Matria Etnocentra

Musik: Nacional Electrónica

World Premiere: October 2014, Teatro Mella, Havanna with Danza Contemporánea de Cuba

38 min for 24 dancers 

Marching is the central element of this choreography, the battalions execute their rigid lines with supple precision. They perform their martial arithmetic with unmoving facial expressions, which then break free from their corset in short, sweeping solos. Although there are always two immobile guards standing by like statues, the individual outbursts increase, become longer and longer and multiply until they finally merge again into a matrix, a completely symmetrical group.
Do we see a parade, the set-ups of socialist mass stagings or a demonstration procession that emerges from single individuals? The word "Matria" originated as a neologism in feminist literature in contrast to "Patria", fatherland; the piece is part of a trilogy by the choreographer that explores "Cubanidad", the innermost essence of his home country Cuba, which is changing so much.