Physical Days 2021:
Yusimi Moya Rodriguez

Organisation
› physicaldaysbern
& marcelleemann.ch

Location
TANZhAUS Bern
Dalmaziquai 69, 3005 Bern

Daten und Zeiten/dates and times
15./16.08.2021
11:00–16:30

Kosten/cost
(Barzahlung am Anfang des Workshops/cash payment at the beginning of the workshop)
160 CHF

› Anmeldung/registration

Links

› Yusimi Moya Rodriguez
› Physical Days Bern

Downloads

› Flyer

Physical Days Bern

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Afro-Cuban Dance Workshop with Yusimi Moya Rodriguez

African cultural traditions are highly valued today in Cuba. A huge part of it has grown into a religious sphere and was systematically shaped into a national folkloric heritage. Dance and music are important expressions in rituals. Through the body, time and space, a connection to the spiritual world is established and knowledge passed on. As a former dancer of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional, Yusimi Moya Rodriguez is a master of the Afro-Cuban dance technique. Dances of the òrìṣà, the Yorùbá deities, are famous. Every deity has his or her own rhythms, movements and gestures. The bàtá talking drums and lukumí songs (remains of Yorùbá language) accompany the dance steps and let the dancers feel the divine power which leads initiates into trance. The so-called congo genre with its origin in Bantu-speakers from Central Africa includes yuka, makuta and palo, incredibly fast and energetic dances, while vodú-dances arrived with the Haitian immigrants. The arará-dances came with the Gbè-speaking slaves from ancient Dahomey and the Abakuá mask dances are from the Efik, at home in Eastern Nigeria. The dances tumba francesa, the carnivalesque conga or the famous Cuban rumba with its three types, the slow yambú, the explicit guaguancó and the male-dominated colúmbia, are considered secular Afro-Cuban dances. The thriving rumba genre is especially important for the Cuban nation’s identity. These highly active classes are generally known under the label “Afro-Dances”, but for Cuban dancers every genre has its own distinct features and they never mix up. The classes suit everyone who is open for new rhythmic body experiences and state shifting energies. Expect exhausting lessons, which build up muscular strength and develop the undulation movement in spine, hips and torso. The body is often lowered to the ground in a semi-plié position, many dances get their energy from a connection to the earth.

Yusimi Moya Rodriguez

Yusimi was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1987 and lives and works in Vienna, Austria. She studied at the Dance Department of the ENA, the Escuela Nacional de Arte, in Havana and graduated with the title “Bailarina - Profesora de Danza Moderna y Folk-lorica” (dancer and teacher of contemporary and folkloric dance). She is working as a dancer for cho-reographers. Her professional experience includes working at the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba and for contemporary dance productions in theaters. Yusimi Moya Rodriguez is well-known in the Latin dance scene and teaches Afro-Cuban and popular Cuban dance. She is conducting artis-tic research about African and Caribbean dance traditions.