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The group of dancers at the head — known as a “comparsa” – are devoted to a specific image of the infant Jesus.

Mr. D’Rivera’s rapport with Quinteto Cimarrón found ample expression, as much on the bolero “Longina” as on “La Comparsa,” a processional by Ernesto Lecuona.

Spectators become participants, dancing on the cobblestones in the jittery shake of a murga comparsa, an Argentine dance popular during Carnival season, also rooted in African culture.

For last year’s Havana Biennial, the artists directed a film called “Conga Irreversible,” in which 100 performers enacted a traditional Cuban comparsa — a ceremonial procession — down Havana’s historic Paseo del Prado, entirely in reverse.

But also, in honor of the occasion, Christophe Chagnard conducted some pieces by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona — "La Comparsa," in Morton Gould's arrangement, proving the slinkily seductive gem of the three.