Dance
Five Years Strong: ‘Men Who Dance’ Festival Showcases the Best of Male Dance
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida dancers in“Vuelo” by ABTF artistic director and choreographer, Vladimir Issaev. The company will be part of this year’s “Men Who Dance” festival at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, and featuring more than 40 dancers representing more than 20 counties on Saturday, Nov. 30 and Sunday, Dec. 1. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong).
In 2020, Rafi Maldonado-Lopez, artistic director of the “Men Who Dance” all-male dance festival and founder of the Inter-American Choreographic Institute, introduced the inaugural program as a bold initiative to challenge stereotypes surrounding male dance.
Starting with a modest group of 15 performers, the festival has grown into a prominent event. This year’s program at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Arts, which features many Miami-Dade County companies, features more than 40 dancers accompanied by a chamber music ensemble and opera singers.
Just back from Mexico, Maldonado-Lopez speaks passionately about his vision for the South Florida dance scene. “I want artists to be able to raise families,” he says. “When I worked in dance in New York, Boston and Minnesota, I didn’t have to do anything else – just dance.”
For Maldonado-Lopez great art takes both shrewd business instincts and artistic talent.
Dancers from AV Dance perform at the 2023 Men Who Dance Festival. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
“I feel we had to educate the artist on how to speak about why art is important. How are you going to convince others that art is important if you don’t know how to explain how it is necessary?” explains Maldonado-Lopez. “We are challenged with creating a new narrative and to look at this differently. Let’s face it – artist rich communities enjoy higher real estate values.”
This year’s festival features an impressive lineup of groups and dancers representing more than 20 countries. Highlights include performances by Miami City Ballet, Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, AV Dance (Anthony Velazquez), The National Dance Company of Mexico, Tango Out, Dance NOW! Miami, Florida Grand Opera, and the Sanctuary of the Arts Ensemble.
Reflecting on his own journey, Maldonado-Lopez says, “I’ve been lucky at the Sanctuary of the Arts,” referring to the fine arts campus in Coral Gables he co-founded in 2019 with lawyer and President of Colson Hicks Eidson, Mike Eidson. “What we’ve been trying to do is keep people here and keep them from leaving. We’re still this gig-based economy (in South Florida dance), and other than dancers at Miami City Ballet, think of one (South Florida) organization where you can get a salary for being a dancer.”
Dancer Argenis Montalvo of the National Dance Company of Mexico interprets “Pavana.” (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
Although a few South Florida companies provide stipends for performances, most dancers in the area must take on additional jobs to cover their living expenses.
The fifth iteration of the MWD festival offers Maldonado-Lopez a dual opportunity: to expand its reach and revisit highlights from its formative years.
“For the first time, we’ll have five men from the National Company of Mexico performing,” he says. “Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida is bringing back one of their larger pieces, and I’m reviving ‘The Sixth Day,’ the original opening work from the first festival, symbolizing the day man was created.”
He enthusiastically says that Gabriel Lorena will be featured.
“(He’s) a former student of mine from Miami City Ballet who now dances at Kansas City Ballet. He’ll be premiering a new work choreographed specifically for the festival.”
Jennifer Kronenberg and husband Carlos Guerra, co-founders and co-artistic directors of Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, form another cornerstone of the festival. Former principal dancers with Miami City Ballet, Kronenberg and Guerra have been integral to the festival since its beginning.
Fresh off their company’s season opener at the Dennis C. Moss Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay, Kronenberg is frank about the challenges South Florida dance companies face with unexpected state cutbacks in arts funding and the high cost of living here that impacts the availability of male dancers.
Tango Out’s “Tango Twins” – Nicolás & Germán Filipeli – perform a milonga at a previous Men Who Dance Festival. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
“There’s a shortage of male dancers in South Florida,” says Kronenberg. “Men in this field are hot commodities and it’s hard to keep people here when the cost of living is so high.”
Kronenberg sees in the festival an ongoing opportunity to shift people’s perceptions around male dance and to prod audiences to acknowledge that ballet is an artform for both genders. “I think that just like anything else it (the festival) helps open people’s eyes to what dance is in the 21st century and where we are trying to evolve it – the men are a big part of that. People go to the ballet thinking that ballet is woman, and the MWD experience provides something different than what most people are used to.”
Like Kronenberg and Guerra, Miami City Ballet soloist and choreographer Ariel Rose has been a founding and ongoing contributor to the festival.
“I think everyone who contributes to the show contributes what they think male dancing means to them,” says Rose about the festival’s value. “I’m still dancing professionally, and so I choreograph what I think is wonderful about male dancing with its musicality, grace and strength.”
This year, Rose brings his newest work, “Duo Tasso”, to the festival, a piece that premiered in March at the New World Center during the symphony’s “Cello and Dance” program and was originally performed by Miami City Ballet dancers, Renan Cerdeiro and Satoki Habuchi.
Dancer Kaique Israel Barbosa of the Sanctuary of the Arts Choreographic Ensemble solos in “Narcissus” by Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami (CCBM) choreographer and artistic director, Eriberto Jiménez. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
Rose set this pas de deux to the third movement of a cello duet by contemporary Italian composer Giovanni Sollima, titled “Il Tasso” (“The Badger”). Inspired by the cello duet’s interplay, where the instruments alternately claim the melody and bass lines, Rose crafted his work to mirror this musical exchange.
“It sounds like a race to the finish, and so I have the two dancers chase one another during the piece,” explains Rose. “One dancer is one count behind the other, and then the roles shift, with the other dancer taking the lead.”
Rose sees in the festival as a space for presenting diverse expressions of male dance. “I am very proud of where this show has grown from, and I get such good feedback from fathers who bring their sons to the show. This is as wide a genre show as you can get. You are probably going to walk away loving at least one thing.”
WHAT: “Men Who Dance” produced by the Inter-American Choreographic Institute
WHERE: The Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 30 and 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 1
COST: $25, $35, $45
INFORMATION: (954) 462-0222 or BrowardCenter.org
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