A post by Peter Jordens (with translation of excerpts from Papiamento and Spanish):

Dancer and choreographer Alydia Wever is representing Aruba at the 8^th Biennial of Havana (April 12 – May 12, 2019) with AnThropical ― an interactive performance art production, comprising dance, video, and installations. It is Wever’s collaborative effort with three visual artists and three professional dancers from Aruba; in addition, one of its components involves a cultural exchange with ten young Cuban dance students on site. Its purpose is to explore cultural roots and to (re)connect with the Caribbean spirit. Source: https://www.bibliotecanacional.aw/pages/alydia-wever-ta-representa-aruba-na-bienal-2019-na-cuba

Taissé del Valle Valdés reports for Arte por Excelencias that during AnThropical’s premiere at the José Martí National Library, “the dancers flaunted their talent and mastery of Aruba’s characteristic dances, with a strong Caribbean flavor. The installations included diverse materials such as wood, ceramics, fabric, and metal. The aesthetic conception of Alydia Wever refers back to the ancestors and invites us to question the present world from a scientific vision that studies the physical aspects and the social and cultural manifestations of human communities.”

Ángel Téllez reports for La Jiribilla that AnThropical is a “reunion with the essence of our inherited differences, a study focused on the way we learn from each other, face each other’s perspectives, and admit that each of us has characteristics, elements, patterns, traits, and origins that we are not clear about because of multiple differences in our heritage. Starting from this premise, the multi-faceted artists integrate various manifestations of art, gestures, and expressive resources that support a discourse that represents our hybridity and is also integrative. [The performance] is enriched by interaction with a group of Cuban dancers, which demonstrates the common roots of our cultures and imaginaries as well as what is common to the human race. For this purpose, [AnThropical] uses an object that has been ‘enthroned’ from the West onto other cultures: the toilet. The artist combines this object with paintings, ornaments, and attributes, reengaging them for other uses like carnival floats. […] Alydia Wever comes from a family of artists. She specialized in musical theater in Boston and then developed a career as a dance producer in New York. Since her return to Aruba in 2004, she has concentrated on shaping her life through the arts, expressing herself as a singer, choreographer, actress, model, and writer.”

More information is available at https://www.facebook.com/AnThropical-577922509392778 and http://alydiawever.com.