Waiting for Pepe// Ballet Hispanico

Ballet Hispanico in Waiting for Pepe. Photo: Paula Lobo

Waiting for Pepe

Choreography: Carlos Pons Guerra

Music: Banda Ionica, Chavela Vargas, Par Ney de Castro

Lighting: Bob Franklin

For 13 dancers.

Duration: 25 mins

Federico García Lorca’s 1936 play, The House of Bernarda Alba, tells the story of five Andalusian sisters confined by their tyrannical mother to eight years of strict mourning. Taking its initial inspiration from this iconic play, Waiting for Pepe expands the walls and number of inhabitants of Bernarda Alba’s house. The dance reflects on our current world, where domineering figures like García Lorca’s infamous matriarch are appearing across the globe. These figures draw a raw, absurd, and darkly comical portrait of the yearning, tension, and hysteria that oppressed communities experience when they are denied the beautifully feathered bird that is sexual, religious, and individual freedom.

Premiered at the Joyce Theatre, New York, in April 2018