Sarasota Contemporary Dance Presents the World Premiere of Historias Mi Historia, Tu Historia, y Nuestra Historia

March 30, 2022 – Sarasota

Sarasota Contemporary Dance is approaching its final production of its 16th Season: GRIT, presenting a brand new work cultivated by SCD Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott. Cuban Project: Historias – Mi Historia, Tu Historia, y Nuestra Historia (My Story, Your Story, Our Story) captures the depths of Bolaños Wilmott’s history and experiences as part of an immigrant Cuban family. Historias will have its world premiere at the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts April 28th – May 1st with In-Person and Virtual ticket options available. 

In Cuban Project, Leymis Bolaños Wilmott dives into her family history, investigating her parents’ forced migration through the exodus of children known as Operación Pedro Pan. Operación Pedro Pan took place in the early 1960s and is still to this day the largest historical exodus of unaccompanied children in the Western world. Between December 1960 and October 1962, over 14,000 unaccompanied minors were sent to the U.S. by their parents who feared indoctrination and the Cuban government taking away their parental rights. 

“After the passing of my grandfather three years ago, I knew there was an urgent need to share the Cuban-American experience, specifically my family’s story,” comments Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott. “The platform I have been given– to direct a dance company and share my family’s story– is one I do not take lightly. My work is a direct byproduct of that which is embedded in the Cuban people: the sacrifices and perseverance of my parents and grandparents.” 

Bolaños Wilmott’s parents and other relatives first-handedly experienced Operación Pedro Pan. Historias is an emotional homage to their experiences and history through thought-provoking movement research.

Leymis continues, “Through a leap of faith, an unbreakable family bond, and pure grit, I stand here alongside my daughter and my dance family with a humble heart to share this story.”

For the final main stage production of its 16th season, SCD is thrilled to welcome the collaboration of a diverse and dynamic group of artists that bring Leymis’s family story to life, including two Tampa area-based guest dancers Michael Foley and Brian Fidalgo II, along with an original sound score created for the project by Maine-based composer José G. Martínez and local Sarasota musician Hugo Viera-Vargas. In October 2021, Bolaños Wilmott worked closely with Martínez when he invited her to showcase the Cuban Project’s work-in-progress for his Music and Gesture event at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. 

“My time spent in Maine as José’s guest at Colby College was truly where the beginning stages of the Cuban Project came to life,” Leymis continues. “I am thrilled to be working with such a talented composer for the Cuban Project. His music brings an entirely personalized element to the performance and highlights the emotional stories told through the work.”

With dramaturgical assistance from SCD Company Member Eugenia Titterington, Cuban Project: Historias asks the SCD company members to access movement from a place of historical and testimonial research. This kind of investigative work is new territory for many of the company members, requiring a particular sensitivity for the stories being explored within this multi-generational body of work. 

“If we hope to access the emotional rawness and depth of Leymis’ vision, we cannot engage this history in a vacuum,” comments Eugenia Titterington. “A general overview of Operación Pedro Pan reveals themes of displacement, unwavering love, trauma, and courage. And as we dig deeper into the individual testimonies that make up the collective Pedro Pan experience, we uncover nuances which complicate and deepen the company members’ embodied understanding of the work.” 

Tickets for Cuban Project: Historias are available now! All performances will take place at the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts Thursday, April 28th through Sunday, May 1st. The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances will be offered virtually to anyone watching from home. 

Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.sarasotacontemporarydance.org/in-theater

or by calling the Muriel G. Mayers Box Office at 941-260-8485, with hours Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10 AM – 4 PM.