In the eleventh years since its establishment in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company has become one of the most sought-after Cuban dance companies with a growing international profile. Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, Malpaso is committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. The company tours with 11 dancers and is led by its original three founders; resident choreographer and Artistic Director Osnel Delgado, Executive Director Fernando Sáez, and dancer, choreographer and co-founder Daile Carrazana.
An Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions, Malpaso — together with The Joyce— has commissioned original works from a number of prominent international choreographers, including Ron K. Brown (Why You Follow), Trey McIntyre (Under Fire), Aszure Barton (Indomitable Waltz and Stillness in Bloom), Emmy-award winning Sonya Tayeh (Face the Torrent), Robyn Mineko Williams (Elemental) and celebrated Ephrat Asherie (Floor… y ando!).
As a means of foregrounding Cuban choreographers, Malpaso recently has also world-premiered works by company member Daile Carrazana Nana para un Insomnio (Lullaby for Insomnia), Habanera, and La Última Canción, bolstering the list of long-toured pieces by Artistic Director Osnel Delgado, notably, Ocaso as well as 24 Hours and a Dog and Dreaming of Lions, which are often accompanied live by Grammy award-winning, Cuban-American composer/pianist Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. In a recent collaboration with Alejandro Falcón, Ted Nash and Cubadentro Trio, Delgado choreographed A Dancing Island.
The company’s repertory includes Tabula Rasa by world-renowned Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, who traveled to Cuba in spring of 2018 specifically to work one on one with Malpaso dancers to crystalize the re-staging of this seldom-performed piece; and woman with water by the distinguished Swedish choreographer Mats Ek, who also travel to Havana to premier the work at Martí Theatre on December 2021.
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