The other day we were lucky enough to meet Alieva Rodriguez and couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask her a few questions as we are curious about go&dance for our section of interviews with dance professionals.

We had heard that her training as a dancer started as a very young girl in Cuba and we wanted to know more about her so we asked her this question. (At the end of it all there is a space for you to add your comments.

Hello Alieva Rodriguez, could you introduce yourself briefly? Who are you? Where and when did you start dancing?

Hi, I'm Alieva Rodríguez Dinza, I'm Cuban, I'm Guantanamo.

I practically started dancing when I was in my mother's belly, although I started my professional career at the age of 11, when I entered the Cuban National School of Art with a scholarship.

I am currently a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, with a specialization in Cuban folklore.

We know that your training as a dancer is spectacular, tell us a little more about your beginnings with the dance and tell us some memorable anecdote that you have lived since you danced, please.

The training in Cuba, in the artistic field, is especially hard, almost military in terms of the discipline to be followed, timetables and long hours of study. With both generic and specific subjects in dance and art in general, with the aim of turning the student into a complete artist.

My beginnings in professional dance were, as I said before, at the age of 11.

At this age I had to make a decision that would change my life. I got a scholarship after passing auditions, exams and tests of all kinds. As a child I had to leave my home, my family, my friends... in short, sacrifice everything to pursue my dream of becoming a dancer.

I have thousands of anecdotes, but I remember one especially funny one. On one of my first tours, in Paris, I had "dressing room problems" and the part that held my dress broke. I had to dance the whole sequence with the hand of one of my classmates on my back so I wouldn't stay the way God brought me into the world, I don't know what the audience would think! Now I think about it and laugh, but at the time I wanted the earth to swallow me up!

What does dancing do for you? Why should people sign up to dance?

To me, dancing is everything. It brings you life, it changes the world and the way you see and face things.

Dancing teaches you to fight, to achieve with sacrifice what you want. It's a way to express myself, to relax and to bring out the best in me.

Life I focus on through dance and dance is rigor, perseverance, discipline and hard work, but all that sacrifice becomes the greatest satisfaction a person can have..... it is a way of life, a way of communicating and of having the soul express itself.

You ask me, why should people sign up to dance? Isn't it obvious? ;)

Tell us a virtue and a defect that you have

A virtue is always difficult to identify when it comes to oneself, but if I have to be honest, I would say that my greatest virtue is goodness, I feel the need to give myself and everything I have.

Curiously, this virtue often becomes a defect, and I find myself in difficulties because of it.

If you had to say what you like most about your life as a dancer, what would it be? and what would you like the least?

As a dancer and artist in general, what gives me the most satisfaction is to fill the audience with my message and my art.

What I like the least is that what I said earlier is not being fulfilled, that is, not being understood as an artist.

Which dance style do you feel most comfortable with? Why? And how many dance styles do you master?

Currently, what I work most on are Latin dances. I specialize in folklore. And my basic training is contemporary dance. This mixture has helped me to know my body and to master it, giving me the ability to do with it what I want. By this I mean I feel comfortable dancing, whatever it is.

The styles of dance I master are modern and contemporary dance, folk dances (Yoruba, Franco-Haitian, Cuban Rumba...), Cuban and Latin American folk dances (bachata, salsa, timba, reggaeton...), are, mambo, Cha Cha Cha Cha, mozambique, pilón, danzón, danzonete....), country dances (El Papalote, La Caringa, Zapateo...) African dances (Twerking, Kuduro, Kizomba...) and I have a lot of fun mixing everything.

Tell us a little about what you do at La Fábrica BCN, what is it and what is the project behind it?

It is a platform that promotes and publicizes professional artists worldwide, in the most global concept of the word. Both in the performing arts (dance, theatre, cinema...), musical arts, plastic arts, etc....

We promote art and artists in all the areas in which we have presence, both teaching, as well as congresses, events, shows, positioning of the artist, etc....

What project is behind it? You'll know soon enough ;)

Tell us, if you venture to say so, what do you think the future of the dance world will be like locally, nationally and internationally?

The future is unpredictable, especially in the world of art and dance, because of its breadth and different points of view and audiences.

In the end, as in almost all areas, we depend on external factors, whether political, economic or social. Everything that affects society at any level will affect art and the world of dance. I can only say that I will always do my bit, with strength, energy and enthusiasm so that everyone can enjoy themselves as I enjoy dancing.

Thank you Alieva for answering these questions. From go&dance we also want to do our bit through the platform to help people to discover where to dance wherever they are and to bring them closer to dance professionals like you.

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You may also be interested: Live your passion for dancing all over the world

 

Watch the video of Alieva Rodriguez's magnificent work in La Ciudad de La Salsa: