Juan José García Fernández

Juan Jesús García Fernández, known as Johannes García, is a Cuban dancer and choreographer, master and director of the Traditional Dance Company JJ. National Dance Prize 2020.

He has dedicated himself to the study of Afro-Cuban folklore, contributing his knowledge to a more theoretical approach to this specialty in Cuba. He is one of the main figures of folk dance in the country.

In the early year of 1961, during the Literacy Campaign, he mounted one of the parades in the municipality of Campechuela. From this year, and until 1966, when he joined the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba, CFNC, which would definitively catapult him to stardom, Johannes began taking the first steps of an artistic career closely linked to the process of building a national culture destined not only for our people, but which would also find in it its main sources and protagonists.

In this way, in 1962 he mounted a choreography at the Manuel Bisbé Secondary School for the end of that school year that would premiere in the old Blanquita theater.

Subsequently, between 1964 and 1965 he traveled to Czechoslovakia and, together with other students, mounted a choreography to celebrate the victory day of Playa Girón, in which there were both the French Tumba and a Mozambique dance and several Rumbas.

Later, starting in 1966, he works in various capacities in the Amateur Movement, as a creator of groups, advisor and judge, having to his credit various distinctions and recognitions for his work.

It is precisely in this year that he enters the CFNC, where he reaches the category of First Dancer, and later Regisseur and Choreographer, eventually taking its direction around 1980.

It was undoubtedly in this emblematic Cuban dance group where professors of the caliber of Rodolfo Reyes Cortés (First Choreographer and Founder of the CFNC), Santiago Alfonso, Alberto Alonso, Roberto Espinosa, Roberto Blanco, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa and others, sculpted this personality of our culture, who, having become an established figure at a very early age, was entrusted with such important enterprises as founding and directing in 1967 the first school of Cabaret Dancers in Cuba, in the Theater of the Central of Workers of Cuba (CTC). Multiple national and international stages today happily share the privilege of having received the results of his creative work in theaters, television and various festivals and government events, traveling around the world with the CFNC as First Dancer until 1994.

In 1969 Johannes García founded the artistic encounters Minint and F.E.U, in the Amadeo Roldán Theater, and also founded, as choreographer and artistic director, the University Folkloric Ensemble, coming to direct the Parade of the University Student Federation (FEU) from that date until 1991, creating its definitive profile, thanks to which the group would win multiple prizes in the Havana Carnivals and several times in Mexico. In the following decade, specifically in 1977, he founded the Folkloric Ensemble of the People's Republic of Angola, and in 1979 he won first prize at the Folkloric Festival of Porto, Portugal. He also participates in the founding of the Artistic Ensemble of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and, together with Ramón Cuellar (choreographer of the Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba), mounts its first show, which travels to the countries of the Socialist Bloc and later to the Republic of Angola.

Since 1984 he has been advising the Maraguán Student Ensemble, advisory work that has earned him several distinctions for his dedication and contribution.

In his choreographic works, he has to his credit: choreographing twice the shows of Cuba's delegations to the International Festivals of Youth and Students.

In September 1992, after bringing together a host of young talents, he definitively founded his own Professional Company, the current "Traditional Dance Company of Cuba JJ", which initially bore the name Folkloric Company Turarte. In this same year he founded the Community project "La Ceiba" in the Municipality of Havana del Este.

He graduated from the University of the Arts (ISA) in Havana. He possesses a prosperous artistic career that began with the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba (CFNC), and was involved in other relevant companies in the world of Cuban dance, such as the Maraguán Student Ensemble.

To this rich artistic trajectory are added, moreover, his multiple presentations at festivals and events of national and international character. It is worth recalling in this regard his participation, since its first edition, in the African Roots Festival "Wemilere", in the categories of performer, choreographer, judge and/or President of the Jury, being named in 2010 by the Provincial Government of the City of Havana, Provincial Culture and at the proposal of the Government and Municipality of Culture of Guanabacoa, Honorary President of the Festival "Wemilere", to the present.

At the end of 1999 Johannes García traveled to Mexico, Cancún, to participate with his CIA JJ in the show "Caribbean Traditions" and "Voices of the Caribbean". With this show he was contracted for a period of four years as Advisor and Choreographer of the Cancún Theater.

The show "Caribbean Traditions" remained on stage for four years with great public and specialized critical success, sharing the stage with the CIA Nacional de Mazatlán, under the direction of Silvia Lozano, former First Dancer of the Folk Ballet of Fine Arts of Mexico City. In this same year he works with French director Jeróme Safari on the choreographies for the Anniversary of the Patron Saint of Palermo, Italy, in an itinerant show that brought together more than 200 international artists.

Master Johannes directs the Tourism Convention in Cuba as choreographic director, sharing artistic and general direction with: Octavio Cortázar and Tony Enríquez. (May 7-11, 2001) Morro-Cabaña Park, Havana.

He is invited by the Latin American Parliament to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with his Dance Company JJ to the Summit on Social Debt and Latin American Integration.

From 2003 onwards, Johannes García, along with his company, began to convene three international encounters that take place in Havana on an annual basis: The International Festival of Popular and Ballroom Dances of Cuba (Co-sponsored with ESCENARTE and the Paradiso Cultural Travel Agency), the International Danzón Havana Festival (starting in 2004, Co-sponsored with the UNEAC) and the International Rumba Festival (starting in 2004, Co-sponsored with the Ignacio Piñeiro Cultural Promoter and the Clave y Guaguancó group), of which the Master holds the positions of President, First Vice President and President of the Organizing Committee, respectively. That same year he participated in the reopening of the Museum of Guanabacoa, in a ceremony presided over by the Ministers of Culture of Cuba and Venezuela, and began his presentations at the Tourist Center "Los Orishas" in the municipality of Guanabacoa itself, a place that serves him as headquarters to present the works of his CIA JJ.

In July 2006, together with the Moncada Musical Group, he forms the delegation of the Cuban pavilion to the Folklorama Festival in Winnipeg. While in Winnipeg, due to difficulties with the Nicaragua delegation, Master Johannes García was requested to choreograph and assume the direction of the Nicaragua pavilion show, work that he performed with pleasure. Together with several Nicaraguan dancers and his JJ dancers, he integrated the artistic program of the Republic of Nicaragua delegation, mounting choreographies of Nicaraguan folklore, and obtaining recognition from the authorities of the Pavilion and the Nicaraguan community in Winnipeg.

On repeated occasions, moreover, Master Johannes García has been selected by the French Embassy to stage in Martinique the show for the Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery, celebrated every May 21, obtaining great success for his choreographies, scripts and stage productions, endorsed by local authorities and the press.

In 2007, at an assembly of performing artists of the UNEAC, Master Johannes is again elected Vice-President of the dance section. That same year the celebrations for Master JJ Johannes JG's 60th birthday and the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of the Traditional Dance Company of Cuba JJ are organized. For this occasion all the Companies residing in the City of Havana, and the Dance Center of Havana, combine a show directed by Tony Menéndez at the Mella Theater.

In 2009 he was selected by the Ministry of Culture of Cuba and CARICOM to work as advisor and Artistic Director of the Caribbean Carifesta Festival in Guyana, participation that earned him in Cuba the Mariposa Prize from the hands of the Minister of Culture.

In 2012 he was invited by the ministries of culture of Jamaica and Cuba to advise the show for the 50th Anniversary of Jamaica's Independence. There he not only advised the artistic direction, but also advised more than 18 Jamaican choreographers, for a total of 4,785 artists in the National Stadium of Jamaica.

In 2013 he is selected again by MINCULT and CARICON to advise the staging of the opening and closing galas of that year's Carifesta, held in Surinam.

He is also invited to Martinique to carry out the Artistic Direction of the day dedicated to Ernesto Ché Guevara.

In this same year he is selected as Artistic Director of the Angolan delegation, which visited our country, within the framework of the Book Fair. He is also the choreographic director of "A Day in Havana", the show of the Opening Gala of CIRCUBA 2013.

In 2014, he is given the responsibility of sharing the Artistic Direction of CIRCUBA again.

It is worth noting, moreover, that between 1991 and 1997 he held the position of Director of Artistic Achievements of the Turarte Agency of the Ministry of Tourism.

Currently, Johannes García is President of the Technical Artistic Advisory Council of the Turarte Agency, member of the Expert Group on Dance of the National Council of Performing Arts and of the Rumba Palace, having been, moreover, Vice-President of the Association of Performing Artists of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), member of the Scientific Committee of the Havana Carnival and member of the National Culture-Tourism Commission.

Such a rich trajectory obviously has not gone unnoticed, so different institutions in recognition of his commendable work have conferred upon him the awards for which he has been deserving. For this reason he today holds, among others, the Distinction for National Culture of Cuba, the medals Rubén Martínez Villena, Raúl Gómez García, Lyre of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, XX Anniversary of the FAR and XX Anniversary of the University of Camagüey. He was conferred the Giraldilla of Havana, Mirror of Patience of the province of Camagüey and the Tropical Gypsy of the City of Havana, as well as the replica "The Machete of Máximo Gómez". The Municipal Medal of Havana del Este and the Seal of Laureate Artist of the Central of Workers of Cuba is another of the distinctions that have been granted to him. Johannes García, moreover, has received the significant number of 19 awards (of which 3 are international), which endorse his praiseworthy artistic trajectory full of consecration and successes.

Johannes was selected as a delegate to the II Congress of the UJC, delegate to the IV Congress of the PCC and delegate to the IV and VI Congress of the UNEAC.

He is a member of the Association of Revolutionary Combatants.

In the world of audiovisuals, Master Johannes García is dedicated a series of materials, among which it is worth mentioning the video "Wemilere" (1996), from Mundo Latino; and the documentaries "La Clave no para" (1999), directed by Emilio Pérez del Yerro, CNN correspondent; "Mundo Yoruba" (2005), directed by Gerardo Arango, from the National Video Movement; "My Anniversaries", produced by Neofilms Producciones and "El 4to Alafín"(2013), by director Pedro Maytin, from the National Council of Performing Arts.

His repertoire includes works such as Cuban Deities, Allegory to the Machete, Here We Are, Popular Music, Polyrhythm, Afrocubanize, Memories of the Rumba, Tenement House, Africa of the Caribbean I Am, Maroon, Papa Montero's Other Rumba and, the most recent work, Arará.

At this moment he is:
President of the Technical Artistic Advisory Council of the Turarte Agency
Member of the Scientific Committee of the Havana Carnival
Member of the National Culture Tourism Commission
Member of the Expert Group on Dance of the National Council of Performing Arts of the Ministry of Culture

Awards and Recognitions
He has received 19 awards, 3 of them international, with which he can endorse his rich artistic trajectory of consecration and successes. Winner of the Gold Medal at the Burgas festival (Bulgaria) 1974,

This artist has a notable social life, obtaining recognition from various social organizations, founder of the A.J.R., Medal of Founder of the C.D.R., Has been granted the Machete of Máximo Gómez, National Vanguard in 1985 and 1986, Founder of the Julio Antonio Mella International Brigade (Medal).

Today he holds, among others:
Order for National Culture of Cuba
Order "Rubén Martínez Villena"
Order Raúl Gómez García
Order Lyre of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria
Order XX Anniversary of the University of Camagüey
Tropical Gypsy of the City of Havana
Municipal Medal of Havana del Este
Seal of Laureate Artist of the Central of Workers of Cuba
Order of the Cuban Capital "The Giraldilla of Havana"
Literacy Medals
Medal of Internationalist of the People's Republic of Angola
National Dance Prize 2020[2], for his meritorious artistic trajectory and the relevant results of the body of his work

Other Recognitions
In November 2006 he was decorated in Camagüey with the highest distinction of the territory "Mirror of Patience" and the University of Camagüey conferred upon him the Diploma of Special Prize for his cultural contributions to Camagüeyan institutions.