Casino is what salsa dancing has been called in Cuba, referring to the place where you go to dance. Casino is also the title of this piece.

In Casino, Swedish-Chilean Ofelia Jarl Ortega, Nina Sandino from Nicaragua and Jao Moon from Colombia, move on a fictitious dance floor set in a Latin American club for couples dancing. Each dancer brings with them their own relationship to salsa, letting it reverberate in their body through a repertoire of historical and personal memories.

By the engagement of the dancers and the sounds of their steps, the music is present in its absence. In a subtle, restrained, detailed and playful way, the three dancers connect, and fail to connect, simultaneously.

“In my family it was only my uncle Rafael who danced. He even had his own salsa club at the opera restaurant in Malmö in the 90s. But as salseros mostly drink water while dancing, the club had to close down due to low drink sales, despite the well visited evenings. When I first traveled to Chile as a grown up I met the blossoming reggaeton scene, and the feminist subgenre neo-perreo. For some years reggaeton was my connection to Latin America and my own heritage, until I stumbled upon salsa. The salsa music has always been part of what’s been played at home, but the dance had been hidden for me. Now salsa is all on my mind. And my newfound way of connecting to a Latin American diaspora, to be Chilean in Sweden, and to be a second generation immigrant.“ - Ofelia Jarl Ortega

Creative Team

Choreography: Ofelia Jarl Ortega, in close collaboration with the performers.
Performers: Jao Moon, Nina Sandino/caterina daniela mora jara, Ofelia Jarl Ortega
Lighting Design: Johan Sundén
Dramaturgy: Andrea Rodrigo, Quim Bigas
Costume: Erik Annerborn
Photo: Milja Rossi
Trailer: Karl-Oskar Gustafsson
Production Terry Johnson, (Johnson & Bergsmark)
Co-production: Dansehallerne, MDT, BIT Teatergarasjen
Residency support: höjden studios, Stockholm and Dansplats Skog, Stråtjära

With support from The Swedish Art Grants Committee, The Swedish Arts Council and Stockholms Stad