Reports from our December 2011-January 2012 Delegation
Jubilee Parades through Palma Streets
By Linda Glover
BPSSCA delegate and member of Jubilee American Dance Theatre
I've been on several dance tours, one with Jubilee and three with Westwind, and they were all stellar experiences where I felt as though I got to peek through a window into other worlds. This trip transcended touring for me, as I not only got to look in the window, but I was invited to come inside the door and commune with these lovely, warm, and spiritually gentle people. Each day when we'd walk into the Ennegro center, I had to set aside 15 minutes just saying hello to each and every member of the community who made it a point to take my hand, kiss me, and ask me how I was feeling. "Leenda", they would say, "tu estas tranquila?" And when I finally was so sick I thought I might need to see a doctor, within 3 minutes, there was an ambulance waiting there for me, and several people accompanied me to the appointment. When we went to the foster home, the senior home, and the hospital, I found out that our hosts already knew the residents personally, because they already make it a point in their lives to spend time offering their friendship there. Apparently they already knew the wacky charismatic lady with dementia, and sat with her often to hear the wise things she had to say, and were friends with the beautiful blind boy at the foster home as well. How many folks in the US can boast of that kind of lifestyle? I was amazed and delighted and humbled to be invited to take part in the highly ritualized blessing of the planting project. As long and uncertain as it was, I came out of that day healed of my sickness, both physical and spiritual. And the Mesa Blanca (a ceremony re-enacting a time when the Afro-Haitian slaves, when they were thrown the paltry scraps from their owners' feast, would divide it all equally amongst themselves, however little there was), well, the Mesa Blanca evening was like a trance dance on ecstasy for me. I know it went until 3 am, but I could have stayed there feeling the rhythm of the earth and the drums and the night sky forever. Okay, my two minutes is up, so let me just say I came home not just fascinated and enriched (which would have been great), I came home a better person for having been there. I simply cannot wait to go back.
By Lew Douglas
BPSSCA delegate and member of Jubilee American Dance Theatre
Diana and I went on a Jubilee tour to Cuba from Dec. 20 through Jan. 4 as part of a cultural exchange between the sister cities of Berkeley and Palma Soriano (near Santiago de Cuba, which is near Guantanamo). Rebecca Navarrete-Davis, Jubilee’s assistant director, worked very hard to arrange the tour and get us a license. She established the sister city relationship, speaks fluent Spanish, and has been to Cuba over 20 times. There were many obstacles to overcome, some arising just before we left. On one horrendous day, after Rebecca learned that her dad, who she is very close to, had developed a brain tumor, she learned that the organization that was supposed to make some of our arrangements was too busy to do so. We were originally to fly between Havana, where we landed, and Santiago de Cuba, but we wound up taking two 12+ hour bus rides instead. Rebecca heroically made the necessary last-minute changes. Since Becky, Jubilee’s current Artistic Director, was unable to go, Hilary Roberts, the founding director who retired from that role in 2010, led us artistically. In addition to getting ourselves ready, we gathered many donations and held a successful fundraiser to help pay the weight overage. Arrangements included buying some Canadian currency, on which there was no conversion penalty.
The charter flight from LA to Havana worked well, but when we got to Havana, the customs people said we had to leave some donations (including a chain saw) with them. They were supposed to have been informed, but like a number of governmental functions, it didn’t happen as planned. After some waiting and bargaining, they finally let us take all our donations with us. Barely having time to settle in the Hotel Plaza and have dinner, we had to get up early the next morning to get on the bus. For the one and only time, it arrived early, so we had to scramble a bit. Herding all 22 of us was difficult at times, but we generally managed fairly well.
The bus ride to Palma was interesting, if somewhat Spartan. The first half of the trip was on a Russian-built highway that had very little traffic. We stopped for bathroom and food breaks that sometimes lasted for over an hour, and the road got worse and worse as we neared our destination. We finally arrived about 10:30 pm and went straight to bed. We stayed at Hotel Mirador (“View” in English), which was true to its name. At every meal, we spent some time gazing under the thatched roof at the magnificent valley below. Rebecca told us that the government hadn’t been careful with maintenance over the years. Diana and I had one of the “matrimonial suites,” but even these had no hot water (except for a pail of it that you could get from the kitchen), a shower with a primitive lever on the exposed pipe to turn it on, and water pipes above ground, which meant that the water would be heated somewhat by the sun during the day. The toilet had no seat, and the flushing mechanism consisted of pouring a bucket of water quickly into the bowl. There was a small chair or two in addition to the bed, which was too short, but otherwise OK. We were lucky enough to have a small closet with a few metal hangers. In spite of this lack of customary comforts, we had a very nice week at Mirador. A typical day consisted of a pleasant communal breakfast, getting to the bus on time, waiting for an hour or so for it to arrive, driving the 3 miles into Palma (population 130,000, but it didn’t seem like that), and hanging out at the home base of Grupo Ennegro, a cultural, religious, artistic, and ecological group consisting mostly of Cubans of Haitian origin. There were a number of Vodun (Vodoo) ceremonies, led by Papito, the group’s spiritual leader. Many took place inside a special enclosed, private space. The Cubans are very friendly, even to Americans, and very warm. They hug and kiss frequently, which was a welcome change from our somewhat stiff, British-based culture. Diana’s Spanish was very helpful, and even my months-old attempt at acquiring the language was useful. Cuban Spanish is difficult because they speak rapidly and drop their s’s, but we managed. We met a number of English speakers, some quite young who had learned largely on their own. Several of our new Cuban friends have sent e-mail, to which we have recently responded in the appropriate language. We made many more friends in Cuba than on previous tours to Russia, France and Finland – another measure of Cuban friendliness. Linda Glover (our official videographer), Eric Bennion and Barbara Vernon took the most video, but others did as well. Even I took some with my Sony digital camera. It will take a few months for Linda to produce the video history of our trip, but I’m certain that the wait will be well worth it. If you want to be invited to one of several showings of photos and videos, please let me know.
We did five performances in Palma Soriano, one for the Mayor, Vice Mayor and other officials! The Vice Mayor, who was our closest official friend, presented Rebecca with a key to the city and other presents! The event, held in their equivalent of City Hall, began with the Cuban and American national anthems. I found that very touching and inspiring.
Our best, and best attended, performance was part of the finale to “Culture Week,” which coincided (not coincidentally) with our visit. We performed on an outdoor stage in a show that began with some children dancing and singing. The Cuban small fry are amazing — confident and happy in spite of their poverty, they interact easily with adults, love to dance and sing, and, in many respects, put American children to shame. The last act was an excellent band, which played “Son” (pre-Salsa) Cuban music in their 1950’s style white outfits. After our performance, I wandered into the audience to watch the rest of the show. A native next to me enthusiastically shook my hand, glanced over at me frequently to see how I was reacting to the performance, and insisted on buying me a beer! In front of the crowd, close to the stage, there were usually a few highly enthusiastic (and possibly somewhat inebriated) people clapping energetically and moving in time to the music.
In addition to performing and viewing the 3-D paintings on the walls of Grupo Enegro, we managed to wander in the town, go on a full-day planting and spiritual trip to the beautiful land given by the Cuban government to the Group, and bring our donations to a children’s hospital, a home for children with no adult support (there weren’t many residents there), and a home for seniors. In all of these venues, we were greeted enthusiastically and received incredible appreciation for our gifts. These visits were extremely rewarding for us. We also all fit into the house of a long-time friend of Rebecca for a scrumptious meal. Even though the house was exquisitely furnished and quite modern by Cuban standards, it was right next door to their business, which looked quite primitive by comparison.
There are many signs in Cuba, most of them extolling one facet or other of the 1950’s revolution. It occurred to me that our billboards were not so different: ours encourage us to spend, theirs to contribute to the community. The slogans are fairly uniform and under government control, but I’m not sure that’s worse than our constant hyping of consumerism.
After Palma, we spent three days in Santiago de Cuba. Santiago, the second largest city in Cuba, has only 5 hundred thousand people. Many of us spent one day at a beach resort. The $20 fee included all you could eat and drink, access to several swimming pools as well as the ocean, and other amenities. We spoke to several tourists, mostly from Canada. The New Year’s celebration in Santiago was very elaborate, because January 1st is the day that the departing American-supported dictator Juan Batista, fled the Island. On that day, Fidel Casto’s speech in his native Santiago included a declaration of the revolution’s success. The end of the fighting was quite rapid; Palma Soriano had been liberated barely a week before. The stage in the main square featured musicians, dancers, and comedians, all dressed to kill, with elaborate and enthusiastic introductions by the master and mistress of ceremonies. Many of us watched from the open-air seating of a nearby hotel, but others and I worked our way closer to the stage.
The bus ride back to Havana was a bit shorter than before, and we did get to spend an entire day before returning home. Diana and I spent a good part of it in the “old town,” which had a number of interesting buildings and churches from the colonial period. We also went in and out of shops, conversing with the shopkeepers and studying their wares. Havana also has a more modern section, which we hope to see more of one day. There are, of course, many American cars made in the early and mid 20th century, in conditions ranging from barely running to exquisitely restored. There are European cars as well, but they attract less attention.
BPSSCA delegate and member of Jubilee American Dance Theatre
I've been on several dance tours, one with Jubilee and three with Westwind, and they were all stellar experiences where I felt as though I got to peek through a window into other worlds. This trip transcended touring for me, as I not only got to look in the window, but I was invited to come inside the door and commune with these lovely, warm, and spiritually gentle people. Each day when we'd walk into the Ennegro center, I had to set aside 15 minutes just saying hello to each and every member of the community who made it a point to take my hand, kiss me, and ask me how I was feeling. "Leenda", they would say, "tu estas tranquila?" And when I finally was so sick I thought I might need to see a doctor, within 3 minutes, there was an ambulance waiting there for me, and several people accompanied me to the appointment. When we went to the foster home, the senior home, and the hospital, I found out that our hosts already knew the residents personally, because they already make it a point in their lives to spend time offering their friendship there. Apparently they already knew the wacky charismatic lady with dementia, and sat with her often to hear the wise things she had to say, and were friends with the beautiful blind boy at the foster home as well. How many folks in the US can boast of that kind of lifestyle? I was amazed and delighted and humbled to be invited to take part in the highly ritualized blessing of the planting project. As long and uncertain as it was, I came out of that day healed of my sickness, both physical and spiritual. And the Mesa Blanca (a ceremony re-enacting a time when the Afro-Haitian slaves, when they were thrown the paltry scraps from their owners' feast, would divide it all equally amongst themselves, however little there was), well, the Mesa Blanca evening was like a trance dance on ecstasy for me. I know it went until 3 am, but I could have stayed there feeling the rhythm of the earth and the drums and the night sky forever. Okay, my two minutes is up, so let me just say I came home not just fascinated and enriched (which would have been great), I came home a better person for having been there. I simply cannot wait to go back.
By Lew Douglas
BPSSCA delegate and member of Jubilee American Dance Theatre
Diana and I went on a Jubilee tour to Cuba from Dec. 20 through Jan. 4 as part of a cultural exchange between the sister cities of Berkeley and Palma Soriano (near Santiago de Cuba, which is near Guantanamo). Rebecca Navarrete-Davis, Jubilee’s assistant director, worked very hard to arrange the tour and get us a license. She established the sister city relationship, speaks fluent Spanish, and has been to Cuba over 20 times. There were many obstacles to overcome, some arising just before we left. On one horrendous day, after Rebecca learned that her dad, who she is very close to, had developed a brain tumor, she learned that the organization that was supposed to make some of our arrangements was too busy to do so. We were originally to fly between Havana, where we landed, and Santiago de Cuba, but we wound up taking two 12+ hour bus rides instead. Rebecca heroically made the necessary last-minute changes. Since Becky, Jubilee’s current Artistic Director, was unable to go, Hilary Roberts, the founding director who retired from that role in 2010, led us artistically. In addition to getting ourselves ready, we gathered many donations and held a successful fundraiser to help pay the weight overage. Arrangements included buying some Canadian currency, on which there was no conversion penalty.
The charter flight from LA to Havana worked well, but when we got to Havana, the customs people said we had to leave some donations (including a chain saw) with them. They were supposed to have been informed, but like a number of governmental functions, it didn’t happen as planned. After some waiting and bargaining, they finally let us take all our donations with us. Barely having time to settle in the Hotel Plaza and have dinner, we had to get up early the next morning to get on the bus. For the one and only time, it arrived early, so we had to scramble a bit. Herding all 22 of us was difficult at times, but we generally managed fairly well.
The bus ride to Palma was interesting, if somewhat Spartan. The first half of the trip was on a Russian-built highway that had very little traffic. We stopped for bathroom and food breaks that sometimes lasted for over an hour, and the road got worse and worse as we neared our destination. We finally arrived about 10:30 pm and went straight to bed. We stayed at Hotel Mirador (“View” in English), which was true to its name. At every meal, we spent some time gazing under the thatched roof at the magnificent valley below. Rebecca told us that the government hadn’t been careful with maintenance over the years. Diana and I had one of the “matrimonial suites,” but even these had no hot water (except for a pail of it that you could get from the kitchen), a shower with a primitive lever on the exposed pipe to turn it on, and water pipes above ground, which meant that the water would be heated somewhat by the sun during the day. The toilet had no seat, and the flushing mechanism consisted of pouring a bucket of water quickly into the bowl. There was a small chair or two in addition to the bed, which was too short, but otherwise OK. We were lucky enough to have a small closet with a few metal hangers. In spite of this lack of customary comforts, we had a very nice week at Mirador. A typical day consisted of a pleasant communal breakfast, getting to the bus on time, waiting for an hour or so for it to arrive, driving the 3 miles into Palma (population 130,000, but it didn’t seem like that), and hanging out at the home base of Grupo Ennegro, a cultural, religious, artistic, and ecological group consisting mostly of Cubans of Haitian origin. There were a number of Vodun (Vodoo) ceremonies, led by Papito, the group’s spiritual leader. Many took place inside a special enclosed, private space. The Cubans are very friendly, even to Americans, and very warm. They hug and kiss frequently, which was a welcome change from our somewhat stiff, British-based culture. Diana’s Spanish was very helpful, and even my months-old attempt at acquiring the language was useful. Cuban Spanish is difficult because they speak rapidly and drop their s’s, but we managed. We met a number of English speakers, some quite young who had learned largely on their own. Several of our new Cuban friends have sent e-mail, to which we have recently responded in the appropriate language. We made many more friends in Cuba than on previous tours to Russia, France and Finland – another measure of Cuban friendliness. Linda Glover (our official videographer), Eric Bennion and Barbara Vernon took the most video, but others did as well. Even I took some with my Sony digital camera. It will take a few months for Linda to produce the video history of our trip, but I’m certain that the wait will be well worth it. If you want to be invited to one of several showings of photos and videos, please let me know.
We did five performances in Palma Soriano, one for the Mayor, Vice Mayor and other officials! The Vice Mayor, who was our closest official friend, presented Rebecca with a key to the city and other presents! The event, held in their equivalent of City Hall, began with the Cuban and American national anthems. I found that very touching and inspiring.
Our best, and best attended, performance was part of the finale to “Culture Week,” which coincided (not coincidentally) with our visit. We performed on an outdoor stage in a show that began with some children dancing and singing. The Cuban small fry are amazing — confident and happy in spite of their poverty, they interact easily with adults, love to dance and sing, and, in many respects, put American children to shame. The last act was an excellent band, which played “Son” (pre-Salsa) Cuban music in their 1950’s style white outfits. After our performance, I wandered into the audience to watch the rest of the show. A native next to me enthusiastically shook my hand, glanced over at me frequently to see how I was reacting to the performance, and insisted on buying me a beer! In front of the crowd, close to the stage, there were usually a few highly enthusiastic (and possibly somewhat inebriated) people clapping energetically and moving in time to the music.
In addition to performing and viewing the 3-D paintings on the walls of Grupo Enegro, we managed to wander in the town, go on a full-day planting and spiritual trip to the beautiful land given by the Cuban government to the Group, and bring our donations to a children’s hospital, a home for children with no adult support (there weren’t many residents there), and a home for seniors. In all of these venues, we were greeted enthusiastically and received incredible appreciation for our gifts. These visits were extremely rewarding for us. We also all fit into the house of a long-time friend of Rebecca for a scrumptious meal. Even though the house was exquisitely furnished and quite modern by Cuban standards, it was right next door to their business, which looked quite primitive by comparison.
There are many signs in Cuba, most of them extolling one facet or other of the 1950’s revolution. It occurred to me that our billboards were not so different: ours encourage us to spend, theirs to contribute to the community. The slogans are fairly uniform and under government control, but I’m not sure that’s worse than our constant hyping of consumerism.
After Palma, we spent three days in Santiago de Cuba. Santiago, the second largest city in Cuba, has only 5 hundred thousand people. Many of us spent one day at a beach resort. The $20 fee included all you could eat and drink, access to several swimming pools as well as the ocean, and other amenities. We spoke to several tourists, mostly from Canada. The New Year’s celebration in Santiago was very elaborate, because January 1st is the day that the departing American-supported dictator Juan Batista, fled the Island. On that day, Fidel Casto’s speech in his native Santiago included a declaration of the revolution’s success. The end of the fighting was quite rapid; Palma Soriano had been liberated barely a week before. The stage in the main square featured musicians, dancers, and comedians, all dressed to kill, with elaborate and enthusiastic introductions by the master and mistress of ceremonies. Many of us watched from the open-air seating of a nearby hotel, but others and I worked our way closer to the stage.
The bus ride back to Havana was a bit shorter than before, and we did get to spend an entire day before returning home. Diana and I spent a good part of it in the “old town,” which had a number of interesting buildings and churches from the colonial period. We also went in and out of shops, conversing with the shopkeepers and studying their wares. Havana also has a more modern section, which we hope to see more of one day. There are, of course, many American cars made in the early and mid 20th century, in conditions ranging from barely running to exquisitely restored. There are European cars as well, but they attract less attention.
By Ralph Chip Curry
BPSSCA delegate and musician for Jubilee American Dance Theatre
This two weeks was a peak experience in my life. Twenty two dancers and musicians from the Jubilee American Dance Theatre went with a Treasury Department Performance License as part of a cultural exchange for the sister cities of Berkeley and Palma Soriano (about 13 hours by bus, east of Havana). We performed music and traditional American dance for many audiences and enjoyed incredible companionship with a small group of artists, poets musicians who have a performing space and have been granted 100 hectares of land to practice chemical free cultivation. They are planning to restore most of this land to it’s natural forested, biodiverse state. We also spent three days in Santiago and a day in Havana.
My experience was one of utter amazement with the sense of music, rhythm, dance which permeates this culture. I think I heard 40 different bands in my time—twelve piece salsa bands on stage, five piece restaurant bands, street corner combos, old folks musically conversing. They had me screaming, dancing, videoing on my iPhone, and leaping with delight. Each was better than the next. At one point a fellow was helping us get into a locked bar, his six knocks were a cool little rhythmic motif. They don’t “play” music, they “are” music.
There is very low wealth and income. It is apparent that the communist system and the US blockade have rendered the country disabled as far as infrastructure and materials. The level of education seems higher than any Latin American country I have visited. Generally the Cubans are happy, healthy, and hard working. Crime seems close to non-existent. I saw no youth angst and wildness. What does exist is an extreme disparity between the wealth of tourists and the wealth of Cubans—and I did detect some resentment and begging in Havana.
For me it was an intense mental, physical and spiritual challenge. There were four kinds of money I was juggling—US, Canadian, and two kinds of Cuban money. Three languages: English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. So many dance rhythms, salsa, rumba, Haitian, meringue. concert times, MC work, fiddling, leaning new music. Spanish was incredible for me, I love speaking the language, it is like starting life anew. Down there I am Raúl to all, “Chip” just does not fit.
The small group in Palma had a spiritual leader and followed Haitian rituals. Their “Papito” or little pope had some very loving and all inclusive lessons to teach. “We ask things of God, but we can not forget that we are the physical parts of God, the bones, the fingers the heart and hands. We are many people, but we are one together.”
Another thing I noticed it the sharing, Someone is always helping someone else, sharing food, drink, assistance. There is physical contact. There is closeness and warmth everywhere. One night I had 15 minutes before our bus came to take us from our “motel” back into town for an evening concert. I wandered off to find a place to play a couple fiddle tunes to warm up. Out came a call from behind the kitchen. Raúl! Donde vas? You are not alone are you? This was Arturo, the VP of the Communist Party in Palma. Come join us, here is a glass of rum. Let us sing together. And we sang and joked with every link we could connect. The bus was late and we were still singing.
There are other stories folks; pictures, music, and things that have no translation at all. What a trip, glad to be back and what a life it is, and what beautiful people there are in Cuba, wishing the blockade were lifted and wishing to be closer to us.