Colegio del Cuerpo
Hey while the article is still free, make sure you read this New York Times feature on Cartagena's youth modern dance troupe, the Colegio del Cuerpo. Its founder, Alvaro Restrepo, is a hero among the supporters of the arts here in Cartagena, especially because of his insistence on reaching out to the poor who make up a vast majority of the city's population. (Alvaro is also good friends with Gisele--what luck I have.)
One distressing line in the article reports that when the Colegio del Cuerpo performed late last year at the Teatro Heredia (one of our venues), the theater was only half full. Such is the state of support for the arts in the city, located along a stretch of coast that has produced an incredible number of legendary artists, musicians, and writers in the past 50 years or so.
We hope we'll be able to work with Alvaro in the festival, maybe even have a dance performance one night. I'll keep you updated.
posted by robertkelleya at 1:08 PM
2 Comments:
Started out as a jazz festival. Then added folk music. Now maybe a dance number. What`s next -- an animal act? Take it from a Jazz purist --- lose this other crap. Don`t turn it into a variety show.
Jeff--
What you have to understand is that jazz and afrocolombian folkloric music have a lot in common. Jazz started as a popular form of music, not as something you could be a "purist" about. In fact, I don't even know what you mean by that. The best jazz festivals in the world in fact feature a broad array of music styles that fit somehow into the jazz aesthtic--which doesn't have any room for people who see other types of art as "other crap."
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