CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music

Teatro de la Danza del Caribe, Photo: Jamaica Itule Simmons

CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music:

The inspiration of teachers is very much on Ramón Ramos Alayo's mind as he and his eponymous company get ready to host the ninth annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music, which kicks off this weekend at Dance Mission.

The three-week festival, he says, was designed as a celebration of Caribbean dance, music and culture with the first weekend highlighting local dance groups including the Afro-Cuban Arenas Dance Company, the all-female Las Que Son Son and the Brazilian-inspired Sambaxe.

Then on April 19, one of Cuba's most highly regarded modern dance companies, Teatro de la Danza del Caribe, will make its U.S. debut at the Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The festival culminates in a third weekend of joint performances at Laney College in Oakland featuring the Cuban company and Alayo's own Alayo Dance Company in works that he choreographed for both troupes.

There are two big modern dance troupes in Cuba, Alayo says, observing that the national modern dance company in Havana shows more international influences, while the 25-year-old Danza del Caribe, based in Santiago, retains more of a distinctive blend of native Cuban folkloric culture.

"Cuban modern technique is based in (Martha) Graham, (Jose) Limón and (Merce) Cunningham mixed with Afro-Cuban," he says. "With the Santiago company, you really see the undulating movement and the folklore mixed into it."

Among the works on the second week's one-night-only program are Danza del Caribe signature pieces like "Sulkari" by Eduardo Rivero-Walker, who Alayo regards as one of the most renowned choreographers in Cuba, as well as his mentor and teacher.

It's a bittersweet moment for the Cuban-born Alayo, who was a principal dancer with Danza del Caribe in the 1990s and who wanted to bring Rivero to American audiences for years, he says, but Rivero died from lung cancer in November.

"He was one of the smartest persons I know," Alayo says. "Tough as a teacher, but good. If you didn't know how to dance, and you danced with him, after you finish you could do whatever you wanted because he could take you where you want to go. He had the vision to see what you could do.

"The way I move is because of him. How I use my arms? Because of him. The way I teach and choreograph is the way I saw him do it. For me he was a model."