Pascual Eduardo Arrocha Fernández

Cuban scenic designer and painter. Technical director and general designer of Danza Contemporánea de Cuba.

1959- Graduated in the specialty of Painting from the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, Havana.

1961- Studies in scenic design with Rubén Vigón. National Library, Havana. Advanced studies in painting with Agustín Fernández, Havana.

1962- Advanced studies in painting with René Portocarrero, Havana. 1966- Studies in scenic design with L. Vychodyl (set designer of the National Theater of Prague, Czechoslovakia), Havana.

Since 1971 he has worked at the National Ensemble of Modern Dance (currently Danza Contemporánea de Cuba). Since then he has been Chief Designer and Technical Director of the company.

He has created around four hundred designs for scenography, costumes, and lighting for the most diverse genres and with the most important theatrical and dance groups in the country; as well as fifteen titles from national cinematography.

While the San Alejandro Academy and some lessons with master René Portocarrero guided the young man toward drawing and painting, very early his vocation would turn toward theatrical design. Thanks to the teaching of a director and designer unfortunately somewhat forgotten: Rubén Vigón, Arrocha was able to channel his considerable talents for this art form. His craft would be completed with the specialized courses he received at the National Opera Theater of Prague (1966) and later at the Opera and Ballet of Bratislava (1971).

But well before concluding these studies, he already had considerable recognition in the Cuban theater scene. He worked with choreographer Ramiro Guerra on many of his projects for the National Ensemble of Modern Dance starting in 1962: Nuptial Chronicle, Amorous Octet, Strange Fruit, Country Suite, Black Impromptu, and Baroque Interlude are some of the fruits of that collaboration, which the creator extended for several decades with the group, which became the National Dance of Cuba, where he became Chief Designer and Technical Director.

In parallel, he approached the world of ballet. The National Ballet commissioned him to design the production of Giselle which was filmed by Enrique Pineda Barnet in 1963 and in 1966 he was on the technical team for mounting this same ballet for which Alicia Alonso received the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris. His collaboration with this company resulted in works such as The New Odyssey and Amazonia.

Representative works in the national theater
La fille mal gardée (1963)
The Awakening of Aurora (1963)
Swan Lake (1965)
Giselle (1966)
The Taming of the Shrew (1966)
The Threepenny Opera (1977)
Blood Wedding (1979) ICRT
Man of La Mancha (1979)
Hello Dolly (1988)
Pedro Páramo (1994)
La bohème (1998)
King Lear (1999)

International theater
The Skinny Prize, Bulgaria, 1971
Cecilia Valdés, Poland, 1972
Panorama, Mexico, 1980
The Poet, Bulgaria, 1989
Strawberry and Chocolate, United States of America, 1998
Porgy and Bess, Austria, 2000

He has participated in 21 exhibitions of scenic design in Cuba and in Mexico (1966), Chile (1967), and Yugoslavia (1984).

His participation in the Prague Quadriennials of Scenic Design and Theatrical Architecture (1971, 1975, 1983, and 1987) stands out.

He has made working trips to 32 countries.

Publications

Awards and honors
1966- Grand Prix de la Ville de París, at the Fourth International Dance Festival of Paris, awarded as an integral work to Giselle, of the National Ballet of Cuba.
1988- Distinction for National Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba.
2002- Alejo Carpentier Order, Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.
2007 National Theater Prize
2013 National Design Prize
2022 National Dance Prize