The streets of the Old Havana area were crowded with horse-drawn carts driven by languid coachmen and classic cars from the 1940s-60s, spewing out grayish exhaust from their tailpipes. Korean-made vehicles also came into view, together with those of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Peugeot, Audi, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, which zipped by. The street scene was all the more dazzling with a wide ethnic diversity, including the Creoles, mestizoes, and mulatto people. Amidst the city’s colorful ambience, it was so amazing that few people looked unhappy, despite the country’s lack of economic development. If unhappiness is a product of the greediness of “modern civilization,” Cuba obviously exemplifies how people can be happy without material affluence.

Bravo, Korea!

Korean dancers gave their first performances in Matanzas after hasty stage preparation that had to be completed within hours on the day of their performances.
Although the dancers were unfamiliar with the environment and lacked their regular equipment, everyone did their utmost. The helpful theater staff also did the best they could to lend us a hand. After a rehearsal, they even managed to find a local child dancer to perform with a Korean group.
After filming the performances by Korean groups, a reporter from a local broadcaster came onto the stage to interview the dancers and staff. Some 50 ethnic Korean residents also lingered around long after the performance came to an end in order to express their appreciation for the rare opportunity for them to enjoy a Korean cultural event.
The festival was undoubtedly a very special occasion for those Koreans who seemed to feel strongly attached to Korean culture while living in a faraway country. They offered us bottles of water and soda. Everyone signed the guest book and promised that we would return to attend next year’s festival.

The next day, the Korean groups made their way to Cienfuegos, where they encountered a different ambience. The southern coastal city greeted them with attractive buildings and well-paved roads, most of them built by Americans. But, just a block or two away from the city center, you could find young children in tattered clothing, wearing bright smiles on their faces and playing stickball in the street with bats crudely made from scrap lumber and a battered, misshapen ball.
We were told that the buildings with well-maintained facades conceal the area’s tough history. The museums and theaters were built by sugar cane plantation owners who had amassed personal wealth by exploiting immigrant laborers. A legacy of such exploitation, the Opera Theater, which was built in 1882, boasted a gorgeous appearance as if to offset the inconvenience of its slanted stage and restrooms without running water.
Korean dancers drew remarkable attention at Cienfuegos as well. A local broadcaster aired nationwide a video recording of their performances. After listening to a rather lengthy explanation of the performances in Spanish, reporters asked detailed questions.

Bright Outlook for Cultural Exchange

The annual dance festival, dubbed the “Habana Vieja Ciudad en Movimiento” in Spanish, was held at nine venues, including the theater of the Retazos Dance Company, the festival host, Plaza of Arms (Plaza de Armas), House of Benito Juarez (Casa Museo Benito Juarez), and House of the African Museum (Casa Museo de Africa). The Korean dancers staged performances on April 13-14 at the Retazos Dance Theater (Danza Teatro Retazos), Las Carolinas Garden (Jardin Las Carolinas), and Ruminahui Park (Parque Ruminahui).
The Shin Eun-joo Dance Company d quite a stir with its performances that featuring dancers with graceful movements and unique sounds of traditional Korean music. The modern dance company EDx2, led by Lee In-soo, also elicited an enthusiastic response with its edgy yet refined hip-hop style. Lee Young-il’s MF group took full advantage of the open-air theater, with dancers shaking hands with every member of the audience in a symbolic prelude.
Shin Eun-joo’s dance troupe, which had received a rousing ovation from the audience on the first day, staged an even more glamorous performance on an outdoor stage the following day. Right after the company’s second performance, the festival’s art director Isabel Bustos Romoleroux proposed the staging of an additional performance in the evening, along with arranging for various gifts for the Korean groups. Among the gifts were a formal certificate that included all the names of the Korean delegation, along with autographs of city officials and members of the festival organizing committee.
This was the first time for a national delegation to receive such a certificate from the festival organizers. Also of note, the names of individual members were handwritten by Romoleroux herself onto the colorful certificate, which turned out to be the festival’s only printed material in color except for the official poster. Korean dancers were also given T-shirts and scented candles as tokens of appreciation from the festival organizers.
It is also worthy of note that the Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, carried an article entitled “Corea del Sur (South Korea),” reporting on the Korean teams’ performances at the festival, in a rare tribute according to our local coordinator. In light of the encouraging remarks made by Noel Bonilla Chongo, artistic director of the Caribbean Dance Biennale, saying that “Korean dance groups would always be welcome in this region,” it may be said that the future prospects for cultural exchange with Latin American countries are very bright.
Thanks to the generous support and sponsorship of the Korea Foundation, Hyundai Motor, and Tokmakjian Group, we were able to participate in the Cuban festival, which has opened wide a door for active cultural exchange with this remote country on the other side of the globe, with which Korea has yet to establish formal diplomatic relations.

Kim Shin-ah General Secretary
Seoul International Dance Festival
Korea Chapter of the International Dance Counci