The most recent book I have loved–a term I apply only to those few books that get a place in my personal canon–was Alma Guillermoprieto’s Dancing With Cuba. Guillermoprieto’s books are great but few, so I saved this most recent one for years before reading it as slowly as I could. It’s the story of her strange sojourn, as a relatively apolitical young Mexican-American, in Cuba in 1970, when she taught at the National School of Dance. Guillermoprieto is abjectly honest (or gives that appearance) and turns clear eyes on herself, her companions and her host country, paralleling her inadequacies as a visitor and teacher with one of the early public failures of the Revolution, the zafra, an attempt at a 10 million ton harvest of sugar cane. Both she and the Revolution were young but would age fast that year, and the hindsight of forty years lets her write this aching, ugly yet beautiful, account.
Input your search keywords and press Enter.
The Rumpus needs your help. We need to raise $25,000 $10,000 to fill our funding gap for 2024.
Our home base is Asheville, NC and Hurricane Helene severely impacted our ability to host events, launch new initiatives, and caused other significant financial setbacks this fall.
Can you support us at any level by Dec. 31? Every dollar counts and is a sign that our readers collectively value creative labor and independent publishing.
Sign up for the weekly Rumpus
Once a week, we'll send you a roundup of what's new on the magazine, invites to upcoming events, open calls for submissions, and more!