"LA MORA"

"LA MORA" DANIS PEREZ PRADES DANCER / CHOREOGRAPHER / PROFESSOR Originally from Santiago de Cuba, Danys Perez "LA MORA" is yet another great artist from the marvelous world of Afro-Cuban folklore. Ms Perez is one of the best interpreters of the forms of Afro-Cuban dance that are derived from the Yoruba, Congo, Carabali, Arara, and Dahomeyan cultures of West Africa. As a dance performer, teacher, dance ethnologist, and choreographer, Perez has focused on the unique styles of her native region of "Oriente Province”, in Eastern Cuba. Oriente offers a particularly rich cultural heritage due to the introduction of Afro-Haitian influences to an already vibrant Afro-Cuban context. Perez excels in the interpretation of dances from this heritage including: Gaga, Vodu, Tajona, Haitian Bembe, Tumba Francesa, Carabali, as well as the popular dances Rumba, Comparsa (Conga), Chancletas (Cutaras), Haitian Merengue and Son Montuno, Son Urbano, and Casino. Danys Perez Prades "LA MORA" is an international artist who offers a profound contribution not only to the dance world, but to the world of cultural studies as a whole. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:Danys Perez Prades "LA MORA" was born in Santiago de Cuba were she began dancing at the early age of 7 years old. She joined the amateur dance group Afro-Cuban Movements at 10 paving the way to her membership in the Afro-Haitian folklore ensemble Guilermon Moncada.At the age of 13 she began working as a guest of the national folkloric ballet "CUTUMBA", an opportunity that allowed her to participate in international festivals at 15 years old.Since her graduation as a Financial Media Technician at sixteen she remains under contract with "CUTUMBA". At the same she joins the Centro de Superacion Arts School, where she studied the specialty of Afro Cuban-Folklor with international personalities like O’Farrell, Johann Garcia, Silvina Fabar, Lazaro Ross, Juan B. Castillo, and Ernesto Arminan. In this school she also studied Modern Technique with Eduardo Rivero Walker, and with first Dancers; Aristides and Mariano. In 1994 she was evaluated as Primera Bailarina and Primera Profesora by the National Dance Commission in Cuba, an organization whose roster includes such great exponents of Cuban Dance as Manolo Micler, the principal choreographer for the "Folklorico Nacional de Cuba" and Cristy Dominguez “Primera Bailarina Choreographer of the Ballet of National Cuban Television.Ms Perez taught in Cuba for international courses to students from: Holland, New Zeeland, Canada, Germany, Scotland, and Japan. She has been invited on her own to teach outside of Cuba since 1995 in Italy, Spain, France and in the United States.Danys Perez Repertoire:AFRO-CUBAN VODU & YANVALU: Dances of Afro-Haitian origin that were introduced to Cuba at the end of the 18th century by immigrating Haitian blacks who settled in eastern Cuba, primarily in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. Its musical instruments and rhythms are derived from the mysteries-ceremonies of the Dahomey and the Congo peoples. The Creole songs retain their Haitian character and are unchanged from their original form. TUMBA FRANCESA: a dance of Afro-Haitian origin that was introduced to Cuba at the end of the 18th century by immigrating Haitian blacks who settled in eastern Cuba, primarily in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. This dance transformed the movements made by French couples at colonial festivities into an African image. Its musical instruments and rhythms are derived from the mysteries-ceremonies of the Dahomey and the Congo peoples. The Creole songs retain their Haitian character and are unchanged from their original form. The dances, delicate and pure in style, are performed in three sections: the Mason (dance by couple), the Yuba (dance by trio) and the Frente or Front (a music and dance dialogue between a soloist dancer and the premier drum).BAND GAGA: an Afro-Haitian-Cuban dance which comes from the Haitian settlements in the eastern part of Cuba. It's a collective feast organized as a comparsa (parade) of rural origin. It contains two basic styles, Chai and Pigue. The ceremonies are performed during the Holy Catholic week. The Patois songs, percussive music and imaginative, lascivious dancing between men and women lend this style its particularly attractive quality. It is characterized by rhythm, strength, exotic movement, color and eroticism as a whole.TAJONA: a rural comparsa, was created in Cuba by the Cubans and Haitian decedents it was practiced in Santiago de Cuba and its surroundings during the end of 19th & the beginning of the 20th century. Beginning with a leisurely paced representation of the country lifestyle, the dance soon evolves into a more energetic friendly competition between two groups joking with each other and ends with frenzied rhythms accompanying the graceful and amazingly coordinated intertwining of colorful laces that hang from a tall pole.CUTARAS OR CHANCLETAS: The percussive voices of wooden slippers engage in a dialogue with the drums in the performance of this dance that made its appearance in the 1930s. The music is characterized by the rhythmic tapping of the Cutaras (wooden slippers) on the floor and the sound of the drums, sometimes guiding and sometimes accompanying. At times the percussion will abruptly stop and let the Cutaras themselves sound their syncopated contrapuntal variations, reaching a roaring and shattering effect.CONGA COMPARSA: the most integral, popular, and emblematic elements of the world famous carnivals of Santiago de Cuba are to be found in the beautifully dressed and exciting Congas. The Conga Santiaguera is a celebration that speaks of the African origin that is inherent to Cuban people.CICLO DE LA RUMBA: Rumba is a manifestation of music and dance born in Western Cuba (Havana and Matanzas) and deeply rooted in the culture of the Cuban people. Nowadays it constitutes a national cultural patrimony, with three traditional styles: the "Yambu" is a couple dance where the dancers imitate the movements of elder people, the "Guaguanco" is also a couple dance which emulates the courting-mating act as a competition between a man and woman, the "Columbia" is a competition between the most skillful male dancers and the principal leading drum.SON: One of the most basic forms of Afro-Cuban music and dance. Its existence is documented as early as the late 19th century. The Son has three choreographic variations and numerous musical styles. It is danced as a couple with the same steps as its precursor, the Danzon, but its movements are more open, accentuated and free.