be house. — Shel Silverstein Upper left: The magical Standing Oak Treehouse can accommodate up to six people in a fairy tale environment. Upper right: The Red Treehouse was originally built for The Treehouse Brewing Company, the Mooney’s microbrewery business. Built by a treehouse specialist and featured on Animal Planet’s Treehouse Masters, it has since been remodeled to accommodate guests, and the brewery moved to the Grand Barn. Middle right: The Grand Barn wedding/conference center. Rugged majesty to accommodate most events. The beautiful decks were crafted with wood from a local train trellis that was destined for a landfill. Bottom right: A fall wedding at the Grand Barn. The beautiful main entrance. The driveway circles around to accommodate easy drop off for guests and provides cover in the event of inclement weather. Skylights provide natural light inside the barn.
This is the story of a man who fled his communist homeland on foot only because his talented feet provided him with the unlikely opportunity to do so. His name is Marden Ramos, and what follows will have you clamoring for a curtain call.
The Cuba Years Marden’s birthplace was Santiago, Cuba’s second largest city. In the midsixties that island nation was about a decade into the Castro rule, which meant that the lives of all who lived there were sternly controlled by the revolutionary government. The Ramos family consisted of Marden, his father, mother, a brother and a sister. Mr. Ramos was conscripted into the Cuban army and did a stint with Fidel’s forces in Angola on the African continent.
something that pleased Marden’s father, and that’s putting it mildly. The elder Ramos was so upset that he made it clear he certainly didn’t want a ballet dancing son in his backyard. Arrangements were made to send the youngster to Camaguey, a city a couple hundred miles from Santiago. Hopefully, the embarrassment would be lessened. So, seven-year-old Marden Ramos found himself caught between the Cuban government’s edict and his own father’s disappointment and anger. Though neither he nor his family knew it in 1970, when he left for Camaguey, it would mark the last time they would ever be in each other’s presence. To this day, 43 years later, his parents have never seen nor spoken to their eldest son.
City to perform with a well-known Cuban choreographer and his wife. When the week’s work was over, Marden was asked to stay on as a dance instructor. The Cuban government agreed to allow him to do so, and he was given a two-year contract and a place to live for $35 a week. He felt as though he had won the lottery. This new freedom to work and shop and live was unlike anything he had ever experienced in Cuba. For example, Marden talks about another dancer taking him to a grocery store in Mexico City. As they rolled their cart up and down the aisles, Marden couldn’t believe the amount and variety of foods available for purchase. But, as he looked at the fruits and vegetables and meats, he became very quiet, almost sad.
marden ramos
dancing to freedom Marden’s mother raised him, his brother and sister as a stay-at-home mom. As Marden tells it, educational opportunities were hit and miss in Cuba back then. Many of the country’s young males focused on what were known as “the three B’s”: baseball, boxing and ballet. It’s well documented that Fidel Castro has been a lifelong baseball fan. A dozen or so stars of Cuba’s national teams have defected and found their way onto Major League rosters. Cuba has also produced many Olympic boxing champions, the most notable being the late heavyweight gold medalist, Teofilio Stephenson. When Marden went through the testing regimen required by the government, it was determined that he would be best suited as a dancer. That decision was not negotiable; he was going to be braiding on ballet shoes, not lacing up baseball spikes. Realizing his son was going to become a ballet dancer was not
If his family trauma bothered him, it didn’t affect Marden’s dancing. He began his instruction with 12 other young students, but, at age 15 (8 years later), he was the only one left standing... or dancing. While he was deemed good enough to make ballet a career, the other 11 could look forward to becoming instructors. Marden started his professional career with Ballet de Camaguey and, at age 16, did some international travel to exclusively communist countries. He became one of the principal dancers and performed live on Cuban National Television. After three years of that invaluable exposure he was invited to join another group of dancers on an out-ofcountry tour. It would be an experience that would forever change his life.
Memorable Mexico The year was 1989, and 26-year-old Marden Ramos departed Cuba for Mexico
The friend asked what the problem was, and Marden said he didn’t have most of the items listed in his ration book, so he wouldn’t be able to buy them. The friend explained ration books weren’t needed in Mexico, he could buy whatever he could afford. The same friend who accompanied Marden to the grocery store introduced him to someone who needed a dance instructor for some evening work. Since it wouldn’t interfere with his daytime instructing, it seemed like a wonderful way to make extra money which he could save or spend on those items he wanted, but didn’t necessarily need. Life was good until about halfway through his two-year contract. Marden got a call from a Cuban government official informing him that he must return to his homeland, and when he arrived he would be going to jail. Why? His part-time dance instructing job had