Havana, April 18 (Prensa Latina) Chinese actress and dancer Zhang Lin, visiting Cuba today to participate in the International Urban Landscape Dance Festival, will present “Head Bowl Dance,” a work included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

She is the only member of the Chinese delegation participating in the competition, which will take place from April 25 to 27 in Havana, and which will move freely, with a symphony, metaphorically speaking, in which the body is the main protagonist.

At an event featuring theoretical forums, yoga and contemporary dance workshops, flamenco and tango music, and other activities, Lin performs this dance with the ease of a bird in mid-flight, holding bowls on its head.

The Mongolian “Head Bowl Dance” is a unique form of traditional Mongolian dance, possessing profound cultural richness and high artistic value, according to the event program.

Through dancer Lin’s skills and graceful movements, multiple symbolic meanings are conveyed, the statement added.

Lin, with cups attached to her head, usually made of porcelain, maintains the stability of these vessels while spinning and jumping in her dance, demonstrating her body control and balance.

This dance, through the central element “the bowl on the head,” integrates life, ceremony, and faith into a whole.

The 2025 edition of the International Urban Landscape Dance Festival will feature artists from Bulgaria, China, Spain, and Mexico, the latter country having the largest delegation of dance companies.

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Havana, April 17 (Prensa Latina) The International Urban Landscape Dance Festival returns to the Cuban capital with an extensive program that includes theater and dance, combined with film and a variety of other events, its organizers announced today.

From April 25th to 27th, Havana will be in full swing, with a metaphorical symphony in which the body is the main protagonist, at an event featuring theoretical forums, yoga and contemporary dance workshops, flamenco and tango music, and more.

The 29th edition of the competition will feature artists from Bulgaria, China, Spain, and Mexico, the latter country having the largest delegation of dance companies.

Among the Cuban participants are the Danzando Sociocultural Project, the Ecos Flamenco Company, the prestigious university student troupe Danza Voluminosa, the Raíces Profundas Company, and the Rosario Cárdenas Company, all based in the capital.

Meanwhile, the Cuban provinces of Matanzas and Cienfuegos will also be present with Danza Espiral and the Nexos 2.0 Company, respectively.

Among the goals this year of the International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes are to enhance the artistic and cultural heritage of Havana’s Historic Center, highlighting Cuban and universal identity, and encouraging companies to create choreography inspired by the architectural spaces where the event takes place.

Also to raise awareness of the assets of urban architecture and historical memory.

Another festival within the festival will take place at Bella Plaza, a project in the heart of Old Havana that showcases the potential of one of the capital’s most popular spaces.

This is Plaza Vieja, which will host the “Plaza Viva” project, an initiative that will bring the city into a state of revelry for three days.

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Havana, April 16 (Prensa Latina) The 8th European Film Festival in Cuba kicked off today with a unique selection of 28 films from across the continent and an exhibition of posters reworked by students from the San Alejandro Academy.

The exhibition, which opened in the Charles Chaplin Room, was presented by the European Union ambassador to Havana, Isabel Brilhante, who praised the speed, sensitivity, and talent of the young artists who quickly created the posters paying homage to classic and well-known films.

These include the French film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the Italian film Cinema Paradiso, the Spanish film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and others representing each participating nation.

The Italian feature film The First Woman (Primadonna, 2022) was then screened at the 23rd and 12th Street cinema, officially marking the start of the eighth edition of the European Film Festival in Cuba.

This fictional production is Marta Savina’s debut feature film, inspired by the true story of young Sicilian woman Viola Franca, with gender-based violence as its central theme.

The film is inspired by the first Italian woman who refused to comply with restorative marriage, a law that allowed abusers to marry their victims.

The invitation is open to the public until April 30th, so don’t miss the screenings, all with free admission, in theaters 23 and 12, the Chaplin and Acapulco theaters in the Cuban capital, where you can enjoy most of the films premiering on the island.

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