April 10, 2025 • 18 mins
On today's episode we discuss the film Yuli! It is a great movie leading into next week's discussion of Cuba. This episode airing is symbolic to Cuban history; on this day in 1898 Spanish Governor General Blanco in Cuba suspended hostilities in the war in Cuba, and on April 15, 1980 was the start of Mariel Boatlift
Follow us on social media:
Please visit Edward's blogs! Let's keep this family research going:
http://ruedafingerhut.blogspot.com
https://geneticfunhouse.blogspot.com
Know Your Rights Trainings and Legal Service Agencies
National:
● Trainings for immigrant educators, students and parents – https://www.immschools.org/
● Free or low-cost immigration legal services -- https://www.immigrationlawhelp.org/
● For Dreamers - Legal Services - Cornell Law School –https://sites.lawschool.cornell.edu/path2papers/about/
CA:
● CA Immigration Legal Service Agencies (Bay Area) –https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?zip=95126&x=0&y=0
● Legal services for immigrants - https://www.pangealegal.org/
● Trainings and Resources - Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) - https://www.ilrc.org/
● California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) Resources – https://info.ccsa.org/safe-spaces
DC:
● DC Immigration Legal Service Agencies –https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=DC
TN:
● TN Immigration Legal Service Agencies – https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=TN
● NICE - National International Center for Empowerment – https://www.empowernashville.org/
● TNJFON - Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors -- https://www.tnjfon.org/
WI:
● Milwaukee Immigration Legal Service Agencies -https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=WI
Rediscovering Latinidad is an independent podcast. This show is hosted by Briar Rose, Fausto, Edward, y Jellissa and is engineered by Matthew Sambolin. Cover art designed by George Colon.
Visit our website at www.RediscoveringLatinidad.com. If you would like to reach out, please email us at RediscoveringLatinidad@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 646-470-9824.
If you would like to become a member of our Patreon, please join at https://patreon.com/RediscoveringLatinidad.
Follow us on social media:
- Facebook: Rediscovering Latinidad
- Instagram: @RediscoveringLatinidad
- Bluesky: @RediscLatinidad
- X: @RediscLatinidad
- Reddit: r/RediscoveringLatindad
Please visit Edward's blogs! Let's keep this family research going:
http://ruedafingerhut.blogspot.com
https://geneticfunhouse.blogspot.com
Know Your Rights Trainings and Legal Service Agencies
National:
● Trainings for immigrant educators, students and parents – https://www.immschools.org/
● Free or low-cost immigration legal services -- https://www.immigrationlawhelp.org/
● For Dreamers - Legal Services - Cornell Law School –https://sites.lawschool.cornell.edu/path2papers/about/
CA:
● CA Immigration Legal Service Agencies (Bay Area) –https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?zip=95126&x=0&y=0
● Legal services for immigrants - https://www.pangealegal.org/
● Trainings and Resources - Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) - https://www.ilrc.org/
● California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) Resources – https://info.ccsa.org/safe-spaces
DC:
● DC Immigration Legal Service Agencies –https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=DC
TN:
● TN Immigration Legal Service Agencies – https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=TN
● NICE - National International Center for Empowerment – https://www.empowernashville.org/
● TNJFON - Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors -- https://www.tnjfon.org/
WI:
● Milwaukee Immigration Legal Service Agencies -https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/search?state=WI
Rediscovering Latinidad is an independent podcast. This show is hosted by Briar Rose, Fausto, Edward, y Jellissa and is engineered by Matthew Sambolin. Cover art designed by George Colon.
Visit our website at www.RediscoveringLatinidad.com. If you would like to reach out, please email us at RediscoveringLatinidad@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 646-470-9824.
If you would like to become a member of our Patreon, please join at https://patreon.com/RediscoveringLatinidad.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Dear listeners, we are excited to have you join us
for another season of Rediscovering Latini Dan. We hope you
enjoy this sixth season as we port a tremendous amount
of time, research, and loyalty into our episodes. We also
know that these are unprecedented times, and then many of
our listeners or their family members may be living in
fear and certainly anger about the recent developments with immigration, deportation,
(00:35):
and birthright citizenship. We hold space for all of the
emotions here, and we hope the information we provide you
will help you not only in your journey to discovering
your ancestors, but also leading you to documentation that may
secure your safety. We will list all resources in the
show notes and update them as we uncover more. Now,
we hope you enjoy this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome back, everyone is come back. It is This is
season six, episode ten of Rediscovering Latini Dad. My name
is Brian Rose.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I'm Julisa, I'm Fausto, and I'm Edward.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And today we are going to be discussing the movie Julie.
And I'm going to hand this over to Julissa.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So I am the one who chose this movie this season, Yuli.
It is a film that is very near and dear
to my heart. It talks about the Afro Cuban experience,
the after Latino experience at large, about music, about masculinity,
about all that good stuff. So I'll give you a
quick summary of the film. Julie is the nickname given
to Carlos Acasta, who is the star of the film.
It's an autobiographical story. The name is given to him
(01:42):
by his father, who considers him to be a son
of o June, which is one of the Santaia gods.
He is responsible for strength and power, and it is
a very powerful name. He's African god in a fighter.
As a child, Julie avoids discipline and education, learning from
the streets of an impoverished and abandoned Havannah. His father, however,
has other ideas, and, knowing that his son has a
(02:03):
natural talent for dance, sent into the National Ballet School
of Cuba. Despite his repeated escapes and his initial poor behavior,
the boy is inevitably drawn to the world of dance
and begins to shape his legendary career from a young age,
becoming the first black dancer to be cast in some
of the most prestigious ballet roles originally written for white
dancers in companies such as the Houston Ballet and the
(02:26):
Royal Ballet in London. So, as I said, this movie
is an autobiographical story. It also stars Calo Sacosa himself
and he plays himself as the older version, so it
starts telling his story growing up as a small boy
in Cuba. Originally, he's obsessed with Michael Jackson and break
dancing and he wants to do you know, he does
break dancing with his friends, and his father sees that
(02:47):
instead of working and going to school that he's supposed to.
Every time he's looking for and he finds him in
the street dancing with his friends. So instead of kind
of beating him and say come on, go to school,
well do what you're supposed to, he sees that the
boy has talent. He drags him one day to be
a ballerina or a ballerin as a male dancer, and
the ballein Julie is like, absolutely not. Everyone's going to
(03:09):
think I'm gay or I'm effeminate and can't have that,
and he keeps trying to run away, but his father
knows that he's got this talent, and he insists and
he runs away and he has to kind of force
him into it, but eventually he becomes a world renowned dancer,
and he is he was the first black ballet dancer
to be cast as Romeo. I believe, yeah, and yeah,
(03:32):
he's had a phenomenal career. And the film is very
very good, highly highly recommended. Yes, yes absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When Julyssa picked us and it was and I found
out it was a story about a dancer in a
in a like in my preconceived notion, like in a
time like a wartime or a time under a bad regime,
I immediately went to thought about the movie White Night, which
was with mikhaelil Borushkonov and Gregory Harness, the dancer from
(04:00):
like was it the eighties? I think it was the eighties,
and and I thought to myself, now, mind you, Michel
and greg Gregory are fantastic dancers, amazing I think Gregory
especially with tap. But that being said, the end of
the movie is pretty damn cheesy, being at like the border.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, yes, the world peace with.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Dance and we can be literally at the border of
Russia like this and it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
International Company. Yeah, so I dance and sis. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So when I when I heard about this movie, I
was like, Okay, I hope this is another White Nights.
But it was amazing, It really was. It was a
really great story, heartwarming and I really love the fact
that he played the adult version of himself. He really
he can't do it justice with that, I mean you can,
but it adds a level of authenticity.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And it was fascinating too. Ye had those times where
he was dancing with his younger version of himself. Yes, yeah,
artastic in these conceptual dances that reflect his life. Yeah,
that was a really interesting part. So what's the time
period when does this movie take place? And is a Costato.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Around he's still around, he's he's probably like like and
then starts in the eighties. Yeah, so the very first
scene he's about ten years old and he's like doing
moonwalks in the streets. So yeah, it's like mid eighties
that the film starts.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And that's also fascinating. And dare I say progressive of
a father to identify that particular talent then say huh,
you're good at this, that's what you're going to do.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
His father was the son of a slave, and he
I mean, I think his father lived to be like
ninety or ninety five, like, so he was a very
He was a much older man when he had Julie,
and so he saw the transition of from slavery to
modern times in Cuba, and he saw that this was
the opportunity for his son, who is Mulato he had
(05:49):
a white human mother and his father was a black Cuman,
to advance himself. And there's times when Julie's calling back home,
like I want to come home. I'm homesick, I miss you, guys,
and he tells him forget us, No, stay there, you're
doing better. Forget about Gooba, forget about all of this place.
Don't come back. This is your way to be better
than us, because he's seen that progression of how there's
(06:11):
a scene where he talks about when he was a
little boy and he went to the movie theater for
the first time and they kicked him out because blacks
were not allowed in the theater. And like to go
from that to now, to see your son starring in
the Royal Ballet was like the greatest joy for his father.
Even though he was a brute, even though he hurt
like he beat him. There's one scene where he beats
him brutally because he tries to escape from the dance
(06:31):
school because he wants to come home and you know,
it's his comfort zone. He wants to come home and
be in the slums with his family. But his father
knows that this is the only way to get him out,
and so he beats him brutally. Like there's many times
they where they're like head to head in conflict, but
he knows this is his way out and this is
the way for it, like this is his son's destiny.
He keeps telling him, you have to follow your star,
like this is your destiny. You're meant for better than this.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Got it? Okay?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, it was just a really enjoyable movie. I mean
it so really it was. It was really well done,
really well choreographed.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, a lot of heart, Like you could tell that
this was a very personal story, like obviously it's his
own autobiography, and they touched on like, as I said,
his mother was white Cuban and there's a scene where
her family comes to Miami and before they leave, there
would be times when they would come and take the kids.
Oh we're going to come and take the kids to
the beach, and they would take his half sister, his
(07:25):
white sister. Oh, she can come with us, and they
would leave the two mulatto kids behind, like, oh no, no,
we only have space in the car for one. She
can come and we'll take the other two next week.
And then when they were even gonna come and leave
for Miami, they wanted to take Julie's mom and his
white sister and like, you guys can come with us.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
There.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
We have two tickets. You guys can come and leave
Julie and and his sister and the dad behind. And
so there was a lot of moments like that, and
there's also a scene later on when he's older he
comes back to Guan. He's kind of having this crisis
of identity of all right, I went and I dance.
I think he breaks his leg at one point and
he can't dance for months and months, so he wants
(08:05):
to come back home. He comes back to his friends
and he's like, oh, I'm the only Cuban who wants
to be in Cuban. Everyone else wants to leave, and
he's going back and he's like, you know, enjoying his
home life, and they want to go to like a hotel.
I think they will not let the Cubans stay like
come to you know, dance at the hall in the hotel,
because no, this is for tourists only you and your friends.
(08:25):
You have to go, like you can stay as a guest.
You know, since you've been you're no longer like the
rest of them. And he sees that disconnect, like he
still feels Cuban, but in the time he's been away,
he's no longer one of them.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And it's interesting, like right before that those scenes where
you see the Cubans discriminate against you, hear them talk
about wanting to, you know, build a raft to try
to get out of Cuba. You see like the blackouts.
Before that sequence, they have a dance which I appreciated
where they took an actual US major general's words where
(09:00):
he was denouncing war and colonialism and they set this
abstract dance to it. I'm going to read his full quote. Yeah,
that's all right with you. So this is an amazing story.
Major General Smedley Butler born in eighteen eighty one. He
spent thirty three years in the Marine Corps. He's the
most decorated marine in US history. They send him to
Latin America, they send him to Asia, and then when
(09:22):
he retires, he starts to become a real pacifist. And
he says, look, war only helps business. And he wrote
literally in nineteen thirty five a book called war is
a Racket. And here's here's an area team thirty five.
Here's a famous quote from this racist times. I spent
thirty three years and four months in active military service,
(09:43):
and during that period I spent most of my time
as a high class muscleman for big business, for Wall
Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer,
a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially
Tempicos say for American oil interests. In nineteen fourteen, I
helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the
(10:04):
National City Bank boys to collect revenues in I helped
in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics
for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua
for the international banking house of Brown Brothers. In nineteen
oh two to nineteen twelve, I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for the American sugar interest. In nineteen sixteen.
(10:24):
I helped make hondoras right for the American fruit companies
in nineteen oh three in China in nineteen twenty seven,
I helped see to it that standard oil went on
its way. I'm molested looking back on it. I might
have given al Capone a few hints. The best he
could do was to operate his racket in three districts.
I operated on three continents. Step Yeah, And in the
(10:48):
film they actually take quotes from that entire passage and
they remix it with dance. It's kind of like a
very militaristic dance. So yeah, I really appreciate him bringing
it in even watching it being rehearsed, So like, what
does that have to do with your life? It has everything,
and then we see what Cuba's like after centuries of that.
(11:09):
So yeah, a.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Very multifaceted story, touching on a lot of different aspects
of colonialism within Latin America.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And it's also a sweet father and son's stories.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
And it's a difficult story, but it does it shows
that aspect that I think we all can relate to,
like the tough love that we all get from our
Latino parents. You know, they want the best for us.
Sometimes they don't know the best ways to show it.
But in the end you could see what his vision
was for his son and it did improve his life
(11:41):
and it did it worked out in the end.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Okay. But there's a reason why our season finale is
going to be mental health and talking about family dysfunction
and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
The National Ballet of Kuba, he is he built it.
Got Oosta after like when he was in his and
he did go back to Gouba. There's a quote that
his father tells him that once he makes his debut
for the Royal Ballet in London, like this is where
you will make your home, this is where you will
build your life. And after his father passes away, he
comes back to Cuba and he says, no, Papa, you
(12:14):
were wrong. I'm going to build my life here in
Cuba and I'm going to establish myself here. And he
established the National Ballet in Cuba.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Okay. That is beautiful, really great story.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Great man. Yeah, he's still young, he's in his fifties. Catto,
he's still dancing. I follow him on Instagram. He's posting,
he's posting himself dancing all the time.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Now I'm going to go follow him. Yeah, Tya right
now a few seconds. Car official see yes, Acosta official.
This is professional male ballet dancer, founder of Acosta Danza,
the Acosta Dance Foundation and the Acosta Dance Center, Director
of Birmingham Royal Ballet. So yes, Julie Yo June God,
(12:58):
Julie fantastic, highly highly recommended.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
M h many. Sorry, I keep telling stories about myself,
but I just the memories are coming back when I
and stop me if I've told you this before. But
when I was in third grade, I think it was
American Ballet School that came to my elementary school to
audition all the second and third graders, and I remember
(13:29):
the girls being really really excited about this, you know,
this audition, and so you know whatever, I remember auditioning.
You know, they made us change into these little costumes,
and then they made us do these like stretching exercises,
and I remember that like one of the teachers came
over and draped my foot. Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly, and
(13:56):
so you know, I just forgot about that. After that.
I was just like, okay, what So a few weeks later,
our teacher were in the classroom. Our teacher says, oh,
I got an envelope here from the ballet school. And
again I remember the girl. She's being like really excited, like,
oh my god, is it for me? Is it for me?
And so she looks at it and she goes like, no,
it's for Fellsto. And I literally am just sitting there
(14:18):
like what huh. So, you know, I get this letter,
I take it home. My parents read as much of
it as they can, because I think it was pretty
much all in English, and I tried to translate as
much as I could, but it was essentially they were like,
you know, we would like love to welcome him to
the school. It would be tuition free. At the time,
(14:38):
it was twition free for boys. I'm not sure if
it's still if it's still the case, and you know
they were in the letter. They were even like, well,
come pick him up from school, we'll drop him off
at home. You know, all he has to do is
come join the ballet school. And so my parents had
a very difficult time with that, and the answer immediately
(15:00):
was no. They were just like no, because ballet or
like dancing or whatever like turns boys or kids gay.
So jokes on them. I ended up being gay anyway.
But I actually remember this conversation with them, and there
was this lady in particular Dominican as well, who lived
(15:21):
on the first floor of our building, and you know,
when they were talking to her, she was just kind
of like, you have to let him do this, and
you know, my parents were like, oh, but this, But
the end she was just like, nope, nope, nope. I
have a friend, you know who's a dancer and you
know he's straight, he's not gay. Whatever. She's like, you
have to have to have to let him do this,
but my parents decided against it. The next year, we
(15:45):
went to go watch The Nutcracker Prince, the movie with
Macaulay Culkin. I think maybe it was just a Nutcracker,
and my mom saw, you know, the because she didn't
watch the movie, but she saw the trailers on TV.
And I remember, you know, we left or must have
played a hundred times, and after one of those times,
(16:05):
she says, that could have been you, and she's she's
just like to this day, she's like, I regret not
letting you do that because that could have been you
up there on that stage. So I'm just like, that's
all right, whatever, don't worry about it. I got to
dance in other ways anyway. I joined the dance team
in high school, and I you know, study Flamenco. Now
I'm not world renowned or anything. Literally dance Bunger in college. Yes,
(16:28):
I did Banger and well mostly Garbo Ross, but but yeah,
I know I got down with Bunger every once in
a while. They wouldn't kick me off the dance floor.
But I mean, I think all of this to right,
like to sort of like draw the parallel and to say,
right the.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Seeing that it works out almost exactly as your story was.
That they offered him the full ride. All he has
to do is show up. But Julia is the one
that says, no, I'm not. Everyone's going to think I'm gay.
I'm not going to come. But his father insisted. Yeah, parents,
and lots and lots of insisting, and let.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Your children explore, you know, their interests, whatever they want
to do. Chances are they going to get bored or
something anyway, But at the very least still have tried
right and so so like, and you never know when
they will discover their passion or you know, talent.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So and they also touched on mental health. His sister
had schizophrenia, and that was again like it kind of
ties into all of our thes this season, this Afro
Cuban identity, the migration to the United States, the ideas
of masculinity, and the ideas of mental health and how
the struggles manifest in families and how they how they
(17:37):
handle it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, thank you for this recommendation. Thank you, it is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Thank you so much. And I like that this is
going to be a nice segueing into the next week's episode.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
We're talking more about Kuwa.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah. If you love our podcast, Rediscovering Latinida, and please
hit follow us subscribe. It is different from downloading, and
please leave us a five star rating and review. For
more history tips, visit rediscovering Latini dot dot com to
learn how to join our Patreon and gain access to
our exclusive lessons and bonus interviews. You can also send
us an email at Rediscovering Latini DoD at gmail dot
(18:09):
com or call our text us at six four six
four seven zero ninety two four and follow us on
our social media at Rediscovering Latini DoD on Facebook and Instagram,
at redisc Latini DoD on Blue Sky and X and
our dash rediscovering Latini don on Reddit. Join us next
week as we discuss Coopa. All right, everyone, see you next.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Week, See you next week. Bye bye,
Dear listeners, we are excited to have you join us
for another season of Rediscovering Latini Dan. We hope you
enjoy this sixth season as we port a tremendous amount
of time, research, and loyalty into our episodes. We also
know that these are unprecedented times, and then many of
our listeners or their family members may be living in
fear and certainly anger about the recent developments with immigration, deportation,
(00:35):
and birthright citizenship. We hold space for all of the
emotions here, and we hope the information we provide you
will help you not only in your journey to discovering
your ancestors, but also leading you to documentation that may
secure your safety. We will list all resources in the
show notes and update them as we uncover more. Now,
we hope you enjoy this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome back, everyone is come back. It is This is
season six, episode ten of Rediscovering Latini Dad. My name
is Brian Rose.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I'm Julisa, I'm Fausto, and I'm Edward.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And today we are going to be discussing the movie Julie.
And I'm going to hand this over to Julissa.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So I am the one who chose this movie this season, Yuli.
It is a film that is very near and dear
to my heart. It talks about the Afro Cuban experience,
the after Latino experience at large, about music, about masculinity,
about all that good stuff. So I'll give you a
quick summary of the film. Julie is the nickname given
to Carlos Acasta, who is the star of the film.
It's an autobiographical story. The name is given to him
(01:42):
by his father, who considers him to be a son
of o June, which is one of the Santaia gods.
He is responsible for strength and power, and it is
a very powerful name. He's African god in a fighter.
As a child, Julie avoids discipline and education, learning from
the streets of an impoverished and abandoned Havannah. His father, however,
has other ideas, and, knowing that his son has a
(02:03):
natural talent for dance, sent into the National Ballet School
of Cuba. Despite his repeated escapes and his initial poor behavior,
the boy is inevitably drawn to the world of dance
and begins to shape his legendary career from a young age,
becoming the first black dancer to be cast in some
of the most prestigious ballet roles originally written for white
dancers in companies such as the Houston Ballet and the
(02:26):
Royal Ballet in London. So, as I said, this movie
is an autobiographical story. It also stars Calo Sacosa himself
and he plays himself as the older version, so it
starts telling his story growing up as a small boy
in Cuba. Originally, he's obsessed with Michael Jackson and break
dancing and he wants to do you know, he does
break dancing with his friends, and his father sees that
(02:47):
instead of working and going to school that he's supposed to.
Every time he's looking for and he finds him in
the street dancing with his friends. So instead of kind
of beating him and say come on, go to school,
well do what you're supposed to, he sees that the
boy has talent. He drags him one day to be
a ballerina or a ballerin as a male dancer, and
the ballein Julie is like, absolutely not. Everyone's going to
(03:09):
think I'm gay or I'm effeminate and can't have that,
and he keeps trying to run away, but his father
knows that he's got this talent, and he insists and
he runs away and he has to kind of force
him into it, but eventually he becomes a world renowned dancer,
and he is he was the first black ballet dancer
to be cast as Romeo. I believe, yeah, and yeah,
(03:32):
he's had a phenomenal career. And the film is very
very good, highly highly recommended. Yes, yes absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When Julyssa picked us and it was and I found
out it was a story about a dancer in a
in a like in my preconceived notion, like in a
time like a wartime or a time under a bad regime,
I immediately went to thought about the movie White Night, which
was with mikhaelil Borushkonov and Gregory Harness, the dancer from
(04:00):
like was it the eighties? I think it was the eighties,
and and I thought to myself, now, mind you, Michel
and greg Gregory are fantastic dancers, amazing I think Gregory
especially with tap. But that being said, the end of
the movie is pretty damn cheesy, being at like the border.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, yes, the world peace with.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Dance and we can be literally at the border of
Russia like this and it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
International Company. Yeah, so I dance and sis. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So when I when I heard about this movie, I
was like, Okay, I hope this is another White Nights.
But it was amazing, It really was. It was a
really great story, heartwarming and I really love the fact
that he played the adult version of himself. He really
he can't do it justice with that, I mean you can,
but it adds a level of authenticity.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And it was fascinating too. Ye had those times where
he was dancing with his younger version of himself. Yes, yeah,
artastic in these conceptual dances that reflect his life. Yeah,
that was a really interesting part. So what's the time
period when does this movie take place? And is a Costato.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Around he's still around, he's he's probably like like and
then starts in the eighties. Yeah, so the very first
scene he's about ten years old and he's like doing
moonwalks in the streets. So yeah, it's like mid eighties
that the film starts.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And that's also fascinating. And dare I say progressive of
a father to identify that particular talent then say huh,
you're good at this, that's what you're going to do.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
His father was the son of a slave, and he
I mean, I think his father lived to be like
ninety or ninety five, like, so he was a very
He was a much older man when he had Julie,
and so he saw the transition of from slavery to
modern times in Cuba, and he saw that this was
the opportunity for his son, who is Mulato he had
(05:49):
a white human mother and his father was a black Cuman,
to advance himself. And there's times when Julie's calling back home,
like I want to come home. I'm homesick, I miss you, guys,
and he tells him forget us, No, stay there, you're
doing better. Forget about Gooba, forget about all of this place.
Don't come back. This is your way to be better
than us, because he's seen that progression of how there's
(06:11):
a scene where he talks about when he was a
little boy and he went to the movie theater for
the first time and they kicked him out because blacks
were not allowed in the theater. And like to go
from that to now, to see your son starring in
the Royal Ballet was like the greatest joy for his father.
Even though he was a brute, even though he hurt
like he beat him. There's one scene where he beats
him brutally because he tries to escape from the dance
(06:31):
school because he wants to come home and you know,
it's his comfort zone. He wants to come home and
be in the slums with his family. But his father
knows that this is the only way to get him out,
and so he beats him brutally. Like there's many times
they where they're like head to head in conflict, but
he knows this is his way out and this is
the way for it, like this is his son's destiny.
He keeps telling him, you have to follow your star,
like this is your destiny. You're meant for better than this.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Got it? Okay?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, it was just a really enjoyable movie. I mean
it so really it was. It was really well done,
really well choreographed.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, a lot of heart, Like you could tell that
this was a very personal story, like obviously it's his
own autobiography, and they touched on like, as I said,
his mother was white Cuban and there's a scene where
her family comes to Miami and before they leave, there
would be times when they would come and take the kids.
Oh we're going to come and take the kids to
the beach, and they would take his half sister, his
(07:25):
white sister. Oh, she can come with us, and they
would leave the two mulatto kids behind, like, oh no, no,
we only have space in the car for one. She
can come and we'll take the other two next week.
And then when they were even gonna come and leave
for Miami, they wanted to take Julie's mom and his
white sister and like, you guys can come with us.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
There.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
We have two tickets. You guys can come and leave
Julie and and his sister and the dad behind. And
so there was a lot of moments like that, and
there's also a scene later on when he's older he
comes back to Guan. He's kind of having this crisis
of identity of all right, I went and I dance.
I think he breaks his leg at one point and
he can't dance for months and months, so he wants
(08:05):
to come back home. He comes back to his friends
and he's like, oh, I'm the only Cuban who wants
to be in Cuban. Everyone else wants to leave, and
he's going back and he's like, you know, enjoying his
home life, and they want to go to like a hotel.
I think they will not let the Cubans stay like
come to you know, dance at the hall in the hotel,
because no, this is for tourists only you and your friends.
(08:25):
You have to go, like you can stay as a guest.
You know, since you've been you're no longer like the
rest of them. And he sees that disconnect, like he
still feels Cuban, but in the time he's been away,
he's no longer one of them.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And it's interesting, like right before that those scenes where
you see the Cubans discriminate against you, hear them talk
about wanting to, you know, build a raft to try
to get out of Cuba. You see like the blackouts.
Before that sequence, they have a dance which I appreciated
where they took an actual US major general's words where
(09:00):
he was denouncing war and colonialism and they set this
abstract dance to it. I'm going to read his full quote. Yeah,
that's all right with you. So this is an amazing story.
Major General Smedley Butler born in eighteen eighty one. He
spent thirty three years in the Marine Corps. He's the
most decorated marine in US history. They send him to
Latin America, they send him to Asia, and then when
(09:22):
he retires, he starts to become a real pacifist. And
he says, look, war only helps business. And he wrote
literally in nineteen thirty five a book called war is
a Racket. And here's here's an area team thirty five.
Here's a famous quote from this racist times. I spent
thirty three years and four months in active military service,
(09:43):
and during that period I spent most of my time
as a high class muscleman for big business, for Wall
Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer,
a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially
Tempicos say for American oil interests. In nineteen fourteen, I
helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the
(10:04):
National City Bank boys to collect revenues in I helped
in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics
for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua
for the international banking house of Brown Brothers. In nineteen
oh two to nineteen twelve, I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for the American sugar interest. In nineteen sixteen.
(10:24):
I helped make hondoras right for the American fruit companies
in nineteen oh three in China in nineteen twenty seven,
I helped see to it that standard oil went on
its way. I'm molested looking back on it. I might
have given al Capone a few hints. The best he
could do was to operate his racket in three districts.
I operated on three continents. Step Yeah, And in the
(10:48):
film they actually take quotes from that entire passage and
they remix it with dance. It's kind of like a
very militaristic dance. So yeah, I really appreciate him bringing
it in even watching it being rehearsed, So like, what
does that have to do with your life? It has everything,
and then we see what Cuba's like after centuries of that.
(11:09):
So yeah, a.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Very multifaceted story, touching on a lot of different aspects
of colonialism within Latin America.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And it's also a sweet father and son's stories.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
And it's a difficult story, but it does it shows
that aspect that I think we all can relate to,
like the tough love that we all get from our
Latino parents. You know, they want the best for us.
Sometimes they don't know the best ways to show it.
But in the end you could see what his vision
was for his son and it did improve his life
(11:41):
and it did it worked out in the end.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Okay. But there's a reason why our season finale is
going to be mental health and talking about family dysfunction
and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
The National Ballet of Kuba, he is he built it.
Got Oosta after like when he was in his and
he did go back to Gouba. There's a quote that
his father tells him that once he makes his debut
for the Royal Ballet in London, like this is where
you will make your home, this is where you will
build your life. And after his father passes away, he
comes back to Cuba and he says, no, Papa, you
(12:14):
were wrong. I'm going to build my life here in
Cuba and I'm going to establish myself here. And he
established the National Ballet in Cuba.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Okay. That is beautiful, really great story.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Great man. Yeah, he's still young, he's in his fifties. Catto,
he's still dancing. I follow him on Instagram. He's posting,
he's posting himself dancing all the time.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Now I'm going to go follow him. Yeah, Tya right
now a few seconds. Car official see yes, Acosta official.
This is professional male ballet dancer, founder of Acosta Danza,
the Acosta Dance Foundation and the Acosta Dance Center, Director
of Birmingham Royal Ballet. So yes, Julie Yo June God,
(12:58):
Julie fantastic, highly highly recommended.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
M h many. Sorry, I keep telling stories about myself,
but I just the memories are coming back when I
and stop me if I've told you this before. But
when I was in third grade, I think it was
American Ballet School that came to my elementary school to
audition all the second and third graders, and I remember
(13:29):
the girls being really really excited about this, you know,
this audition, and so you know whatever, I remember auditioning.
You know, they made us change into these little costumes,
and then they made us do these like stretching exercises,
and I remember that like one of the teachers came
over and draped my foot. Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly, and
(13:56):
so you know, I just forgot about that. After that.
I was just like, okay, what So a few weeks later,
our teacher were in the classroom. Our teacher says, oh,
I got an envelope here from the ballet school. And
again I remember the girl. She's being like really excited, like,
oh my god, is it for me? Is it for me?
And so she looks at it and she goes like, no,
it's for Fellsto. And I literally am just sitting there
(14:18):
like what huh. So, you know, I get this letter,
I take it home. My parents read as much of
it as they can, because I think it was pretty
much all in English, and I tried to translate as
much as I could, but it was essentially they were like,
you know, we would like love to welcome him to
the school. It would be tuition free. At the time,
(14:38):
it was twition free for boys. I'm not sure if
it's still if it's still the case, and you know
they were in the letter. They were even like, well,
come pick him up from school, we'll drop him off
at home. You know, all he has to do is
come join the ballet school. And so my parents had
a very difficult time with that, and the answer immediately
(15:00):
was no. They were just like no, because ballet or
like dancing or whatever like turns boys or kids gay.
So jokes on them. I ended up being gay anyway.
But I actually remember this conversation with them, and there
was this lady in particular Dominican as well, who lived
(15:21):
on the first floor of our building, and you know,
when they were talking to her, she was just kind
of like, you have to let him do this, and
you know, my parents were like, oh, but this, But
the end she was just like, nope, nope, nope. I
have a friend, you know who's a dancer and you
know he's straight, he's not gay. Whatever. She's like, you
have to have to have to let him do this,
but my parents decided against it. The next year, we
(15:45):
went to go watch The Nutcracker Prince, the movie with
Macaulay Culkin. I think maybe it was just a Nutcracker,
and my mom saw, you know, the because she didn't
watch the movie, but she saw the trailers on TV.
And I remember, you know, we left or must have
played a hundred times, and after one of those times,
(16:05):
she says, that could have been you, and she's she's
just like to this day, she's like, I regret not
letting you do that because that could have been you
up there on that stage. So I'm just like, that's
all right, whatever, don't worry about it. I got to
dance in other ways anyway. I joined the dance team
in high school, and I you know, study Flamenco. Now
I'm not world renowned or anything. Literally dance Bunger in college. Yes,
(16:28):
I did Banger and well mostly Garbo Ross, but but yeah,
I know I got down with Bunger every once in
a while. They wouldn't kick me off the dance floor.
But I mean, I think all of this to right,
like to sort of like draw the parallel and to say,
right the.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Seeing that it works out almost exactly as your story was.
That they offered him the full ride. All he has
to do is show up. But Julia is the one
that says, no, I'm not. Everyone's going to think I'm gay.
I'm not going to come. But his father insisted. Yeah, parents,
and lots and lots of insisting, and let.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Your children explore, you know, their interests, whatever they want
to do. Chances are they going to get bored or
something anyway, But at the very least still have tried
right and so so like, and you never know when
they will discover their passion or you know, talent.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So and they also touched on mental health. His sister
had schizophrenia, and that was again like it kind of
ties into all of our thes this season, this Afro
Cuban identity, the migration to the United States, the ideas
of masculinity, and the ideas of mental health and how
the struggles manifest in families and how they how they
(17:37):
handle it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, thank you for this recommendation. Thank you, it is wonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Thank you so much. And I like that this is
going to be a nice segueing into the next week's episode.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
We're talking more about Kuwa.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah. If you love our podcast, Rediscovering Latinida, and please
hit follow us subscribe. It is different from downloading, and
please leave us a five star rating and review. For
more history tips, visit rediscovering Latini dot dot com to
learn how to join our Patreon and gain access to
our exclusive lessons and bonus interviews. You can also send
us an email at Rediscovering Latini DoD at gmail dot
(18:09):
com or call our text us at six four six
four seven zero ninety two four and follow us on
our social media at Rediscovering Latini DoD on Facebook and Instagram,
at redisc Latini DoD on Blue Sky and X and
our dash rediscovering Latini don on Reddit. Join us next
week as we discuss Coopa. All right, everyone, see you next.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Week, See you next week. Bye bye,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.