A spokesperson says---
"...Malpaso Dance Company is one of contemporary dance’s great success stories — a Cuban ensemble known for extraordinary technical brilliance, musicality, and expressive power. Since its founding in 2012, Malpaso has become a vital force on the global stage, commissioning and performing works by Ronald K. Brown, Trey McIntyre, Aszure Barton, and more. For the Harkness Mainstage Series Opening Night, the company was to appear in the world premiere of a new 92NY commission by Bessie Award winner Pedro Ruiz. Ruiz was to travel to Havana to create the work in close collaboration with Malpaso’s dancers before bringing it to New York. Current visa barriers made the live performance impossible as originally conceived or scheduled.
Rather than allow those barriers to end the project, 92NY continued to support the work. Filmmaker Nel Shelby, along with cinematographer Ashli Bickford and photographer Christopher Duggan, traveled to Cuba to document Ruiz’s creative process with Malpaso. The resulting documentary The Essence of Us (in Spanish: Nuestra Esencia) – in Spanish with English subtitles – offers an intimate portrait of a company whose artistry and resilience remain undiminished.
Joining the opening night in celebration and support of the project is Ballet Hispánico New York, the nation’s leading American Latino dance company and the largest cultural institution of its kind in the United States...
