About the Cuban troupe Malpaso Dance and Arturo O’Farrill’s live performance last Tuesday August 2 at the Performing Arts Center: We met Malpaso in 2014 at their rehearsal hall in Havana, an unairconditioned synagogue downtown.Their rehearsal was spine-tingling even with scratchy music from an ancient Sony cassette player. Fast forward to 2015-16 at Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard in Chilmark and The Joyce theatre in New York city as Malpaso begins to sizzle. And now again last Tuesday to put on Osnel Delgado’s latest crowning achievement Dreaming of Lions based on Papa Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. Arturo O’Farrill’s score and 10-piece full-bodied Afro-Cuban orchestration is, was and forever will be nothing short of brilliant.

The combination of Delgado and O’Farrill can stand against anything produced on stage so far this year anywhere — profound expansive movement set against profound expansive music brought tears to my eyes when it ended.

This was the first time Dreaming of Lions was staged with live orchestration by the maestro O’Farrill. It was not simply a celebration of dance or a celebration of jazz. It was a celebration of the incredible talent, of what perfection is and how it emerged from three years of collaboration, from the compromises of two powerful and extraordinary talents who brought to stage their vision of dynamic movement and overwhelming audio immersion — a vision when experienced, grabs you by the throat and slaps the cobwebs from every fiber of your body. The artists who conceived of, and the dancers and musicians who flawlessly executed Dreaming of Lions, delivered the show of a lifetime.

By providing the creative environment for Dreaming of Lions Dance the Yard fulfilled its mission and then some.

Bravo!

Victor Colantonio
Chappaquiddick