Sissi Tellechea

Havana Rakatan Tour Dates

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:46:42 +0000

Below you can find the tour dates and schedule of Havana Rakatan for the next months. I will update the information on new cities, venues and dates as they become available. To find out about a particular show, just click on the venue for further information on availability and prices. A list of past shows performed this year is also shown at the end of the post.

Upcoming shows

Date	City	Venue	Country
Tour: United Kingdom
29/09/10 - 02/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Sheffield	Lyceum Theatre	United Kingdom
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05/10/10 - 09/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Edinburgh	Festival Theatre	United Kingdom
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12/10/10 - 14/10/10	Havana Rakatan in London	Hackney Empire	United Kingdom
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15/10/10 - 16/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Warwick	Butterworth Hall	United Kingdom
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18/10/10 - 23/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Truro	Hall for Cornwall	United Kingdom
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25/10/10 - 27/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Bradford	Alhambra Theatre	United Kingdom
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28/10/10 - 30/10/10	Havana Rakatan in Northampton	Royal and Derngate	United Kingdom
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10/11/10 - 13/11/10	Havana Rakatan in Dartford	Orchard Theatre	United Kingdom
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15/11/10 - 19/11/10	Havana Rakatan in High Wycombe	Wycombe Swan	United Kingdom
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Past performances

Date	City	Venue	Country
Tour: Japan
06/08/10 - 15/08/10	Havana Rakatan in Tokyo	Tokyo International Forum	Japan

Sissi joins Havana Rakatan!

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:39:43 +0000

Sissi has joined Havana Rakatan to perform during the summer and autumn tour of the company during 2010. Sissi visited Rakatan in spring 2009 where she collaborated as a visiting dancer. At the beginning of this year, she received a kind invitation to join the company, which she was extremely happy to accept. Sissi is already in La Havana where she is preparing the current show with the rest of the crew. The tour will expand from August until November and Rakatan will be visiting cities in Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

About Havana Rakatan

Founded in 2001 by dancer and choreographer Nilda Guerra, Ballet Rakatan is regarded as one of the most talented and versatile groups of dancers to emerge from Cuba in many years. They have performed throughout Cuba in some of the countries most prestigious venues and events including the Playa Municipal Theatre, the Havana Street Festival, Cuba’s annual film festival – the Lucas Awards, the National Theatre of Cuba, and the Habana Café, as well as performing five televised summer seasons in Havana in 2006.

Most of the dancers are graduates of the renowned Escuela Nacional de Arte de la Habana, combining contemporary dance training with every aspect of Cuban dance and Latin styles; including Classic, Folklore, Popular, Salsa and Flamenco.

In December 2002 the Rakatan Ballet Company were the first Cuban group to perform at the World Salsa Congress in Zurich, Switzerland.

Ballet Rakatan’s 2006 performances at the Edinburgh Festival were awarded the Five Stars Award, and were described as the most talked-about and press-covered company at the Festival.

During the summer of 2007 and spring of 2009 they performed a five week run of Havana Rakatan at London’s Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre. In February 2010 they visited again London’s Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre for another five-week performance.

Watch a promotional video of Havana Rakatan here.

Recent Havana Rakatan Reviews

“Every now and then a dance show comes along that has such runaway enthusiasm that you bin the criticism and merrily rave to anyone who will listen. Havana Rakatan is such a show.”
EVENING STANDARD

“A stunning slice of Havana life”
THE INDEPENDENT

“The hottest, the coolest, the sexiest dancers in town… irresistible”
SUNDAY EXPRESS

“Rip-roaring entertainment. Expectations were fulfilled to the point of a full-throated standing ovation”
TIME OUT

“Has all the ingredients of a summer sizzler…will have you bouncing in your seat”
METRO

Terminology used during “Rueda Cubana” classes

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:55:35 +0000

The following table presents the salsa figures I have covered during the last couple of months in my salsa classes on Wednesdays. The aim of this list is to help the student to familiarise with the terminology and understand their translation. A final column highlights whether changing partners occurs when conducting the figure. I will be regularly updating this note new figures from the classes every week.

Spanish term	English translation	Change partner?
Caminala	Walk her	NO
Caminala (otra dirección)	Walk her (change direction)	NO
Saca agua del pozo	Get water from the well	NO
Dame	Give her	YES
Dile que no	Say no to her	NO
Enchufla	Enchufla	YES
Enchufla doble	Double “Enchufla”	YES
Enchufla doble y dile que no	Double “Enchufla”and say not to her	NO
Panqué	Panqué	NO
Un rolling	One rolling	NO
Una media	One in the middle	NO
Un fly	One fly	NO
Un tacaño	One tight person	NO
Dos tacaños	Two tight people	NO
Cero	Zero	YES
Cero doble	Double Zero	YES
Engañala	Cheat on her	NO
Setenta	Seventy	NO
Festival	Party	YES

Remember that “festival” is always joined by another action and it means that the action has to be repeated three times with three different partners.

Spanish numbers and corresponding English translation

Spanish	English
Un, uno	One
Dos	Two
Tres	Three
Cuatro	Four
Cinco	Five
Doble	Double

I hope you find this note helpful.
Sissi

Studio Session – Eco Cloths

sisitelle — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:30:44 +0000

The following series were prepared and photographed by Robert Viglasky and Ela Partyka. The topic was Eco-Clothes and we created the dresses with plastic bags, papers and a lot of imagination in a very entertaining day. The photographers were working with a Hasselblad medium format camera of 30 years old and they also did some digital shoots.

Cuban Salsa Bands List

admin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:49:41 +0000

Find below a non-exhaustive list of fantastic Cuban salsa bands to listen to and pratice the salsa moves you have been learning during our classes. I have done a quick search and there are loads of albums from these groups in iTunes, amazon and HMV. The perfect gift for Christmas! I will update this list with new bands I come across regularly.

1.	Los Van Van
2.	Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco
3.	El Clan
4.	Pupi y los que Son Son
5.	Charanga Habanera
6.	Orquesta Aragon (cha cha cha)
7.	Isaac Delgado
8.	Bamboleo

Have a nice weekend.
Sissi

Note: I do not receive by any means financial gains from any of the sources mentioned in this note.

“Mirage” from Point Zero Physical Theatre Oxford

sisitelle — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:18:25 +0000

Over the last two months I have collaborated with the Oxford-based Physical Theatre Point Zero. The company has recently being created under the direction of Danny Scott and I had the opportunity to dance and act with a young crew with a lot of energy that included Barbara Baer, Anja Meinhardt and Hannah de Cancho. The name of the show that we presented was “Mirage” and I contributed to the choreography of “Masquerade”, the story of a young girl who makes the wrong decisions in her life, and “Ritual”, the story of a group of women in her everyday tasks as housewives. The piece was presented at O’Reilly Theatre, Keble College on the 13th November 2009. I have received the following review for my performance:

[...] Sissi Tellechea’s central performance gets a special mention – her physical characterisation of a young girl wavering between doubt and self-confidence was absolutely convincing. [...] – Matt Bright, Daily Info, Oxford

Photography Oliver Tellechea

Mask Making with Point Zero Physical Theatre

sisitelle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:01:33 +0000

I collaborated with the Physical Theatre Point Zero based in Oxford in a piece called “Masquerade” written and directed by Danny Scott. As part of the training to prepare the performance we created masks to experiment the sensations of being trapped within in ourselves. The process was very rewarding and the sensations unique, in particular when the mask was drying and I could feel that I had another layer on me. The photographer Oliver Tellechea helped to document the session.

Movie stills project

sisitelle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:39:40 +0000

The following series were created for a project aiming at developing compositions skills and storytelling. The sequence was written and directed by the visual artist Robert Viglasky. I also had the opportunity to collaborate with Mario Mage and Oliver Tellechea. We shot the whole series over two days in the evenings and it was one of those cold deep nights in Oxford. Oxford streets were fantastic and provided the perfect layout for Robert’s story.

Sissi Tellechea at 2009 Summer Recess

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:08:47 +0000

Sissi Tellechea in a rehearsal during the 2009 Summer Recess at Swindon Dance. Choreography by Laurent Cavanna. Music by Barry Ganberg.

Collaboration with choreographer Nickely Burke

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:42:27 +0000

I have recently had the opportunity to collaborate with the Oxford-based dancer and choreographer Nickely Burke during a performance at a Montessori School. Another ten dancers participated in the piece. We rehearsed during two weeks and it was a fantastic feeling being part of this group.

The performance took place in a open air garden with a fantastic view of surrounding fields. The weather was excellent and I believe we all enjoyed the day.

Sissi Tellechea