Monica Enriches Souls

 

By Nancy Pérez Medina

Mónica (left) with one of her students.

The Magic Shoes ballet company, a community cultural project of Sant Boi Theatre in Marianao, provides spirituality to special children and their families, friends and the public who enjoy the show they offer.

Monica Elena Torres Pérez, graduated in Ballet, is vigorously engaged to a community cultural project that began on April 18, 2011 and already has satisfactory results.

The Magic Shoes ballet company is composed by children of the municipality of Marianao, in Havana, and has its headquarters in the teatro Sant-Boi Theater

Its show titled "I am already an artist" left the public excited because of the quality and variety shown by children from communities with economic problems, and some of them with behaviour or emotional disorders.

To interview Monica on the topic it was not difficult to find her at her work, as devoted as only lovers do. Through her eyes we saw the beauty of helping others selflessly.

SJ: What is the methodological support of the project?

"Psycho-ballet, created and directed by the MSc Georgina Garcia Farinas and the National Ballet of Cuba, on February 21, 1973, and which I joined when I was only four. There, a group of notable teachers, therapists and dancers by dancing and psychological tests, contributed to our sensory development and receptiveness of knowledge, attenuating or preventing some behaviour or emotional disorders.

"Besides, it is a method that sets new communication through movement,  that encourages creativity and imagination. What  does Magic Shoes intend to? Rescuing and resize the original purpose of the Psycho-ballet, taking the essence of this genuinely Cuban method, where excellent dancers came from."

SJ: With an extensive professional career as a dancer and a teacher, can you explain rightly why it is possible to use ballet to stimulate mental activity?

"When you incorporate speed and direction contrasts, children can practice responses stimuli. Besides, psychological resources reinforce nerve activity, for muscle coordination.

"Other advantages are the development of self-discipline and self-control, the creation of aesthetic interest and the psychotherapeutic interaction involving the group. Dance provides a much broader communication and active social learning channel".

SJ: What authors were used to develop the project?

"The outstanding American choreographer Alvin Nicolais, who created a dance-theatre of shapes, colors and abstract lights, and his faithful exponents Maurice Béjart and Roland Petit. Another important author we have to mention too regarding the work with children in an educational Project, is the eminent psychologist Piaget. Dancer, teacher and choreographer Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) has also been of great inspiration.

"I wish to especially refer to a  research whose results I presented as a thesis in the Superior Institute of Arts on the scientific foundation of the ludic method we apply, and their effectiveness in getting skills, values, and knowledge in children without the so called  necessary 'conditions' to enter in a ballet school."

SJ: Why the ludic method?

"Because it promotes creativity, it provides motivation and the development of personality. The method has proved to be effective in the solution of emotional disorders. It has the advantage that not only encourages the taste for ballet; but also people can learn another artistic expressions such as painting, theatre, music and plastic arts, which interact with the main activity: dance."

SJ: In the performances children transmit emotions beyond the plot of the story t, with a combination of body language and richness of choreographic, in plays full of plastic finesse. How far has Magic Shoes come?

"We are pleased with we have achieved in only eight months, since the initial registration did not surpass 12 children and today we have over 30 not only from Marianao, but also from other municipalities in Havana. Most of them belong to communities near the Sant Boi Theater, whose families have low incomes. As we already explained, these workshops give everyone the possibility of knowing between them and feel better".

SJ: In the shows in different stages we appreciate the cultural enrichment of all the social sources involved in the process: public, family, friends, school, teachers, students, thereby providing a favorable environment for interrelationship.

"Yes, we have had that perception when we performed at the Houses of Africa and Mexico, in Old Havana, as well as in the Cultural Gala dedicated to World Children's Day in Cuba Pavilion, and as a part of other artistic projects.”

"You can realize the progress of Magic Shoes’s members as their motivation toart, a personal satisfaction, and an artistic potential. It has been also evident demonstrated an improvement in children with behavioral and emotional disorders, as well as a greater  interest and commitment of parents towards their children’s activities in the project".

SJ: Who is also involved in the project?

"Well, this is a non-profit work, because registration and workshops are free. It involves not only the three teachers we have.

"But we have to thank the encouraging results to many generous people who have make posible the functions and wardrobe, although they have not been able to cover all the needs. We especially thank the support of the directors of the Sant Boi Theater, the Marianao City Hall and the House of Culture, as well as parents and relatives.

"And also to the University of Information Science, that has the intention of filming a documentary-video to have a memory of our work.”

SJ: What is the relevance of the project, designed for children and their comprehensive training as better human beings?

"I am pleased to conclude remembering that video games and computer games have negative effects because they stimulate aggressiveness, individualism and hyperactivity; they also cause to decrease attention in classes, as well as dissociation and lack of concentration.

"If the quality of food is important for biological life, it is not less the stimulus to mental life." In the present crisis, in which the economic difficulties promote hopelessness and harmful attitudes, it is necessary to imbue the soul with  true moral and human values such as solidarity, honesty, responsibility, will, goodness and love.

"We must take into account family also benefits, as the collective work stimulates cooperation among its members and raises their self-esteem to be able to promote the education of children. Boys and girls contribute to the cultural and artistic growth of their environment; creating ties of friendship, trust and solidarity and increases options for an useful and healthy recreation.

"In short: this project aims above all to promote group relationship, the formation of human values, to contribute to reduce stress and hyperactivity, aggressiveness, shyness, among other emotional and behavior disorders, to bring about that the level of attention and motivation to learn rises. In addition, we intend to develop the artistic potentialities IN children so that in the future, those who decide can be excellent artists.

"In each performance they are involved in their own creation, because as the famous Italian artist of the Renaissance, Michelangelo said:"... "The mission of the sculptor is to extract from stone the statue that is imprisoned inside."