It Won’t Be This Way Forever is a series of photographs featuring Cuban dancers taken dancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. The images ask viewers to pause in in-between moments—the ones we want to last forever, the ones we want to pass quickly, and moments of uncertainty and change. The photographs feature dancers not on stage, but in quiet moments of transition in the studio and in the wings of a theater.
Since 2012, I’ve made more than a dozen trips to Cuba, capturing the movement and the mood of a group of Havana’s contemporary dancers. This series includes a selection of intimate photographs of one of Cuba’s best dance troupes — Malpaso Dance Company — taken in their home studio, a synagogue, and in the wings of a theater.
The series’ title also nods to the American understanding of Cuba—that the island is “suspended in time” due to its 1950s cars and fading pastel building facades. When people heard I’d been traveling back and forth to Cuba, many people shared that they also hope to visit the island before it changes. As I came to understand more about Cuba, this sentiment, while understandable, started to make me uncomfortable. A large part of why Cuba looks so nostalgic to us is a result of the U.S. Embargo, which prevents trade between the two nations. The last time Cuba could import American cars was 1962, when the embargo—the longest in modern U.S. history—began.
Intentionally excluding pastel colored buildings and classic cars, the series turns attention toward a resource that Cuba has in spades: extraordinarily special dancers.
The photographs are available for purchase, with a portion of each sale benefiting Malpaso Dance Company, which operates independently from the Cuban government.
