Tiffany Madera, a Miami-born Cuban, enrages her family by going to Cuba to teach belly dance to a group of women, and starts a movement in dance.
THE SCHEDULE:
• Doors Open - 11:00am
• Network Brunch - 11:00am – 12:00pm
• Film Screening - 12:00pm – 1:00pm
• Panel Discussion - 1:00pm – 2:15pm
THE FILM:
In 2003, Tiffany Madera aka “Hanan,” enraged her Cuban family in Miami by getting on a plane to Havana to participate in an artistic exchange that led to the formation of Cuba’s first Arabic dance troupe; Grupo Aisha Al-Hanan. The troupe founded by hanan was composed of eight women at the University of Havana’s History Department. A live band of musicians shortly followed from Havana’s colorful and diverse music scene. Guided by hanan, Grupo Aisha Al Hanan; quickly gained notoriety around Cuba despite its departure from State- Sanctioned Culture and Art models. A grassroots cultural movement ensued.
For Hanan’s family, her returning to Cuba was an act of support for the Communist Revolution that drove them from their island to Miami. Havana Habibi begins three years later following Hanan’s visit to Havana for the International Dance Festival and workshops with Grupo Aisha Al-Hanan. We meet the ensemble and see the sacrifices they make to create their art.
Hanan confronts personal demons, crumbling health and family dissonance to teach in Havana. We see the struggles and sacrifice the Cuban artists experience in daily life. We hear how belly-dance has impacted the Cuban dancers’ and musicians’ lives and empowered them as people. We witness Hanan’s student Gretel Sanchez Llabre become a great leader and artist forming Cuba’s first bellydance school and professional company Cuban Soho.
HAVANA HABIBI looks at the cross cultural exchange and inter-migration between Africa, Cuba, and the USA; what it means to be a Cuban Belly-dancer in Revolutionary Cuba as well as the Diaspora, and travels throughout time, geography and space to tell a human story of healing, transformation, empowerment, liberation and Identity through the sensual metaphor of Bellydance.
This event is part of “Havana Habibi Week”, a series of dance workshops, community talks and film screenings in Miami, presented by Tiffany Madera, founder of the Havana Habibi Bellydance Festival in Cuba.