Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution

In 1970, Alma Guillermoprieto left her home in New York to teach modern dance in Cuba for six months. There, she found herself in the heart of the Cuban revolution. Though a memoir all the way, the book is peppered with historical background and short biographies of Cuba's most important heroes and figures. The author tells of her desire to have the faith of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, her horror over her ignorance of evil after watching a film on the Vietnam War, the conflict between her previous ideas about identity and purpose in comparison to those of her Cuban friends. Her memoir is a good recounting of her struggle, against the backdrop of Cuba's very complex history and culture. Though not by any means a reference on Cuban history, the book does give a good inside look at how Cubans as well as outsiders viewed the revolution that was taking place. This is an enjoyable coming of age memoir, especially for fans of dance and Cuba.

I hated this book the first time I read it. The writing is that good - it definitely evokes strong emotions. However, I kept coming back to the ideas in the book, especially her conflicts as an artist and as a dubious and somewhat neurotic 'internacionalista.' So, I read it again a year later....and loved it. What I mean to say is, upon a fast reading, it comes off as just another anti-Castro 'terrified' take on the heady first decades of the Cuban rev, or the navel-gazing of a somewhat neurotic artist. The book deserves a closer look, though, because the memoir actually has a much more interesting - and complicated - narrative to tell. The character of Elfrida alone could generate volumes of reflection. It's really fascinating.

The person who stressed this is a memoir is on target though I think it is quite well written. As a long time admirer of Guillermoprieto's journalism I found this a fascinating and unfaiingly honest account of her life as a dance teacher in Cuba before she became a writer. IT IS a memoir and the self pity of her young self is conveyed with a brutal honesty--it is the middle-aged writer descibing where she once was and her perspective is a perfect balance of scorn and affection for who she was. If you are looking for a wide ranging view of the revolution, this is not the book you want to read, though you will get a very interesting perspective on life in Cuba in the early 1970s. If you have not read anything by her before, read The Heart That Bleeds and Looking for History (as well as Mark Danner's The Massacre at El Mozote, a story she was responsible, with Ray Bonner at the Times, for breaking in 1982. She is a remarkable writer and this memoir was one of my favorite reads of the last several years.

This memoir is so nuanced and smart, it blows away 99 percent of the books written about Cuba's revolution.

Dancing with Cuba is written by a woman who has experienced Cuba firsthand after the revolution. Her ability to write details is daunting, but this gift throws us into a life that most Americans have never experienced. I am a Cuban book collector and "Dancing with Cuba" and a Cuban picture book (for kids) set in Miami's Little Havana festival with an all Cuban cast,are my family's two favorites. I highly recommend this book for Cuba lovers.