Dancing Between Worlds: A Memoir of Magic in Havana with Author Rebe Huntman

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Rebe Huntman, author of the book My Mother in Havana. Rebe’s memoir traces her search to connect with her mother—thirty years after her death—among the gods and saints of Cuba. A former professional Latin and Afro-Cuban dancer and choreographer, for over a decade Rebe directed Chicago’s award-winning Danza Viva Center for World Dance, Art & Music and its resident dance company, One World Dance Theater. She collaborates with native artists in Cuba and South America, and has been featured in LATINA Magazine, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune, and on Fox and ABC.

 

Rebe’s essays, stories, and poems appear or are forthcoming in such places as The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Parabola, Ninth Letter, The Cincinnati Review, and the PINCH, and have earned her an Ohio Individual Excellence Award as well as fellowships from the Macondo Writers' Conference, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, PLAYA Residency, Hambidge Center, and Brush Creek Foundation. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from The Ohio State University and lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Delaware, Ohio. Find her at www. rebehuntman.com and on Instagram @rebehuntman.

 

In my book review, I stated My Mother in Havana is a profound look at a woman who lost her mother at a young age and continues to grieve for years. It isn't until she goes to Havana that she finally finds peace.

 

I fully expected to learn that Rebe's mother was Cuban - but she's not. However, Rebe's research about mothers and symbols of motherhood led to her Cuba where the Virgin Mary and the Cuban goddess of love, Ochún, are often intertwined. She wanted to understand this connection - and by doing so, she found healing.

 

Rebe started life as a dancer and choreographer, and she shines a beautiful light on Cuban dances and rituals along with their gods and saints. I was mesmerized by her ability to throw off her Western upbringing and fully immerse herself in the culture as she tried to discover what makes a mother, what defines the divine feminine, and what she remembered of her own mother.

 

I loved learning about the Afro-Cuban culture, their spiritual views, and the broader concept of motherhood. I think anyone who is a mother - or has a mother - will enjoy this book.

 

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You can follow Author Rebe Huntman

Website: https://www.rebehuntman.com/

IG: @rebehuntman

FB: @rebehuntmanauthor

 

Purchase My Mother in Havana on Amazon:

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3Hnowtn

Ebook: https://amzn.to/4mLUPCj

 

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

 

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors

 

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