Cuban Cultural Night: APRIL 16, 2009

Join us for the last meeting of our Spring 2009 Season!!!

Las Reinas del Trópico:
Cuban Rumberas in Mexican ‘Classical’ Cinema

Lecture and Presentation
by
Dr. Laura G. Gutierrez
(Dept. Spanish & Portuguese,
University of Arizona)

( see video clip of Ninon Sevilla dancing Rumba below)

Starting in the 1930’s, thanks in large part to the filmmaker, actor, and dancer Juan Orol, Cuban rumberas began traveling to Mexico to work, primarily, in the emerging national film industry. Although rumberas (female rumba dancers) had appeared in films prior to 1938, it was during this year, with Orol’s film Siboney, which featured the incredible dancer of Afro-Cuban rhythms María Antonieta Pons, that a new melodrama subgenre emerged. For almost two decades—coinciding with Mexico’s so-called Golden Age period (roughly the late 1930’s to early 1950’s)—filmmakers exploited the appeal that these “Reinas del Trópico,”—including Pons mentioned above, but also Rosa Carmina, Amalia Aguilar, and Ninón Sevilla—had over their audiences. Using images and clips from a number of selected films—including La Reina del Trópico, Víctimas del pecado, Sandra, la mujer del fuego—this presentation introduces the Tucson community to these rumberas, which continue to occupy an important place in the Mexican and transnational imaginary of old and new audiences alike.

April 16, 2009

6:30PM

(program starts sharp at 7pm)

The Little Chapel
University of Arizona
(First and Highland: from Speedway,
enter Cherry and then First)

ADMISSION: $ 5
Includes Lecture,
Delicious Cuban Food and
Music by Duo Libre (Yasel y Alejandro)