Spanish Performance Artist La Ribot in Cuba

Yanelys Nuñez Leyva

HAVANA TIMES — The stage is covered entirely with a white fabric. A naked woman is stretched out across it, posing like the Venus with the Mirror.

Several objects – a stills camera, dresses, chairs, rain coats, instruction manuals and others – lie scattered on the floor about her.

The performance begins when the pale young woman starts moving a circular mirror in place.

La Ribot (Madrid, 1962) is in Cuba.

People who know her crowd outside the El Ciervo Encantado theater on the second and last day of her performance Mas Distinguidas (“The More Distinguished”).

Nearly 20 of these people are unable to get in: the space inside is limited, and a larger theater would not prove appropriate for this type of work, which requires intimate contact with the public.

The performance draws from different art forms: the visual arts, dance, and even theater.

For over 20 years, this artist has been developing these kinds of short “stories”, linked together over a stretch of time (even though, at first sight, they are completely unrelated).

On this occasion, the performance is enacted, not by La Ribot, but by a young woman (apparently a professional dancer), Ruth Childs.

I don’t know her previous work, which is why I do not miss her on stage.

The performance is dynamic, full of humor, beauty, strength and musicality.

It is undoubtedly one of the best artistic performances of Havana’s 12th Biennale.

Let us hope these types of works do not have to wait for large, nationwide artistic events or another three years to reappear in Cuba’s cultural spaces.