Mambo 3XXI

Choreography: George Céspedes

Musik: Beny Moré, Nacional Electrónica

World Premiere: February 23, 2009, Theatre Royal, Newcastle with Danza Contemporánea de Cuba

35 min for 21 dancers

Mambo is a Cuban musical style from the 1930s of the previous century, but because you can’t separate music and dancing in Cuba, Mambo is of course also a dance. ‘3XXI’ can be translated with ‘Terzo Milenio Sigle XXI’ – ‘third millennium, twenty first century’. This date is, in a sense, the goal that the choreography aspires to. From the uniformity of the almost military movements of the corps de ballet (from which a certain level of perfection is demanded), the individuality of the dancers gradually breaks forth. They seek, find, expel, understand and miss each other – to in the end create something new, together again but without self-abnegation and with a heightened dynamic. The old millennium lies behind them – and the new seems to be a whole lot of fun.