I. Mar De Leche

About

Mar De Leche

If the sea were made of milk, I would fish my sorrows, with little word of love

Choreography

Pedro Ruiz

Music

I. Performed by cellist Maya Beiser, opened with a
recording of Etty Ben-Zaken singing a Yearning Sephardic song in Ladino.

Composer

I. Tamar Muskal

Costume

Erica Johnston

Lighting Designer

Cheyenne Sykes

Dancers

Frankie Levita she/her Kayla Hsu she/her Jordan Black she/her

Greg Bantugan he/him Tade Biesinger he/him Ethan Palma he/him

Ava Boonstoppel she/her Libby Dusek she/her Maddy Mclean she/her

Sophia Aste she/her Alex Ferrigan she/her Harper Lilley she/her

The piece is inspired by a love song Sephardic Jews from a 14th century in Spain at
the time Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in peace together before the Jews
expulsion from Spain

Pedro Ruiz is a renowned choreographer and dancer who was born and trained in Cuba, as well as in Venezuela. In a 21-year career with Ballet Hispanico as its principal dancer, Ruiz also choreographed three critically acclaimed ballets for the company. Clive Barnes of The New York Post said of Guajira, “An especially fine work of form and structure.” Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times gave kudos
to Club Havana saying, “An explosion of sensuous pure dance.” And Gia Kourlas of Time Out New York glowed, “Ruiz’s Cecilia furthers the notion that his pieces
exhibit a timelessness.” Mr. Ruiz has now set out on his own choreographing for other dance companies in the US and internationally. Ruiz is excited about a new
commission with the New Jersey philharmonic orchestra 100th anniversary Gala to create a new ballet for the New Jersey Ballet “La Estancia” alongside cellist YoYo Maa and Wynton Marsalis at NJ PAC on November 12/2022.

Ruiz is the recipient of The Bessie Award, the Choo-San Goh Award, The Cuban Artist’s Fund Award and The Joyce Foundation Award. The FBI honored Ruiz for his Public Service during 2012’s Hispanic Heritage Month. Mr. Ruiz has performed at the White House for several presidents. In 2010, Ruiz founded The Windows Project—a groundbreaking cultural exchange program celebrating the art of dance between the U.S. and Cuba. Ruiz has been the subject of two PBS documentaries: Pas de Deux (part of the “In The Life” series), and Coming Home, a PBS documentary nominated for a NY Emmy Award. Ruiz’s highly successful ballet, Club Havana was featured in Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance. And Ruiz’s celebrated poetic duet, Lasting Embrace, premiered in the US in July 2016 at the Dancers Responding to AIDS Dance Festival on Fire Island. In 2019 under the auspices of the ¡Cuba Aquí! Festival, the Ballet Contemporáneo de
Camagűey from Cuba made its American debut at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse on March13 th bringing a joyful, exuberant program of three dances by their Cuban-American artistic director Pedro Ruiz. For more information, visit www.thewindowsproject.org.Ruiz is on the dance faculty of Marymount College, the staff of The Ailey School, a master-class teacher of The Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theater, Pace University, Complexion Contemporary Ballet and Resident Artistic of the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter. He has also taught master classes and performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Central and South America