HAVANA — Juan Miguel Mas spent almost 30 years leading Cuba’s Danza Voluminosa dance company, which regularly performed at elite theaters including the 2,000-capacity National Theater. The 60-year-old choreographer created an innovative movement featuring exclusively larger-bodied performers — work that became the subject of a Canadian documentary film.
Now the Havana native has moved away from the grand theaters where he once worked with professional performers. His current routine involves leading dance classes for young people and organizing community shows.
Mas faces the same challenges as other Cubans dealing with the island’s severe economic downturn, including frequent power failures, water shortages, rising prices and limited public transit options.
Artists face additional hardships, including canceled productions, eliminated funding for shows and widespread departures from the arts community. Mas recently learned his teaching position with the National Theater of Cuba has been terminated.
Arts journalist and essayist Michel Hernández described the situation bluntly. “The outlook for the arts is complex and bleak,” he said, explaining that Cuba’s once-accessible, government-funded cultural venues have declined dramatically, forcing artists to rely on costly private locations.
Despite these obstacles, Mas remains determined to stay.
“I am very interested in staying in Cuba,” he explained to The Associated Press during a recent Saturday while getting ready for practice with neighborhood children. “Were I to emigrate, I would lose contact with that ‘Cubanness’ that exists here, with the audience, the people, the folks next door.”
Mas was born in Havana in 1965 and learned dance and choreography from celebrated ballerina Laura Alonso and Ramiro Guerra, considered the founder of contemporary dance in Cuba. He also trained with Cuban-American performer and choreographer Lorna Burdsall, who supported him through discrimination from dance institutions due to his 160-kilogram (352-pound) weight.
In 1996, he launched Danza Voluminosa (or Voluminous Dance), which operated through 2024 and welcomed performers whose physiques didn’t match traditional dance standards. He also pursued acting and appeared in 2025’s “Cherri,” a dramatized movie inspired by his personal story.
To earn additional money beyond his modest income from youth instruction, Mas rents out part of his residence for commercial purposes and organizes weekend yard sales selling selected secondhand clothing, dishes and home items.
After his sister and teenage nephew moved to Spain last year, he lives by himself and manages costs by shopping at a neighborhood farmers’ market two blocks from home. He also benefits from having a government-subsidized pharmacy located directly across his street.
On a recent morning, carrying water to combat the heat, Mas walked six blocks to the bustling Marianao neighborhood, where 30 children and their mothers gathered to meet him.
The group quickly converted a street intersection into a performance space, and for 90 minutes straight, music played as the young performers sang songs and demonstrated dance routines while dressed as bees and other vibrant characters.
Despite facing significant challenges, Mas emphasized the value of maintaining ties to his neighborhood.
“It’s about bringing the knowledge of art to these children and lifting them out of a reality defined by conflict,” he said.
