great Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén during his exile. Thus, the event will focus on the causes and consequences of exile in the artistic and literary production in different times and circumstances. Music recitals; poetry readings; popular, symphonic and coral music concerts; art exhibitions; lectures; and other activities have been announced during the event. For more information, please contact Fundación Nicolás Guillén:
calle 17 número 351, esquina a H, El Vedado, La Habana;
Tel. +(53-7) 833 2080
fax +(53-7)833 3158
e-mail: albitafng@uh.cu.

A unique meeting of dancers, choreographers, teachers and students as a way of maximizing the art of dance among the countries of the Caribbean region, whose historical, ethnic and linguistic diversity creates an extraordinary cultural richness, and at the same time lays the foundation for its unity.

To shake off the automatism conditioned by publicity mechanisms that have accompanied the cinema for decades matching budget with quality is the ultimate goal of the organizers of this International Low-Budget Film Festival, which since 2003 is held at the small village of Gibara. Besides the competition, which awards prizes in the categories of fiction films and documentaries, there are also academic meetings, collateral showings, concerts and recitals, as well as arts exhibitions. With an ever-growing presence of films from countries with a long-established cinematic tradition and others with an emerging cinematography, the Festival guarantees a broad-range of approaches and themes, aspiring to become an alternative to commercial filmmaking and to promote artistic quality to the utmost with finances kept to a minimum.

Organized for the first time in 1993, this International Meeting of Ballet Academies has made it possible for dancers, teachers and students to become familiar with the technical and stylistic peculiarities of the Cuban School of Ballet through workshops, courses, and methodological and master lessons. Similarly, dancers and pedagogues from other countries have conveyed their experiences in a fruitful exchange with their Cuban colleagues. In addition, since 1995, an international competition for students is held in different categories (13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 years old) and four prizes are awarded: revelation, best partners, best individual performance and the Grand Prix. Lured by the event, legendary dancer and choreographer Mijaíl Baryshnikov arrived in Havana in April, praising the Cuban School of Ballet, which he placed at the same level as the French and Russian schools, of long tradition and standing.

Founded in 1989 by dancer Alicia Alonso, its general director, the Traces of Spain Festival pays tribute to one of the components of Cuban nationality. Both in its most traditional and contemporary exponents, the rich Spanish culture alternates with manifestations, which while being definitely Cuban, display an undeniable Iberian influence. Soloists, theatre companies, dance ensembles, music groups, Cubans and Spanish, perform at the Gran Teatro de La Habana as well as in venues in the oldest part of the city: Plaza de Armas and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, enduring testimonies of the Hispanic presence in the city.

This unique dance festival—the International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes “Old Havana, City in Motion"—was first held in 1996 in two or three small museums located in Havana’s Historical Centre, eventually bringing into play most of the institutions of the Historian’s Office, as well as the principal squares and streets of the oldest parts of the city. Aiming to link choreography and dancing with the visual and expressive potentials of centenary walls, balconies, and staircases, as well as achieving an interaction with viewers and passers-by, the meeting, organized by the Compañía Retazos, directed by dancer and choreographer Isabel Bustos, is attended by hundreds of foreign and Cuban guests who are fascinated by the opportunity to translate into movement the feelings and emotions which the beauty of Havana’s architecture awakens in them.

Every April since 1994, Cuba celebrates the World Dance Day established by UNESCO on 29 April in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Jean Georges Noverre, whose treaty Letters on Dancing (1959) is considered an essential choreographic manifesto for the universalization of French dancing. The commemoration is an ideal occasion to see the best companies of the country perform, whether ballet, or folkloric or modern dance. As part of Days of Dance, other collateral events are held: The International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes: “Old Havana, City in Motion"; the International Meeting of Ballet Academies; the screening of series of films and videos on dancing; academic meetings; and the presentation of the National Prize for Dancing.