Art collides with revolution

  • By Claudia La Rocco / Associated Press
  • Saturday, May 29, 2004 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

As a young woman, Alma Guillermoprieto performed with Twyla Tharp, whose choreography helped change the modern dance landscape. In 1970, when Guillermoprieto was 20, she experienced a different sort of revolution, when she spent six months trying to teach her art to Cuban youngsters.

“Dancing With Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution,” superbly translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen, reconstructs this stay, pulling from “the strange, willful trap” of Guillermoprieto’s memory – which, as she warns from the start, has plenty of holes when it comes to her decades-old Cuban experience.

The result is a loose mix of half-memories, reporting and musings on the place and meaning of art. The book’s subtitle, “A Memoir of the Revolution,” does double duty, referring both to Fidel Castro’s government and the Mexican journalist and author’s traumatic awakening to the larger world.

The mix works for some of the same reasons Guillermoprieto had such difficulty in Cuba – the sophisticated, intelligent singularity of her voice, her insistence on recognizing life’s grays and her sly wit. Both gentle and pitiless when recalling her 20-year-old self, the author evokes the bitter uncertainties of youth, heightened amid the seeming certainties of Castro’s revolution.

But first, New York, where Guillermoprieto offers a delightful window into her life as an aspiring dancer. Never a star, she nonetheless studied with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, and performed in some of Tharp’s classic works including “Medley,” danced on Central Park’s Great Lawn.

“For me,” she writes, “those bright mornings when we rehearsed ‘Medley’ were the first irrefutable proof that being alive was worth it.”

Her enchantment is irresistible, as are her droll descriptions of the modern giants: “very old and more or less pickled in alcohol” (Graham); and “her style of dancing was deadpan – but that was also her style when she wasn’t moving” (Tharp).

The book’s sure narrative breaks down when it leaves the dance-world cocoon for Cuba, a country that quickly unraveled Guillermoprieto’s sense of self and purpose, driving her into “ongoing arguments for and against” herself and her life.

“Revolution, Imperialism, Sacrifice. These were sledgehammer words, of such enormous weight that I couldn’t help paying attention to them, and they seemed to invite careful reflection. But I also experienced them as crushing words, without nuances or secrets,” she writes.

Havana took a heavy toll on Guillermoprieto, who could not rationalize her belief in art and the individual with her nascent awareness of politics and war. What was the point of teaching Cunningham technique to a group of youngsters at a dilapidated school while the country struggled hopelessly to harvest 10 million tons of sugar, Vietnamese children were napalmed and Cuban bureaucrats sneered distrustfully at useless artists?

“Dancing With Cuba” has more to do with Guillermoprieto’s discovery that such questions exist than with finding the answers.

“There’s not much time left before I leave Cuba forever and this story ends,” she writes toward the end of the book. In truth, one reads the final pages feeling as though it has just begun.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.