A star still shining brightly: Acosta at 50

Royal Opera House, London
July 26, 2023

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Apollo grin broadly like Carlos Acosta did when the curtain opened on the first of his four shows at the Royal Opera House to celebrate his 50th birthday. And why not? George Balanchine’s work, remarkably now closer to the original Giselle in time than today, was his favourite ballet and here he was back on his favourite stage.

It was an evening that oozed warmth. Of the ten ballets and excerpts presented in this birthday celebration, Acosta appears in five. They have been carefully chosen. Big jumps are few. But what there is a lot of is personality and presence.

Balanchine’s Apollo somehow seemed a very appropriate opener. Acosta playing a god. Perfect. While the ballet may depict someone rather younger, he got it just right. A lot of that is to do with assurance and an understanding of the role that comes with maturity.

Acosta and The Royal Ballet’s Marianela Nuñez, who dances with him several times, clearly have something special. Even in Apollo, where she was perfectly coolly reserved, there was magic in the air. Of the other two muses, Birmingham Royal ballet’s Céline Gittens’ Polyhymnia was speedy and light, bright and perky; while Lucy Waine (still only a corps member, one suspects not for long and recently on the road with BRB2) as Calliope, which she also recently danced in Birmingham, was nicely wrapped in her poetic conceit, serious and dramatic.

In the White Swan Pas de deux from Swan Lake, really all about the woman, Acosta was the perfect partner. Nuñez melted into his arms. But what really made it was that every look, every gesture seemed to have meaning. Their eyes met, and when he offered a hand, I’ll swear she said ‘thank you.’

But for smouldering passion from both, the Bedroom Pas de deux from Manon takes the prize. Strong and secure doesn’t even start to cut it as he held her in his arms. It brought the house down.

But the most interesting duet is Mermaid, made for Acosta by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and here danced with Acosta Danza’s wonderfully expressive Laura Rodríguez. In her red dress, wine glass in hand, she slips and stumbles drunkenly around. Whether you see her as an alcoholic or, as a contemporary dancer in pointe shoes, a fish out of water in a dance sense, Acosta comes to her rescue. Just as in real life, his humanity is to the fore. The partnering is intimate, their dance having delicacy, even in its sharper, more angular moments. It would be wonderful if they could reprise it in Birmingham some time.

Snippets of Acosta the choreographer first came with his Carmen. Acosta Danza invested the Tavern scene with plenty of life but it still doesn’t pack the punch you feel it should. The Pas de deux, danced by Laura Rodríguez and Alejandro Silva fares better but it remained the comfortably the weakest part of the evening.

Rather more successful is his Dying Swans, seen recently on the BRB2 tour danced here by Zeledy Crespo and Mario Sergio Elías of Acosta Danza. Fascinating and rather clever juxtaposition of the familiar and the new, the classical and the contemporary. The pair are not mirror images but there are certainly strong connections The more I see of it, the more I find of interest.

There are some virtuoso fireworks and big jumps from an Acosta, albeit Carlos’ nephew Yonah, in the Le Corsaire Pas de deux with Lauretta Summerscales, who rattled off a super series of fouettés.

Elsewhere, Brandon Lawrence was wonderful in Liebestod, a solo by Valery Panov that illustrates life from birth to death. Starting curled foetally, he uncurls, stretches, leaps and balances before returning to the earth. Lawrence is about to leave Birmingham Royal Ballet to join Cathy Marston at Ballett Zürich. It seems like a good move but he will be sorely missed.

Also from Birmingham, Yaoqian Shang was quite sublime in Ben Stevenson’s delicate but ravishing End of Time Pas de deux, danced with Acosta Danza’s Enrique Corrales.

The celebration rounded off with Mermaid cleverly fusing into Acosta’s rather different and vibrant Tocoroco. It is fun, but also over very quickly and doesn’t leave much of an impression in the memory.

The curtain calls certainly did, though, Acosta being joined on stage by his three daughters who darted on from the wings. With the youngest showing unbridled enthusiasm especially, it was impossible not to like. Is he the most popular dancer The Royal Ballet has ever had? Surely the most charismatic. The applause and curtain calls went on and on. One lucky individual took home his bouquet after he hurled into the stalls. Acosta grinned just as broadly as three hours earlier, and so did the audience. Happy Birthday, Carlos!

On the same day as Acosta at 50 opened, he and the Acosta Dance Foundation (ADF) announced the launch of the Acosta Dance Centre, a new hub based at Woolwich Works, where ADF is a resident company. Aiming to be an international ambassador for dance education, the centre will offer a public programme of dance classes and courses, hold performances and residencies; and act as a gathering place and artistic space for dancers, industry professionals and the community. Acosta Dance Centre will open in September 2023.

Carlos Acosta at 50 is at The Royal Opera House to July 30, 2023. Visit www.roh.org.uk for details and tickets.

For more about the Acosta Dance Centre, visit www.acostadancecenter.com.