The Footsteps of Nieves Fresneda: Folkloric Dance and Racial Politics in Revolutionary Cuba

Scholarship on racial politics in Cuba often cite folkloric dance as an exemplum of the inequalities and prejudices that persisted despite Fidel Castro’s anti-racist platforms. After 1959, the historically disenfranchised, such as the descendants of slaves who had opposed colonialism and slavery for centuries, became powerful symbols of the revolutionary vision. However, as the 1960s continued the government increasingly sought to highlight national unity and minimize or ignore racial difference. For many scholars, folkloric performance was symptomatic of these problems. It reified race and exploitation as dramatic vestiges of a corrupted past. This paper offers a different interpretation. I argue that folkloric performers used their art to challenge prevailing norms about publicly discussing race, nation, and revolution.

            To substantiate my claims, I focus on the career of the acclaimed Cuban folkloric dancer Nieves Fresneda. A woman of humble origins and African descent, Fresneda became the inspiration for many fellow Cuban dance makers. Her role in the professionalization of folkloric dance after 1959 provides larger insight into racial politics of the period on and off the stage. This paper traces the work of Fresneda as she performed nationally and internationally on stage and film. It also considers her role as a teacher at the National Art School in Havana. As Fresneda performed to great acclaim and inspired future generations of students, she made powerful statements about the centrality of blackness to Cuban national identity. Though involved in nationalized institutions, she nevertheless propagated a highly personal connection to the rituals, songs, and dances that she performed. As Fresneda expressed individual ideas and emotions, she offered not a sanitized, official version of Cuban folklore, but rather an idiosyncratic and passionate interpretation of practices that had a role in many Cubans’ daily lives.