92NY Harkness Dance Center Presents The Essence of Us: A Cuban Story

The 92nd Street Y, New York presents The Essence of Us: A Cuban Story the opening night program of Home: Departure and Return, the Harkness 2026/27 Mainstage Season. Featuring the world premiere of The Essence of Us, a documentary film directed by Nel Shelby in collaboration with cinematographer and editor Ashli Bickford featuring Malpaso Dance Company and Pedro Ruiz, and performances by Ballet Hispánico New York, the program is in person on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at 7 pm in Kaufmann Concert Hall and is available to stream for 72 hours beginning at noon on Sunday, September 20. Tickets are available at https://www.92ny.org/event-class-detail-pages/school-of-arts/harkness-school-of-dance/events/m/the-essence-of-us-a-cuban-story.

Malpaso Dance Company is one of contemporary dance’s great success stories — a Cuban ensemble known for extraordinary technical brilliance, musicality, and expressive power. Since its founding in 2012, Malpaso has become a vital force on the global stage, commissioning and performing works by Ronald K. Brown, Trey McIntyre, Aszure Barton, and more.

For the Harkness Mainstage Series Opening Night, the company was to appear in the world premiere of a new 92NY commission by Bessie Award winner Pedro Ruiz. Ruiz was to travel to Havana to create the work in close collaboration with Malpaso’s dancers before bringing it to New York. Current visa barriers made the live performance impossible as originally conceived or scheduled. 

Rather than allow those barriers to end the project, 92NY continued to support the work. Filmmaker Nel Shelby, along with cinematographer Ashli Bickford and photographer Christopher Duggan, traveled to Cuba to document Ruiz’s creative process with Malpaso. The resulting documentary The Essence of Us (in Spanish: Nuestra Esencia) – in Spanish with English subtitles – offers an intimate portrait of a company whose artistry and resilience remain undiminished.

Joining the opening night in celebration and support of the project is Ballet Hispánico New York, the nation’s leading American Latino dance company and the largest cultural institution of its kind in the United States. Bringing their extraordinary artistry to the evening, the company performs a program honoring three Cuban and Cuban American choreographers whose work has made a profound mark on American dance. The performance features excerpts from Eduardo Vilaro’s Buscando a Juan (Looking for Juan); Marianela Boán’s Reactor Antígona (Antigone Reactor); and concludes with Pedro Ruiz’s Guajira.

Ballet Hispánico New York is recognized by the Ford Foundation as one of America’s Cultural Treasures, and the organization stands as a major force in contemporary dance in New York City, elevating the voices of Latino artists across the nation and the world. Under the leadership of Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro, Ballet Hispánico serves as a catalyst for imagination, redefining how contemporary dance is seen, heard, and understood through its repertory, training, and community programs.

The Harkness Mainstage Series’ Home season explores how dance maps the shifting terrain of home, identity, belonging, and the borders — visible and invisible — that shape us.

For more information on the companies and Nel Shelby, click here.

About The Essence of Us

Filmed entirely in Spanish with English subtitles, The Essence of Us is a documentary film by Nel Shelby, in collaboration with cinematographer and editor Ashli Bickford, that follows acclaimed choreographer Pedro Ruiz as he returns to Havana, Cuba to create a new work for Malpaso Dance Company. Inspired by the belief that our shared humanity is stronger than the differences that divide us, the film offers an intimate portrait of artists for whom dance is not simply an art form, but a way of preserving identity, purpose, and human connection amid the realities of contemporary life in Cuba.

As Pedro collaborates with the company, The Essence of Us explores creativity, belonging, and the enduring power of human connection. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Cuba, the documentary reveals how art can transcend circumstance, reminding us that beneath our individual stories lies a shared essence that unites us all.

92NY Harkness Dance Center recognizes the ongoing generosity of The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Major funding is provided by Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation and The New York Community Trust. Additional support is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Mertz Gilmore Foundation; The Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc.; The Jerome Robbins Foundation; SHS Foundation; Barbara J. Sinclair; and an anonymous donor.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses, and events online, including live concerts, talks, and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes; and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York, is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org.