Day 1: Depart for Havana

• Arrive at Jose Marti International Airport and go to Hotel (or Casa Particular) for check-in.

• Trip briefing and lunch at hotel.

• Take a morning orientation tour of Havana, ending at the home of a professional folkloric dance troupe for an afternoon show of music and dance. This will be followed with Cuban-style Rumba with an opportunity for interactive discussion.

• Return to hotel to meet our team of instructors and take your first dance workshop.

• Welcome dinner with Cuban guests.

Day 2: Havana

• Breakfast

• Afro-Cuban workshop with our instructor team

  • Focus: The Orishas in the Yoruba spiritual tradition

  • Participants will learn together about the history and characteristics of each Orisha and divide into separate groups for percussion, dances, and songs

• Lunch on your own

• Site visit, performances, discussion and cultural exchange at a nationally renowned community project where local disadvantaged youth receive specialized training in visual and performing arts. They have produced very effective work that has revitalized a neighborhood.

• Buffet dinner at the hotel

Day 3: Havana

• Breakfast

• For dancers: an intensive contemporary dance workshop & exchange with a dance company at the Cuba National Theater

• For musicians and educators: a site visit to Superior Arts Institute (ISA), the national university for top-level arts students aiming to become artists, performers, or professors. Interact with the artists, professors, and students.

• Lunch on your own

• Visit the home of a well-known dance ensemble for an interactive presentation entitled “Contradanza to Casino and Everything in Between”—the evolution of Cuban social dancing. After the workshop and presentation we will have a cultural exchange with the dancers, musicians, professors, teachers, health professionals and others who work together in this ensemble.

• Buffet dinner at the hotel

Day 4: Havana

• Breakfast

• Visit the home of a well-known dance group where there will be a presentation of Afro-Cuban dance with live music , followed by a workshop with the artists.

• Lunch on own

• Workshops or site visits according to personal interests

  • For dancers: a Cuban Contemporary Body Movement workshop with a nationally acclaimed choreographer

  • For musicians: Site Visits to professional musicians in their workplaces with the opportunity to see performances and to have conversations with other musicians

  • Buffet dinner at the hotel

Day 5: Havana

• Breakfast

• Visit the home of the local children’s training project for dance. Separate into smaller groups for music, dance and physical theater workshops with local instructors

• Lunch and discussion at the Casa de la Amistad

• Intensive workshops or site visits in research groups

  • For dancers : a  Site visit to a local ballet studio to observe and meet the dancers and instructors

  • For musicians: intensive workshop in a professional sound studio

• Attend a children’s dance performance including interaction with dancers

• Buffet dinner at the hotel

Day 6: Havana

• Breakfast

• Return for a full morning of workshops in Afro-Cuban dance & drumming with local dancers. You will reinforce your learning from Tuesday, as well as add dances of new Yoruba Orishas

• Lunch on your own

• Visit to an interactive museum of the Orishas and Yoruba traditions

• Dinner 

• Good-bye party at the hotel with Cuban guests you have met during your time in Cuba

Day 7: Farewell & Return Home

• Breakfast at hotel (or casa particular)

• Group debrief of the trip

• Head to airport for your return flight home!