La Colmenita will arrive from Cuba to captivate with its theater, music and dance

After visiting some 20 countries, Puerto Rico continued to be that sister destination, to which The Colmenita of Cuba I longed to visit and leave a seed planted in demonstration of Cuban culture, manifested in various artistic aspects.

Its founder and leader, the teacher Carlos Alberto Cremata leads the reins of this Cuban children’s theater company, which arrives for the first time in Puerto Rico, where children are the protagonists of the performance.

“We had never been to Puerto Rico. It was a very big dream because we consider them our closest brothers. We are very eager to visit them, it is a lifelong dream, they are the other wing of the bird. La Colmenita is a group of children that has primarily been doing theater for 34 years, where we also include all the manifestations: theater, dance, music, live music, plastic arts and audiovisuals. We integrate all of that”Cremata highlighted by telephone with The new day about the group, made up of 21 children and 9 adults.

The educator, specialized in artistic and theatrical direction, explained enthusiastically that they will present a work that they love to do and that has been liked by audiences in more than 20 countries, which they have titled “Cinderella, according to The Beatles”, which will take the stage on September 16 at the Santurce Fine Arts Center.

“They say that the story of ‘Cinderella’ is the most classic story that exists, but this time that story It is retold from the vision of four little mice who live in the basement of Cinderella’s house and, at the same time as they tell the story, they rehearse as a musical group and the little mice are called John, Paul, George and Ringo, the names of the members of The Beatles. Then, as they tell the story, they sing the songs of this popular and extraordinary English group that revolutionized music,” explained the teacher, known in the artistic environment as Tin.

This is how they carry a double message, because while the children relive the traditional story of Cinderella, the parents and grandparents who take them will be able to listen to the group’s songs live, which can evoke nostalgia. Likewise, Cremata advanced the possibility that his group will eventually perform the songs “Preciosa” and “Lamento Borincano”, written by the Puerto Rican composer and musician. Rafael Hernandez.

With La Colmenita’s visit to each territory, over all these years, it has gained friends, an incalculable cultural exchange, and a much superior knowledge of the world, according to its founder, because studying a country is not the same as visiting it.

“We have thousands of friends all over the world in Turkey, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Russia. Throughout Europe, France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and throughout America, from Canada to Patagonia in Argentina”, andHe emphasized at the same time that he mentioned the illusion that visiting Puerto Rico makes them and that this translates into an annual practice. However, the visa issue to enter US territory makes it more complicated.

The meaning of your life

For the artistic director of La Colmenita, February 14, 1990 was the day not only that he founded La Colmenita, but a day that changed his life forever. Cremata has been a fundamental piece in the lives of many children, between the ages of 5 and 15, who come from all the schools in Havana and Cuba.

“They are absolutely ordinary children, from normal schools, who after school come to La Colmenita, which is a space we have here in Havana to play theater, dance and music. They’re not gifted kids, they’re in art school, nothing like that. “They are absolutely ordinary children, like all children in the world.”he pointed out.

However, they are children who are acquiring skills and abilities, as well as human values. As they go, they learn to tune, play instruments and act. This group is always renewed because the children grow up and become young people, so other younger ones come to take the place left by the older ones.

“The truth is that first it was a ‘hobby’, then it was my profession and for many years it has been the meaning of my life. The first children who entered La Colmenita today are 40 or a little more years old, they are scattered all over the world and, although they are not professional artists, the majority are doctors, engineers, firefighters, police officers, and all professions. In their work environments, in their jobs, in their professions, they are incorporating a lot into their work environment, from a spiritual and artistic point of view. So it is very common to see a work center, for example, in a fire department that has a choir of musicians, which has been organized by a firefighter who was part of La Colmenita when he was a child,” he said proudly.

And it is that for Cremata, it is vital to impact the lives of these children and young people, more than anything in the psychological and emotional aspect. It brings to attention that that motto of “healthy mind and healthy body” has been reduced and there is a tendency to worry more about a healthy body.

“In these times when people worry a lot about going to the gym, going to fitness, and less and less about going to the library and practicing their brain and mind, we do the unspeakable to also help the mind, the “reading, studying, studying the culture of humanity and its people,” he stressed.