{"id":140,"date":"2019-02-04T07:53:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/?p=140"},"modified":"2019-02-04T17:44:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T22:44:12","slug":"a-day-of-art-music-and-relaxation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/2019\/02\/04\/a-day-of-art-music-and-relaxation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day of Art, Music, and Relaxation"},"content":{"rendered":"

This day was packed full of activities.\u00a0 By now we were accustomed to living in Havana and ready to explore more that the city had to offer, including the vibrant art culture.\u00a0 This day included trips to various famous art venues: the Museo de Bellas Artes, the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonzo, as well as Club 1830, and then the beauty of the natural world: the beach.<\/p>\n

Museo de Bellas Artes<\/h1>\n

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Museum of Fine Art, Havana.<\/p>\n

The first place we went was the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.\u00a0 This is the national museum of art located across from the Museum of the Revolution. This museum featured Cuban art from every period of Cuban history.\u00a0 The art was much more beautiful than I anticipated.\u00a0 I found that while it had a certain European style, it also had a distinct Cuban approach.\u00a0 Some of my favorite works that I saw included: Servando Cabrera Moreno\u2019s Milicias campesinas<\/em>, Marcelo Pogolotti\u2019s El intellectual o Joven intellectual,<\/em> and Victor Manuel Garc\u00eda\u2019s Gitana tropical<\/em> and R\u00edo San Juan<\/em>. Many of these paintings created by Cuban artists was nothing like I have ever seen before.\u00a0 There were also many sculptures throughout the museum.\u00a0 I also really liked that one of the exhibits featured art created by Cuban kids.\u00a0 This exhibit was really cool because it focused on Cuban kids\u2019 art while at the same time providing a history lesson to Cubans and tourists alike.<\/p>\n

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Servando Cabrera Moreno\u2019s Milicias campesinas<\/em>, 1961.<\/p>\n

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Marcelo Pogolotti\u2019s El intellectual o Joven intellectual<\/em>, 1937.<\/p>\n

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Victor Manuel Garc\u00eda\u2019s Gitana tropical<\/em>, 1929.\u00a0 Also known as the “Cuban Mona Lisa”.<\/p>\n

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Victor Manuel Garc\u00eda\u2019s R\u00edo San Juan<\/em>, 1943.<\/p>\n

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Another interesting exhibit at the museum was the \u201cEl Hueco, un espacio del Arte contra la Injusticia\u201d (A space for art against injustice).\u00a0 This space was created for every person to reflect on the punishment of solitary confinement of seventeen months imposed on the Cuban Five by the United States.\u00a0 This exhibit featured watercolor pieces done by the members of the Cuban Five.\u00a0 This installation was meant to give Cubans a firsthand account of the terrible experience endured by the Cuban Five.\u00a0 While we did not get to go in, as it was closed, this exhibit was sobering to experience nevertheless.\u00a0 It was impossible to imagine what life was like for the Cuban Five in solitary confinement, but instead of responding with violence, they responded with art and a warning for the future.\u00a0 Similar atrocities should never be repeated and this exhibit serves as a reminder to the public to never forget.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEl Hueco, un espacio del Arte contra la Injusticia\u201d<\/p>\n

Relaxing at the Beach<\/h1>\n

After the art museum, we traveled about thirty minutes outside of Havana to a beautiful beach.\u00a0 The water was warm and a beautiful shade of turquoise blue.\u00a0 It was one of the most beautiful beaches that I have been to in my life.\u00a0 The beach offered me a chance to relax after a long week of going nonstop.\u00a0 After swimming for an hour or so, a few of us decided to take a walk down the beach.\u00a0 Along our walk, each of us collected pieces of sea glass and pretty shells that we found in the beach sands and among the seaweed.\u00a0 There is nothing better than enjoying a warm day on a tropical beach when everyone back home was experiencing winter weather.<\/p>\n

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Blue skies and turquoise waters.<\/p>\n

Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso<\/h1>\n

After the beach, we went back to the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso. We had visited this the day before to see Swan Lake performed by the Cuban National Ballet.\u00a0 We were lucky enough to purchase seats in a box on the left side of the theater the day before.\u00a0 The costumes were spectacular, and equally magnificent was the backdrops created for the various settings of the ballet.\u00a0 The dancers were stunning, their footwork was impeccable and the entire performance I watched with awe as they danced through complicated footwork and graceful leaps.\u00a0 Before visiting Cuba, I did not realize there even was a national ballet company and did not realize that I would be lucky enough to witness a performance firsthand.\u00a0 It is an experience that I will never forget.<\/p>\n

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Program posted outside the Opera House.<\/p>\n

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Ticket for Swan Lake Ballet.<\/p>\n

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Inside the Opera House, before the first act began.<\/p>\n

Salsa Dancing at Club 1830<\/h1>\n

Even later that night, we went to Club 1830 in Havana.\u00a0 This club is known for outdoor salsa dancing by the water.\u00a0 It was a chance for us to interact with the locals and try out our salsa dancing skills with them.\u00a0 The club was full of energy and blasting Cuban music.\u00a0 The energy of this place was absolutely amazing.\u00a0 Everyone was dancing, laughing, and generally having a good time.\u00a0 Many of us stayed until the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

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Outside Club 1830.<\/p>\n

This day in Cuba was absolutely one of my favorites.\u00a0 We got to do so many exciting things and experience a vibrant Cuba filled with art and music and sun.\u00a0 The fine arts museum was more amazing than I though it would be.\u00a0 It was full of beautiful pieces of art created by painters that I never heard of before coming to Cuba.\u00a0 Swan Lake was one of the most beautiful performances, either ballet, play, or musical that I have ever seen.\u00a0 Everyone was sure to remember their few hours at the beach because most of us left with sunburns, in January. It was one of the most memorable days of the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This day was packed full of activities.\u00a0 By now we were accustomed to living in Havana and ready to explore more that the city had to offer, including the vibrant art culture.\u00a0 This day included trips to various famous art … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":786,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/cuba-winter-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}