IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 108

apply my makeup, because it was very
clear to me from the start that I could
not look like a clown. Everything outside this sort of clubhouse was wonderful, but inside the story was different:
clothes scattered everywhere and cigarette butts on the floor ready to burn the
soles of the feet. Among those who
boasted of good makeup, good clothes
and false nails, I sat on the edge of the
bed without using even a cosmetic base,
with only my eyes outlined in black and
my lips in shades of red. I was already
the Material Girl: Madonna. I have
chosen her for my representations,
which were running for more than a
decade. Despite my shortcomings, I
always got applauses from the audience.
Patio artists like Annia Linares or
Marucha, were played masterfully by
the well-known impersonator “Imperio”. From this environment arose

Lola, an excellent comedian who does
not live in Cuba anymore, as well as
others who have died of AIDS or are
still working at places recently created
for homosexuals. These were difficult
times for impersonation in Cuba. We
had often to run out of the house due to
police raids. Nowadays, doing a show
with transvestites does not astonishes
either the police or anyone else. Obviously the times have changed, but in
favor of the arts. Before, the impersonator fully embodied a character and
studied him or her from head to toe in
order to master all of his or her gestures.
The most special thing was the magic to
achieve the almost perfect personification, but it does not really happen nowadays, although the rivalries, jealousies
and other miseries of this less explored
world, continue running.

Performance “Where is the taxi?” by Nonardo Perea

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