Rolf Jacobsen, Norwegian Poet

Looking through the stacks of books at the college library today I came across  a book of poems by the Norwegian modernist poet Rolf Jacobsen (1907-1994). I flipped through them and I enjoyed his style. Here is one of his poems that I really enjoyed.

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

Innocently
with large eyes
and twisted eyebrows
and mouth curiously pursed
like a child
she goes to start dancing
under dimmed floodlights, hooded floodlights
Tango and Cucaracha
to the castenets, so:
Arms raised, two steps to the side.
Bend clumsily in the knees.

Now with innocent eyes
and twisted eyebrows
the gasmask stares out over the world
with its snout curiously pursed
like a child.
So we go to start dancing
under cold floodlights, white floodlights.
Tango and
cucaracha
to machine-guns, so:
Arms raised. Two steps to the side.
Bend clumsily in the knees.

Judging a Country by its Theaters

They say never a judge a book by its cover (“unless it is artwork done by Boris Vallejo!” exclaim males in the 15-24-year-old demographic!). You may have to adapt that sage adage to something more contemporary and at the same time depressing: judge a country by its movie theaters. AMC’s recent announcement that it was “improving” the movie experience for viewers by replacing theater seats with recliners nearly made me choke when I read it. For a brief instant, I was bewildered and disoriented. I thought to myself, “Is this for real?” I soothed myself by rationalizing that this was perhaps the latest spoof offered to us by The Onion. But no, it wasn’t and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

No longer is the movie experience that AMC offers us solely about watching a film on screen, it is about transporting your personal space with you to the theater itself. People can now take naps while the film is being screened. No longer do people have to adjust to the theater; the theater has to adapt to the customers. How distressing! Very soon, I fear, people will soon be able to receive pedicures or drink a daiquiri while a beautiful woman fans them with a giant palm leaf while they watch “Transformers 56: the End of Meaning.”

I live in Cuba now and the theater experience here is incredible! Conversations take place between various sections of the theater….all in good nature, usually talking about certain parts of the film. This became clear to me when I saw the film “42” in the fall. I found the experience incredible and exhilarating! Social conversations have not died out and the film takes center stage in these public and spontaneous discourses. People were talking about racism in the US and what Jackie Robinson had to go through; they asked me what I thought about it. The experience was entirely different from what the theatergoer takes part in when he/she goes to the cinema.

From June 12 to July 12 theaters in Cuba have screened games from the World Cup and this has been incredible! It is an experience to watch a great fútbol game in a cinema with over 300 people in the audience. Breathtaking and lively. They get it here. For Cuban cineastas and most theaters around the world, going to the theater is still a social experience; it is not an individualistic cocoon fashioned to inure people from that social contagion known as public conversation. It is not about extending the confines of home to public spaces. It is disappointing, but all AMC has done is settled one non-existent problem by creating another one: the person sitting behind the audience member who is reclining won’t be able to eat his/her $20 box of popcorn with the back of the seat in their face.

No One Says No to Leoneta

You can’t miss her even if you are one of the least observant persons on the planet. She stands about 178 cm (with help of five-inch heels), she has a mane of jet black hair that reaches out and expands as she moves her head to the hypnotic rhythm of her band. Her black eyes will grab your attention; or rather, they will just grab you, period. Her svelte form is accentuated by tight black pants (or yellow depending on the night) that gyrates to the music, enthralling all the male members of the audience.

She is a throwback to the Cuba of the 1940s. Her alluring, inviting and happy smile are irresistible and when she rolls her ‘r’s’ as she pronounces the word “rico,” (rrrrrrrrrrrico!) many people find that they cannot say no to this woman who one Cuban described to me as “salzosa.” She certainly is. Spicy, hot, exotic and with a personality that matches her beauty…these are the components that make up her “salzosa” identity. When she encourages the audience members (unwitting victims) she pulled on stage to dance with her, she jubilantly exclaims “Eso!”(that’s it!) or she will exhort them to swivel their hips with one word:  “cintura.”

She is the perfect performer, but more than that, she is, for many, the idealized Cuban fantasy woman that harkens back to the pre-Revolution days when the sultriness of Cuban females lured US men to the island like the Sirens did to Odysseus. Her voice is incredible and she whole-heartedly embraces the role she has chosen to entertain people.

No one can say no to her. She has called me up to stage where I danced (horribly, in fact). She flashed her smile and opened her mouth in joyful rapture; she extended her arms and jiggled her chest before me before turning around and shaking her rear end in a sexy, erotic gesture that was not lost on the male audiences. I forgot about my horrible dancing and just enjoyed what I was seeing. I don’t think I will ever meet another woman like her again. I have not seen anyone with such spirit, such joy, who was so “salzosa.”

I enjoyed a show with a friend and she said, when she saw Leoneta, that “she is a heartbreaker.” I agreed. For little did I know, she broke my heart. Am I sad? No. I am just grateful I had the opportunity to orbit around this bright star, even if for just a brief moment. These are the things in life that you remember. Years down the road, I will fondly recall my time in Cuba and you can rest assured that I will think of Leoneta quite often. Que rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrico.

You can't ignore her style!

Post script (July 20, 2014). Apparently someone can say 'no' to Leoneta; her band fired her for inappropriate comments. I wonder where this sultry crooner will land next?

A Different Kind of World Cup

While all eyes are on the World Cup scanning the football pitches for spectacular moments that redefine the sport, another event took place that did not garner so much attention.  In June over 200 teams not recognized by FIFA, the world's governing body of football, gathered to play their own version of the World Cup in the Swedish city of Ostersund. This is great. I wish more media attention would go their way. To learn more about the Confia Cup, go the link on the New York Times site. 

Viengsay Valdés is the Real Deal

On Friday, June 20^th my students and I went to Havana’s National Theater to see the National Ballet of Cuba’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. One of my students had befriended a ballerina who invited us to attend the performance. I am glad we did!

One of the first things I did once I sat down in my seat was to glance through the program for a name…a name of Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer. I read about her in the fall in an issue of Bohemia magazine. I was thrilled to see Viengsay Valdés in the cast of performers! She played the role of Odette (the Swan) and Odile (the Black Swan). She was magisterial and virtuosic in both roles. I especially liked her as the Black Swan. What a performance! Power, beauty, grace and agility mixed with a poetic and intense yet joyful and dark disposition all emanated from this incredible dancer. The crowd loved her, especially as the Black Swan. They roared as if someone had scored a goal in a fútbol match or as if someone had delivered a great solo at a rock concert. I couldn’t believe it.

Neither could my students. They were glued to the performance and were soon also excitedly yelling their approval after Ms. Valdés’s performance. Neither my students nor I are ballet experts, but what we saw Friday night will live with us for the rest of our lives. I am sure of it. I would not ever want to forget Viengsay Valdés. She is a world class dancer who performs all over the world. If you have a chance to see her, go. Just go. 

                                   

I am Nobody. Nobody's Perfect

Yesterday (June 17^th) as I was walking on the street I saw a beautiful young woman wearing a white shirt with a Playboy logo on it in which you could read “I am Nobody. Nobody’s Perfect.” I don’t know why, but the expression just struck me. Perhaps because in some ways it captures the spirit of the Cuban people. For many Americans Cubans are invisible to them; always under the radar until something comes along to stir up the US-Cuba relations debate. The second part of the expression, “Nobody’s Perfect,” really resonated with me. I think it is because it really is an anthem of many Cubans. They seem to say “Yeah, I am not perfect, so what? I am okay with that.” Of course, we can’t ignore the play on words—the girl is “Nobody” and she’s perfect.

It is funny. Not many slogans or sayings that appear on t-shirts catch my attention these days, but this one did. 

Something Fishy Happened at Manchester United

Today I learned that David Moyes “left” the football club Manchester United, ending  a tumultuous and extremely brief stint at the vaunted team. As we all know, this is just newspeak for he was fired. To some executives, I am sure it sounded better than “he was relieved of his duties” although I am sure many Red Devil fans were relieved that he was removed from the premises of Old Trafford.

Moyes’s work at Everton is proof that he is an excellent coach, but I think he had a lot of forces against him. For one, he had to follow in the footsteps of a legend—Sir Alex Ferguson. No one could have succeed in a reasonable amount of time after what Ferguson did for Manchester United over the last 25 years. It is a shame that the club did not give Moyes more time.  The impatience of the Manchester United board of directors aside, there was another element at play….one that we have seen before….during the World Cup of 2010 in South Africa.

It was there in the first round of the tournament that we all witnessed awful behavior on the part of athletes. The French team imploded and rebelled in a petty and immature fashion against the coach Raymond Domenech in what became an embarrassment for the French nation. One of the culprits in that team was Patrice Evra who currently plays for Manchester United.  He displayed a callous and juvenile attitude that infected the rest of the team that resulted in Domenech losing authority over the players.

I think the same thing happened at Manchester United. I can’t help but feel that Patrice is loving Evra minute of the latest incident where a head coach loses his job. When will people see this guy for what he really is?