by: Cuban News Agency
Miguel Iglesias, director of the prestigious company Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, has been awarded the National Dance Award 2018, it was announced recently by the National Council of Performing Arts.
The decision of the jury, chaired by the National Dance Award 2017, Manolo Micler, was to give Iglesias the most important distinction given in Cuba for a life’s work, and for his outstanding performance in the country’s dance scene.
The award will be officially granted on April 28 at the Mella Theatre in Havana, at the same time as the celebrations for International Dance Day, held every April 29.
Although he did not have a professional academic training, Miguel Iglesias performed successfully in leading companies in the country such as the Ballet of Cuban Television and the Ballet of Camagüey, in which he reached the rank of First Dancer under the direction of maestro Joaquín Banegas and premiered the main contemporary works that choreographers Iván Tenorio, Alberto Méndez and Gustavo Herrera created for the group.
From April 4, 1984 he took on the directorship of the National Dance company of Cuba, today known as Contemporary Dance of Cuba (DCC), a group with which he has given life to unforgettable performances of Faust, Michelangelo or Libertango, milestones in his stage work.
DCC last year starred in 18 shows in the United Kingdom, with a fabulous reception from the public and the European press. In addition, it participated in the International Dance Inversion Festival of Moscow, in Russia, and performed in the City Center of New York, in the United States, and in the National Auditorium of Mexico.
After assuming the direction of DCC, on April 4, 1985, there was a creative explosion that has enriched the active repertoire of the company with more than 300 world premieres of Cuban and foreign choreographers.
Iglesias oversaw a broad international projection thanks to collaboration projects with renowned foreign choreographers such as Jan Linkens, Kenneth Kuanstrom, Luca Bruni, Rafael Bonachela, Carlos Acosta, Annabelle López Ochoa and Mats Ek, which characterize the work of DCC.
In Cuba, DCC has recently won the Special Villanueva Award for Criticism and the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater Award in Havana, awarded on January 1, 2018 by Alicia Alonso herself.
The National Dance Award will be presented at a gala on April 28, at the Mella Theater, the eve of the International Dance Day. (RC)
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