Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba.

Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba (Cuban National Folkloric Dance Ensemble) won over a diverse and receptive audience at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (February 24-25, 1996) as part of its first American tour in fifteen years. For Danza de las Canastas (Basket Dance) the company's principal choreographer, Manolo Micler, fills the stage with women in yellow, baskets on their heads, as they weave through the flirtatious dance of Oshun, the mistress of sweet waters. Micler artfully reveals the complex counterrhythms of shoulders, feet, and hips that characterize the laughing goddess of beauty. This and other works on the program attest to the intimate ties that Cuban tradition has with the religion of Santeria, with its own roots in the rites of the Yoruba people of Africa.

In Tumba Francesa and Guajiras (Country Dances) seven onstage musicians warm up the crowd. Trailing full, starched skirts, women link arms with the men, gliding serenely through shifting formations. For the finale of Descarga de Rumbas y Comparsas, by Ana Luisa Caceres, the company takes to the aisles, returning to the stage with audience members in tow. International relations had definitely warmed up.