Rain Maiden
Tue 24.11.26, 19:30
Wed 25.11.26, 19:30
Pina Bausch Centre under construction, Bundesallee 260, Wuppertal
Wed 25.11.26, 19:30
Freie Waldorfschule Wuppertal
Rain Maiden is inspired by Die Regentrude by Theodor Storm and reimagines the story within the reality of contemporary Cuba. The drought at the center of Storm’s tale becomes a metaphor for the current crisis on the island—a state of material, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion that affects everyday life and the way people relate to one another.
On stage, this condition is embodied through movement. Bodies become heavy, fragmented, and depleted, while the desire for human connection is constantly challenged by external forces. The Feuermann appears as a consuming energy that accelerates, pressures, and drains, reflecting the forces that intensify this state of exhaustion. In contrast, the Regentrude is transformed from an individual character into a collective . Connected to ancestral memory and Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions, she emerges through voice, breath, rhythm, movement, and the gathering of bodies.
The work moves from drought to invocation, and from crisis toward the possibility of transformation. Rain does not arrive as an external miracle, but is summoned collectively through bodies that resist, remember, and support one another.
Created by Julio César Iglesias Ungo and George Enrique Céspedes Aguilera, in collaboration with Ben Frost, Jördis Richter, and Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Rain Maiden reflects on resilience and regeneration in a moment of profound crisis, asking how community, memory, nature, and collective action can create the possibility of a future
Credits
Co-Direction: Julio Cesar Iglesias Ungo & George Enrique Céspedes Aguilera
Original Idea & Dirección: Julio Cesar Iglesias Ungo & Jördis Richter
Choreography: Julio Cesar Iglesias Ungo & George Enrique Céspedes Aguilera
Original Music: Ben Frost
Visuals: Yusnier Mentado
Performers: Danza Contemporánea de Cuba (DCC)
Artistic Director (DCC): Miguel Iglesias Ferrer
Company Manager: Heriberto Cabezas
Lighting Design: Fernando Alonso
Sound Design: Alexis Sahagún Melián
Stage Manager: Álvaro Zúñiga Luis
Production: Bernaldo Castellanos Tamayo
Costume Design: Tamara García Márquez
Co-production: Kunststiftung NRW, Goethe-Institut, Pina Bausch Zentrum, Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba (DCC) & Cube Art Festival
Danza Contemporánea de Cuba can look back on over fifty years of history. Founded in 1959, in the year of the Cuban revolution, it reflects the island and its inhabitants in many ways. Dance in Cuba is venerated to an extent matched only by a few countries in the world, and thus the country’s longest-standing company is especially prized. Its repertoire however, is not limited to Cuban tradition, but ranges from the complany’s own Georges Céspedes to Spain’s Rafael Bonachela and Sweden’s Mats Ek. What choreographers especially appreciate about the dancers: they offer the rare combination of polished technique and genuine dedication. They pursue less perfection than emotional connection and thus bring authenticity and life into the choreographies.
Julio César Iglesias Ungo studied in Escuela Nacional De Arte E.N.A between 1995 and 2001 in Havana and graduated as a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer. Iglesias Ungo went seven years to the Danza Contemporánea de Cuba as Dancer and became 1st principal dancer, where he is a resident choreographer since 2010. In Europe he worked as dancer in the following companies Ultima Vez, Unusuals symptoms, La intrusa, Alain Platel, Susanne Linke, La Macana and Renegade.
During his time as a student, he received numerous prizes for his work as a Choreographer in different national events. He has done choreographic works for Contemporary Dance of Cuba, Danza Abierta, Danza Retazos, and several works of street intervention for the event Cities in Movement in Old Havana.
Julio César Iglesias Ungo has develop through the past year a technique method called INNER TOOLS. Inner Tools is based in the center of human conditions as a source, the creation of tools to control your actions and emotions, using all your potential and being aware of it, having the “NOW” as the main role. Inner Tools is an intuitive search to our physical and mental sources to redirect them in a performative way going in and out of physical and mental states, being truly with yourself. Future is now!
Director and Co-Founder in CubeArt Festival:
CubeArt is a multidisciplinary art and music festival that celebrates and promotes Cuban contemporary dance, street art and electronic music through integrated performances, live music and art installations across Havana. We collaborate with local and international musicians, muralists, dancers, choreographers, independent performance groups and national dance companies within urban and contemporary styles. Some artists are self-taught whereas others are formally educated stage performers or trained music producers. When they come together, this diverse range of artists create pieces of performances that transform people's relationship to culture by offering new perspectives on the purpose of art.