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Irene Rodríguez, an outstanding dancer

Autor: Ángela Oramas Camero | Fuente: CUBARTE 14 de Junio 2012

During the La Huella de España festival, which took place from May 27 to June 3,and which was dedicated to Andalusia this year, we had the opportunity to interview its artistic director, Irene Rodríguez, First Dancer, choreographer, master in dance, BA in Performing Arts, and CEO of the newly created company  named after her.

With only 28 years old, Irene is considered today one of the most outstanding figures of Spanish dance in Cuba. She has shared the stage—in Cuba and abroad—with personalities of this artistic expression. She commented to us about her art career:

“I studied at the Higher Arts Institute (ISA) and, once I graduated, I fully devoted to dancing. Along with this, I had the opportunity of participating, very often, in very prestigious events, like the All Stars´ Gala of the Contemporary Iberian Festival in Queretaro, Mexico that brings together great talents of the genre, as well as the Cuna del Flamenco Festival that takes place in Granada, Spain.”

- Irene, we already know about your excellent work as the professor of many dancers that are today members of Spanish dance companies in Cuba. How long have you been doing this?

I´ve been teaching Spanish dance for eight years—within the Ballet discipline—at the National Art School and, I usually teach courses and master lectures having to do with this discipline inside and outside Cuba.

As part of the artistic career of this talented dancer, she has also conceived many choreographies interpreted by important dance companies. In addition, she´s been awarded many times with the Choreography Award, granted by the Cuban Association of Artists and Writers (UNEAC) to the best female dancer, and the Ramiro Guerra Award given by the Hermanos Saíz Association to the best female dancer in Folk Dance. In 2011, she was included in Havana Grand Theater´s Book of Honor. Indeed, at the García Lorca room, the audience that goes there has the opportunity of enjoying her art not only during the days of La Huella de España Festival. That´s why, we asked her to give us more details about her presence at the Gran Teatro de La Habana:

“I owe my performance, for several years, on this stage to a request made to me by Alicia Alonso, consisting in working directly with the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC, after its initials in Spanish) on the advising of the Spanish repertoire of this prestigious company. I´m very proud for having been a guest artist of the BNC, performing choreographies conceived by Alicia Alonso and Eduardo Blanco.

- When did you found the Irene Rodríguez company and on what basis?

I founded it earlier this year. There are 10 dancers with a wide stage experience and dominion of the different styles of Spanish dance, ballet and contemporary dance, with the purpose of creating new trends that make the Spanish dance evolve, fusing it with all that which expands the stage vocabulary, such as Performing Arts, dance contemporary trends and national rhythms; that is, where we perceive the confluence of tradition and modernity of an international-like gender with our very Cuban way of doing it.

The company was the dream that emerged from my students´ years. I think that the singular nature is the result of an artistic and creative maturity, in this case, which arouse after a hard inner search and long experience on the stage. My work guidelines were traced some years ago, during my work as dancer or choreographer, forging, thus, a very personal style so as to the Spanish genre. That need of transmitting the new to the young generations, as well as creating and training following the revolutionary and changing codes, are the main elements that gave origin to the Irene Rodriguez Spanish Dance Company, which gave a new turn to my artistic career.

- When was your company´s debut?

It was three weeks after being founded when, for the first time, we performed in front of the audience during the Caricato award ceremony, which took place at the Astral movie-theater, on January 25. The Irene Rodríguez company was given also the privilege of having been invited to participate during the special performances on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Ballet School, the Día de la Cultura Andaluza, the 8th anniversary of the Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura and, now, at the closing ceremony of the 24th La Huella de España festival.

It is a great honor to me that Alicia Alonso assigned me the task of directing this festival. When she proposed the idea, I didn´t hesitate for a single second. I was very happy and accepted her proposal, and I promised her I would be fully devoted to this task, supported on her kind gesture of highlighting, during the event, the presence of the Spanish Culture in our country, along with the participation, on our stages, of outstanding guests of the Iberian art, whose artistic presence helped us to strengthen the friendship and collaboration bonds between Cuba and Spain.

Since the beginnings of my artistic career, Alicia Alonso has not only been the main inspiration for my project, but she has also fully supported my dance company from each and every aspect. Her personality and example are not only a paradigm to me to follow, both as exceptional dancer and choreographer, but also as the unsurmountable director and trainer of generations she was. Her pieces of advice showed me each day the right path.
 
- What choreography did your company perform in La Huella de España?

For the closing of the Festival—on June 3, at the Sala García Lorca of the Gran Teatro de La Habana—the Company I lead performed the world premiere of El crimen fue en Granada, a choreography inspired on Antonio Machado´s homonymous poem on the killing of Federico García Lorca, on occasion of the 75th anniversary of the writing of this poem.

- What new projects do you dream of?

I´ve got many dreams, but I think that one life isn´t enough to do everything I´d like to and how to do it. Nonewithstanding, at this moment, my greater desire is to increase the artistic-technical level of the Company and perform, one day, in a film where I could dance and act at the same time. These are my dreams professionally speaking and, at a personal level, naturally, to have children in a future and teach them to love my profession. There are other things I would like to do, but none of them is above dance. As a dancer and choreographer, I wish to be remembered by all those who enjoy my art.

- Is there any musician, dancer, choreographer or artist in your family?

I am the first artist in my family although, according to my grandma,  I had a great-grandmother who danced in the Spanish courts. Besides this, my mother has a great artistic sensibility, despite she has never worked in this field, but Economics.

Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)