DANCE PREMIERE: Eclipse in Spiral

Danza Espiral company, directed by maestro Liliam Padrón, presented a program at Matanzas' Mirón Cubano theater through last Monday, featuring the premiere of Eclipse, a new work by Padrón with music by composer Reina Portuondo.

The piece represents a singular convergence of sound, movement, and visual composition. It flows seamlessly, without breaks or dead moments, through an expressive marriage that recreates emotions. This is a sensibility free from stylistic impositions, where movement serves not as an end but as a means to reveal ideas, feelings, and intimate evocations: an aesthetic, yes, but also an artistic ethic.

Particularly remarkable is how the choreographic language merges with the dramatic intensity of Portuondo's music. The score avoids comfortable tonalities and predictable paths, instead crafting a dense atmosphere that is emotionally demanding yet deeply touching in its honesty. This challenging composition finds precise translation in Liliam Padrón's body, which doesn't merely illustrate or decorate the music but embodies its very pulse.

Eclipse also honors Padrón's creative drive and her company Danza Espiral, reaffirming a trajectory where discursive depth, synthesis of meaning, and visual precision are defining traits. The work reflects the pursuits of an artist unsatisfied with mere beautiful forms, one who aspires to imbue them with meaning and depth. It stands as vivid testimony to a dance that thinks... and feels.

The program also included Tiro y retiro, offering an eloquent synthesis of Padrón's choreographic universe by bringing together fragments of significant works created for the company. More than a simple retrospective collage, it reaffirms the artistic coherence of the maestro and her deeply personal commitment to the stage. The choreographies converse through a lyrical appropriation of multiple cultural and theatrical references, with a freedom unconstrained by technical or stylistic molds. The whole breathes the singular poetics that have defined Danza Espiral throughout its history.

The articulation of pieces was generally fluid and well resolved, though the decision to incorporate projections from past performances of these works occasionally overwhelmed the stage with redundant visual information. Still, the production achieved the expressive richness and reflective tone characteristic of Padrón's work, evoking time as experienced through creation. The body as a living archive.

One of the most moving moments of the evening was the artistic farewell of dancer Gelsys González de León, an indispensable figure in Danza Espiral's history. Her departure through La Edad de la ciruela, a work of profound resonance that has marked both her relationship with dance and with Padrón herself, carried deep symbolism. The audience's applause was more than recognition; it was an act of gratitude to a performer who has left her mark on stages and on the training of new generations in Matanzas.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff