Cuba Unplugged: Dance in Havana
with Jennifer Spelman and Leysis Quesada Vera
Online registration for this program has closed. To check availability, find out about future dates, or if you would like further information, please call 505-983-1400 ext. 111. Also, get the SFW E-Newsletter for updates!
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Course Description
It is said that every Cuban is born to dance. It is in their blood. Cuba wouldn’t be the delightful island that it is without the rhythm of salsa or the pulsating beat of an Afro-Cuban rumba. Cuba Unplugged: Dance in Havana offers a rare opportunity to engage with the Cuban people and experience the complex and exhilarating world of traditional and contemporary dance in the largest island of the Caribbean.
Cuba is an intoxicating and rhythmic paradise. Everything from sensual salsa to classical ballet, Cuban dance is a fertile mixture of African and European influences. Havana has innumerable contemporary and traditional dance companies as well as classical ballet schools that have survived the political and economic changes of this small and resilient island. Monumental colonial buildings open their doors every day to thousands of Cuban children, whose primary focus is dance, whether it be rumba, salsa, guaguanco, classical ballet, contemporary dance or the exotic flamenco.
Join photographers Leysis Quesada and Jennifer Spelman on an unforgettable journey through song, music, and authentic Cuban dance as we meet and photograph dancers of each disciple.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
This Cuba Unplugged program is open to amateur, advanced amateur and professional photographers who have traveled to Cuba with Santa Fe Workshops (SFW), with another group, or on their own. Enrollment is limited to six participants.
What You Should Know:
Participants should be technically self-sufficient, as this is not a program to learn how to use your gear or editing software. Participants should be in very good health with good stamina and mobility, as long days are spent exploring—this means walking, sometimes for two to three hours at a time, occasionally up steep stairs, steep hills, and along uneven terrain.
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about
Jennifer Spelman is a sensitive documentary and fine-art photographer, as well as a playful observer of the subtleties of human activity. Her images pop with insight and imagination, exciting curiosity and suggesting secrets. As an educator and trip leader, Jennifer is in high demand for her creative instructional insights, easy-going nature, and sharply honed international photography travel acumen.
Since 2011, Jennifer has co-instructed domestic and international photography workshops for National Geographic Expeditions, OneWorldSeen, and Santa Fe Workshops through Iraq, Morocco, India, Cuba, Turkey, Romania, Mexico, Vietnam, and Japan. She is especially proud of the many imaginative and immersive photo trips she has co-led in elusive Cuba. Jennifer also co-founded the niche publication, CubaSeen, and is engaged in Santa Fe Workshops’ popular Mentorship Program ».
Website: jenniferspelman.com
Instagram: @jennifer_spelman
about
While Leysis was born in the city of Cienfuegos, her family soon settled in a town called Amarillas, in the Cuban province of Matanzas, where later she would base an important part of her photography work.
Leysis studied English with the desire to become a teacher and worked as a professor for three years in a junior high school in Havana. When the Maine Photographic Workshops came to Havana in 1999, she was no longer teaching and used to visit the Fototeca voften with her cousin Lazaro Miranda, who was a well-known photographer.
Leysis began seriously taking photos in January 2000. At the beginning she was inspired by her cousin Lazaro’s work of beautiful interiors. Later she studied the master photographers and loved Sebastian Salgado and Sally Mann. Leysis has always been drawn to the life of the “campesinos” (people from the countryside) in Cuba, and much of her work is inspired by their way of life, how they live, inside their homes, their daily lives. Leysis has two beautiful daughters they are the most important motivation for her images. Her work revolves around her family, friends, and home, and now is a reflection of her own daily life.
Leysis is a founding member of Jíbaro Photos and has exhibited work extensively internationally. During the pandemic, Leysis created a project in her neighborhood, Los Sitios, that was supported by the Magnum Foundation. She was commissioned by the Annenburg Space for Photography in 2017 and her work is included in collections in the International Center for Photography (ICP) and the Getty Museum.
Leysis has collaborated as an instructor and an assistant with Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in Havana since 2010.
Website: http://www.leysisquesada.com
