For most of its existence, Malpaso Dance Companywas founded in Cuba 10 years ago and last performed in 2019 at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, where it had a safe home away from home.
Traveling here from Cuba became more difficult in 2017 when the United States closed its embassy in Havana. I had to travel to and wait for approval.
And that was before the pandemic. Malpaso said he planned to return to New York in January 2022. However, the United States did not approve the participation of the theater company. The Cuban vaccine received by the company was not on the approved list. So Joyce sent her dancers to Serbia, the only country that allows them, where they rehearsed, performed, and injected themselves with Pfizer vaccines. (Malpaso is an affiliate of Joyce Theater Productions and has financial and administrative support.)
But then Omicron arrived and the January show was pushed back to October. In September, 11 of Malpaso’s members awaiting visas in the Dominican Republic found themselves in a bureaucratic impasse called “administrative processing.” When the visa was finally approved, the flight to Miami was canceled due to Hurricane Her Ian. A newly purchased direct flight finally brought them to New York.
We heard all about this from Linda Shelton, Executive Director of Joyce, before the show on Tuesday. I hope the program lives up to its backstory, and it popped into my head while watching the performance, so I’ll relate it. It did, but slowly.
The best part of the opening track, “Lullaby for Insomnia,” is the music by the company’s Associate Artistic Director, Daileidys Carrazana. A piano piece composed by Jordi Sabates in the style of the great Cuban pianist. Bora de Nieve, performed live on Tuesday by the great Arturo O’Farrill. Dancing is what the title suggests. Insomniac twists and turns, embodied by the flexible Heriberto Meneses. sleepy start.
I think Malpaso sees it as a coup for winning “Woman With Water,” a 2021 duet by Swedish choreographer Mats Ek. i am not a fan. There are female, male and green tables. A deeply squat naive woman is obsessed with furniture. A man pours her a glass of water—here her music by Fleshquartet becomes ominous—and her water finally seems to kill her: he pushes her off the stage with a broom increase.
Whatever meaning (or humor?) there is in this scene is obscured and suffocated by the means of weary expressionism. Malpaso’s artistic directors, Dunia Acosta and Osnel Delgado, put their hearts and souls into the performance, but it’s hard to believe they know what it is.
“Elemental,” produced for Malpaso by Robyn Mineko Williams in 2019, is also enigmatic but more alive. It unfolds an entire company in a series of dramatic encounters (whispers, hugs) that intrigue without any focus. But at least it moves these lithely skilled dancers with a strange but often compelling musicality. Slink, measure space, and poke into each other to a mixtape score shuffling Ernesto Lecuona, Panda Bear, and Alvo Pelt.
Created for the company in 2021 by Aszure Barton, “Stillness in Bloom” is by far the most choreographed piece. It is built from a single cell of movement. It alternates between doubling overs that pull the dancer back and straightening moves that stop the dancer. For much of the 30-minute dance, Burton elegantly uses little but this breathing-like pattern, adding and removing dancers and placing them in various formations. She subtly captures the lyrical sensibility of music. Jazz trumpeter Ambrose is her Akin Musire track.
The production was reminiscent of some of Burton’s promising early works at the Ballet Jazz Montreal. It brings out the blossoming beauty of the Malpaso dancers — especially Meneses, who concludes with a brilliantly spun-out solo.
But like all the productions on this programme, and all the productions Malpaso saw performed, Burton had his doubts about who Malpaso really was. Stylistically, what makes the company unique? In the “Elemental” part, the dancers appear to be auditioning for Williams’ previous company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an American repertoire company that may be modeled but should not be replicated.
Lack of identity is a danger that all repertoire troupes face as they move from choreographer to choreographer, but this troupe seems to be still searching and gamely experimenting with different styles. When I was thinking about it, the lyrics of “Elemental” popped out. Because that’s the exact opposite of what we know about Malpaso.
Malpaso Dance Company
through Sunday at the Joyce Theater. joyce.org.