Wake Forest University's craze for Cuba will take some unexpected turns on Oct. 13.
That's when the Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago will perform Eduardo Vilaro's Danzon in Reynolds Auditorium, teaming up with the Turtle Island String Quartet and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera.
Danzon "reinvents and reinvigorates (a) traditional and quintessentially Cuban dance form as a modern work of art, introducing it to mainstream American audiences," press materials say. It is part of an unusual collaboration involving the Secrest Artists Series at WFU, the arts-magnet program at Reynolds High School and the Cuba Project of WFU's department of Romance languages. The Cuba Project produced the exhibit "Cuban Artists' Books and Prints: 1985-2008," which will be on display through Tuesday in the Hanes Art Gallery on campus.
With Danzon, the Secrest Artists Series will be presenting its first event away from Wake's campus. Reynolds Auditorium provides the kind of large-audience venue for dance performances that Secrest has been unable to find at WFU, said Lillian Shelton, the series' director. In return, Reynolds students will enjoy an all-school performance by Danzon's performers on the morning of Oct. 13, followed by workshops and classes with the artists.
The musical component of Danzon also makes it relatively different. Dancers will perform to live music instead of going the more common, less-expensive route of using recordings.
"That gives a whole different kind of feeling to the performance," said Mark Summer, a cellist for Turtle Island. "Usually, musicians are in a pit when they're playing live with dancers, and, usually, you're staring at a conductor.… The music's more vital and dynamic; the whole thing feels more exciting to the audience than the usual thing, which is a taped performance."
D'Rivera, a Grammy Award-winning clarinetist and composer, and the Turtle Island String Quartet will be performing selections from Danzon, a CD that he and the group issued in 2003. D'Rivera doesn't work with dancers often. He described it as "a totally different experience" -- and one that he welcomes.
"Always I believe in the interrelation of the arts," he said. "I think I will play following the movements of the dancers -- which is totally different way of thinking. It's something more physical. You are watching and you can imitate those movements in sounds."
It's also worth noting the D'Rivera won't be performing with a jazz combo. Instead, he'll be relying on the Turtle Island players to assume a combo's role. He seemed confident that they were up to the task of recreating the sounds of percussion and bass.
"I love those people," he said. "They have discovered a new and totally different way to approach the strings in a jazzy way."
KKeuffel@wsjournal.com 727-7337
The Secrest Artists Series at Wake Forest University will present Danzon at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in Reynolds Auditorium. Admission is $20, $16 for seniors and non-WFU students and free for WFU staff and students. Call the WFU box office at 758-5295. Nina Lucas, an associate professor and director of dance at WFU, and Linda Howe, associate professor of Romance languages and the Cuba Project, will give a pre-performance talk at 6:40 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Black Box Theatre of Reynolds Auditorium.
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