Liliet Orozco

Contemporary dance from the body, memory and transformation

Orozco Contemporáneo

Stage creation, body research and critical thought

Orozco Contemporáneo is a Cuban contemporary dance company founded in October 2023 in Havana, under the artistic direction of Liliet Orozco.

The company develops stage creation projects based on a creative industry logic, integrating body research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional artistic production.

It’s work revolves around the concept of “Consuelo” ( Consolation ) as an aesthetic, ethical and political axis, exploring the body as a space of memory, resistance and transformation.

Okana Yala

The root of the heartbeat

Orozco Contemporáneo — a company founded and directed by Liliet Orozco, a Cuban dancer, choreographer, cultural manager, and academic — presents the project Okana Yala, an artistic extension sponsored and supported by the parent company.

Okana Yala arises from the need to open creative and symbolic pathways between Cuba and its diaspora, articulating dance, music, and singing as inseparable languages. Its proposal focuses on transdisciplinary live performances, where tradition and contemporaneity intertwine to generate universal aesthetic experiences.

- Okana: the first letter of the Yoruba Dilogún, linked to the beginning and opening of paths.

- Yala: a Yoruba-Bantu phonetic resonance that invokes singing, calling, and melody.

- Synthesis: "the dance that opens paths, invokes the root, and projects towards the future."

Host Voice: Elain Morales

Cuban singer-songwriter and musician with a recognized international career, nominated for the Latin Grammy in 2012 and a winner of two Emmy awards. His uniquely timbred voice has been distinguished for its versatility and expressive depth. His style traverses timba, son, jazz, bolero, and flamenco, transcending genre boundaries.

In addition to his musical work, Morales has engaged in significant cultural activism and efforts against gender violence in Cuba, noted in international journalistic sources. In Okana Yala, he embodies the voice that opens and sustains the bridge between root and future, making Cuba en Mí a performance where singing becomes body, memory, and social commitment.

Musical Director: Alejandro Valdés

Alejandro Valdés Reyes is one of the most prominent figures in the so-called Nuevo Flamenco of Cuba. A composer, producer, and guitarist, he is also the founder and director of the group Palo de Agua.

His album Calles del Olvido was awarded for its sonic innovation by combining flamenco guitar, gaita flute, darbuka, electric bass, and Afro-Caribbean vocals. Valdés proposes a conscious departure from traditional flamenco frameworks without renouncing its technical rigor, while integrating a Caribbean vision of melancholy, rhythm, and improvisation. His art does not replicate clichés: it deconstructs them to rebuild a truly Cuban flamenco identity, tragic and sensual at the same time.

In Okana Yala, Alejandro Valdés, serves as the musical architect of the performance, generating the organic foundation that articulates dance, music and voice into a unique stage experience.