Cuban-Ecuadorean dance director and choreographer Isabel Bustos has been granted the National Dance Award for 2012 in recognition of her unique work in the area of dance theater and community arts.

Bustos is the director of the famous Cuban dance theater company Retazos, which, in its Old Havana headquarters of Las Carolinas, conducts fine arts and dance workshops for children and young people with the aim of passing her experience and that of her company to the next generation and sow the seed of future creators.

Bustos is also the main promoter and creator of the unique International Urban Landscapes Dance Festival: “Old Havana, City in Motion” first held in 1996 in two or three small museums located in Havana’s Historical Center. The dance festival eventually brings into play most of the institutions, squares and streets of Old Havana. Aimed at linking dance choreography with the visual and expressive nature of the old city, as well as seeking to interact with passers—by, the event, organized by the Retazos Dance Theater Company, is attended by hundreds of foreign and Cuban guests.

Retazos is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, increasing its stage proposals and actions with the community in its venue, squares, streets and other public spaces in Old Havana.

Retazos, with over 200 choreographic pieces in its repertoire and 7 generations of dancers, is one of the first contemporary dance groups set up in Havana which the center of its proposals are men and existence.

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