Carlos Acosta's Nutcracker in Havanahad been promoted as a reimagining of Ivanov's ballet. That filled me with trepidation as I negotiated Manchester's rush hour traffic because reworking a well-known and well-loved ballet is not easy to do. David Dawson pulled it off with his Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet as did Ted Brandsen with his Coppelia but I regret that I can't say the same for David Nixon's Swan Lakeor the Coppeliaof Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright.
Although the show started with projections of Havana and an ancient American convertible lumbering across the stage Nutcracker in Havana was not so very different from any other Nutcracker. While the Stahlbaums' Christmas party was set in Havana and the score was orchestrated with Latin American rhythms and harmonies using a lot of percussion and such instruments as the Cuban tres and lute, the story was followed faithfully even down to the snow scene and the children's choir. All the characters were recognizable and the choreography retained such highlights as Sugar Plum's pas de deux with her prince.
The Sugar Plum Fairy in this production was Laura Rodríguez a former principal of Camaguey Ballet, She was partnered by Alejandro Silva, a former principal of the Cuban National Ballet. The ballet revolves around the adventures of Clara and Drosselmeyer. Clara was danced with vivacity and charm by Adria Dia. Drosselmeyer, who was referred to as Tío or Uncle Elías Drosselmeyer in the cast list, was danced by Alexander Verona. According to the programme notes he had made his way to Miami 30 years earlier where he acquired his fortune. He performed some spectacular conjuring tricks and it was those tricks that impressed one member of the audience who was otherwise critical of the show.
Brandy Martinez was Clara's naughty little brother Frirz who could not keep his fingers off her Christmas present. He also took part in a very athletic Russian dance in Act II. Denzel Francis was King Rat, Clara's grandfather, a cook and one of the very energetic and almost aggressive dancers in the Chinese dance. The other dancer in that divertissement was Leandro Fernandez who was also one of the children. Everyone in the show danced well and if I were to mention everyone who impressed me this review would look like a telephone directory.
I enjoyed the show and so it seemed did most of the audience who rewarded the cast with a standing ovation. Much of the success should be attributed to Nina Dunn's set designs and projections, Angelo Alberto's costumes and Pepe Gavilondo Péon's arrangements of the score.
I had previously seen Acosta Danza's 100% Cubanin 2022. That was a mixed bill. Staging a full-length classical ballet is a more complex proposition. It demonstrates how much the company has developed in the last three years. Their UK base is the Acosta Dance Centre in Woolwich which I visited in 2023. Though they are a Cuban company they are contributing much to dance and dance education in this country.
Artists from Cuba have contributed not only to their own national companies but also to leading companies of other nations. Probably the best known of those is Carlos Acosta. He is now the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Previously he was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. A glimpse at his website shows that Acosta is more than a dancer and choreographer. He is an entrepreneur, novelist and indeed impresario.
In 2016 Acosta established Acosta Danza which he has described as "Some of the finest Cuban dancers I have ever had the pleasure of working with." The company is touring the United Kingdom and my friend and I caught up with it at the Hull New Theatre on Friday. We were treated to the following:
These were very different works that showed off the versatility of the company.
Liberto was a duet created by Raúl Reinoso to the music of Pepe Gavilondo. The programme contains the following note:
"The story of a cimarron, invites us to reflect on the faces of slavery, from ancient times to the present day. The meeting of the fugitive with the woman, beyond the beginning of a love story, is a moment of reflection and retelling, the possible discovery of the path to the utopian kingdom of total freedom."
I think cimarron must be the Spanish word for "Maroon" who were fugitive slaves. They formed colonies in the Caribbean and some found their way to Freetown in Sierra Leone where I first learnt their story. The ballet featured a couple. I am not sure of the identity of the man because the company did not publish a cast list. I asked for one in a Q & A that followed the show but the company's interpreter did not seem to know what I was talking about or why I needed one. I think Reinoso danced the male role and believe the woman was Zeleidy Crespo but I cannot be sure. I remember a giant net from which the man struggled to escape. The designs were by Alisa Peláez. The lighting was by Yaron Abulafia.
Like a football match, Hybrid was a combination of two halves. Quite literally because there was a point when the cast lined up for a curtain call, accepted the applause and then slowly started dancing again. The inspiration for the work appears to have been the legend of Sisyphus:
“O my soul, do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.
(The Myth of Sisyphus). According to the programme, the piece was about a "universe where the real and the unreal blur their limits to reach our chimaeras." It continued:
"An approach to sensitive realities and imaginaries of a nation and its people, told from the strength of its culture and dance. An island that unveils its mysteries on a path that goes from darkness to light"
The whole company or at least a large part of it seemed to be in the work. The music was by Jenny Peña and Randy Araujo, the choreography by Norge Cedeño and Thais Suárez, the designs by Celia Ledón and the lighting by Yaron Abulafia.
This was not to everyone's taste because the audience thinned out a little after the interval.
As the music was entitled Cuban landscape with rumba by Leo Brouwer and Cuban Landscape by Stefan Levin and the ballet was danced against a backdrop of growing crops, I understood Paysage, Soudain, La Nuit to be an appreciation of the Cuban countryside and those who worked in it. This was another work in which the whole company participated. The choreographer was Pontus Lidberg. Costumes were by Karen Young. The lighting was by Patrik Bogårdh.
The most spectacular work was Impronta. It was a solo by Crespo which she performed to the music of José V. Gavilondo. The show started with a mass of blue. It was not clear whether that was a prop or a group of dancers. It turned out to be a long flowing dress worn by the dancer. A tall, elegant and exceptionally supple woman, Crespo had bent her body almost to the floor so that her face appeared through the dress. In the Q&A, Crespo explained that the dress represented the sea. In answer to a question from my friend, she said that the dance had been influenced largely by African rhythms. The programme added:
"Catalan choreographer María Rovira created this solo in wich contemporary dance merges with Afro-Cuban folk dances."
Several audience members stood to applaud Crespo's performance at the end. Others whooped with delight. The reaction was well merited because it was impressive.
My favourite ballet was De Punto a Cabo. I surmise that the title must refer to a seaside walk that is opposite Havana. The backdrop was of a busy city separated by a stretch of water and a sea wall. Alexis Fernández's choreography to José White and Omar Sosa's music reminded me of the view of Manhattan in the last scene of Liam Scarlett's Age of Anxiety (see Bernstein Centenary 18 March 2018). The piece generated much the same energy and awe. The website states in Spanish that the choreographer sought to transpose into dance his impressions of contemporary Cuba, a land of diversity and contrasts. He made that point by combining ballet with contemporary dance. There were some spectacular fouettés from Penélope Morejón as well as contemporary expressions to African and Cuban rhythms.
In the Q&A we learnt that the morning company class alternates between ballet and contemporary. Each of the dancers was asked which style they preferred. None expressed a preference except Morejón who seemed to glow as she talked about ballet. There were the usual easily anticipated questions from the floor about the creative process, influences and how they liked the British weather. The best intervention came from a lady from Bridlington who had to dash for a train. She probably spoke for all of us in expressing gratitude for the pleasure the company had brought after a 2-year pandemic.
This was the first time I had attended the Hull New Theatre and my first impressions are good. It is located on Kingston Square where there was plenty of free street parking. There is a restaurant and bar which offered inter alia burgers and scampi and chips. It was not exactly gourmet food and slightly over-priced for what it was but it was very convenient. The auditorium seemed well ventilated. The seats were comfortable with enough legroom at least for me.
Acosta Danza is nearing the end of its UK tour. They are at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury tonight and at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth at the end of the week.
