Is Carlos Acosta spreading himself too thin? If this mixed bill of Cuban choreography is anything to go by, you half think he might be, although not because he dances too much (he appears in three works of the four-part programme). Acosta, you’ll need no reminding, is in the finest of fettle, and could easily dance more without turning a hair.
But he also needs to think more about the show’s content, and not just the idea. It is a very good one: an evening of Cuban choreography with (mostly) Cuban music and Cuban dancers led by Acosta, probably the most famous Cuban dancer of them all.
No one would argue with the first ballet, the whizz-bang pas de deux from Don Quixote. This 19th-century gem is actually the work of a French dance maker working in Russia, but it was reworked by Alicia Alonso, the grande dame of the National Ballet of Cuba.
That remarkable troupe has produced some gorgeous dancers, including Acosta and Yolanda Correa who performed the piece with him. The pair are lovely, he a magic combination of speed and softness, she all perfect balances and whiplash turns.
Next to this the two contemporary pieces by George Cespedes inevitably paled. He’s a dancer with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, members of which join Acosta on this visit. La Ecuacion and El peso de una isla are a vigorous mix of street dance and strong rhythms, and the dancers are extremely good. However, the steps lack substance and look dated next to the best street/contemporary work we see in London.
After the interval came a suite of dances from Acosta’s biographical show Tocororo. It tells his rags-to-glory story from a humble Havana lad to fame and fortune in the ballet world, and in its complete form it’s rightly a hit. The edited version feels truncated and a little knocked off. With more thinking time, you don’t doubt Acosta could produce a good show, as he did with dancers from the Royal Ballet at the Coliseum last week. Then he’d both dance on air and walk on water.
Spring Dance At The Coliseum: Carlos In Cuba (Don Quixote pas de deux/Ecuacion/El Peso De Una Isla/Tocororo Suite)
London Coliseum
St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES
