Stanford Live fans are in for a treat when Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company appears at Stanford Live for two performances with its dazzling, classically trained dancers. Since its establishment in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company has become one of the most sought-after Cuban dance companies with a growing international profile. The program at Memorial Auditorium will include founder and Artistic Director Osnel Delgado’s 24 Hours and a Dog, and Aszure Barton’s Stillness in Bloom and Floor y ando. In 24 Hours and a Dog, the company depicts a day in the life of a dancer in Havana to a commissioned score by Afro-Cuban jazz composer and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill.
Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, Malpaso is committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. The company tours with 11 dancers and is led by its original three founders; resident choreographer and Artistic Director Osnel Delgado, Executive Director Fernando Sáez, and dancer, choreographer and co-founder Daile Carrazana.
Additionally, an Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions, Malpaso — together with The Joyce— has commissioned original works from a number of prominent international choreographers, including Ron K. Brown (Why You Follow), Trey McIntyre (Under Fire), Aszure Barton (Indomitable Waltz and Stillness in Bloom), Emmy-award winning Sonya Tayeh (Face the Torrent), Robyn Mineko Williams (Elemental) and celebrated Ephrat Asherie (Floor… y ando!).
As a means of foregrounding Cuban choreographers, Malpaso recently has also world-premiered works by company member Daile Carrazana (Nana para un Insomnio (Lullaby for Insomnia)), (Habanera) and (La Última Canción), bolstering the list of long-toured pieces by Artistic Director Osnel Delgado, notably, Ocaso as well as 24 Hours and a Dog and Dreaming of Lions, which are often accompanied live by Grammy award-winning, Cuban-American composer/pianist Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. In a recent collaboration with Alejandro Falcón, Ted Nash and Cubadentro Trio, Delgado choreographed (A Dancing Island).
The company’s repertory includes Tabula Rasa by world-renowned Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, who traveled to Cuba in spring of 2018 specifically to work one on one with Malpaso dancers to crystalize the re-staging of this seldom performed piece; and woman with water by the distinguished Swedish choreographer Mats Ek, who also travel to Havana to premier the work at Martí Theatre on December 2021.
Malpaso Dance Company has an active touring schedule which can be found here:
Malpaso Dance Company tickets
Saturday, March 16, 7:30pm
Sunday, March 17, 2:30pm
Stanford Memorial Auditorium
551 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305
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