Acosta Danza celebrates ten years with Folclor

Linbury Theatre, Royal Ballet and Opera, London
February 15, 2025

The Linbury Theatre proved a perfect venue for the triple bill that was a feast of Latin American culture and dance that celebrates Acosta Danza’s 10th anniversary. Carlos Acosta founded the company specifically to encourage and support young Cuban dancers, and to develop a fusion of contemporary and classical genres. Its success is impressive. Working with leading choreographers, the company has rightly garnered much acclaim around the globe in its first decade.

Paysage, soudain, la nuit by Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg is accompanied by rumba, traditional Cuban music with African roots, composed by Leo Brouwer. As it focuses on young Cubans enjoying themselves between dusk and dawn, the choreography is sweeping, graceful, and imaginative. Lidberg uses extensions of both arms and legs that flow into spaces left as dancers weave in and out of each other. This creates a symbiosis effect of seamless patterns of movement, that form and reform. This is interesting to watch, if at times a touch too repetitive.

The grace, energy, and sheer agility of the twelve dancers more than compensate for the occasional choreographic loop, however. They are all stunningly talented, with technique to match. Their sheer joy of dancing, and total engagement, forces your attention, as if daring you to look away; and you don’t. Acosta should certainly be lauded for giving such talent the chance to perform on stages around the world.

Soledad, choreographed by Rafael Bonachela, is a complicated, emotional, and sexy duet that won the Guglielmo Ebreo Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the first Biennale Danza e Italia International Competition for Independent Choreographers in 2006. It is somehow both depressing and exhilarating at the same time, as the dancers alternate between violent passion and violent anger with each other.

The choreography is sensual and erotic, even in anger. Even almost 20 years on, one can still see why it scooped both those coveted prizes at the Biennale.

It was performed flawlessly by Laura Rodriguez and Raul Reinoso. The pas de deux is intricate and technical. The dancers were riveting. Again, technically superb, they brought passion and empathy to recreate a living, 360-degree, love-hate relationship.

Slightly baffling is the lighting and costume combination, however. The dancers were dressed in black, the backdrop was black, and the lighting was at times so dark, that it was sometimes hard to see the performers. Whether the original lighting design by Lee Curran, or the interpretation of the relighter, Pedro Benitez, it disadvantaged both dancers and audience.

The highlight of the evening was the closing 20-minute piece, Hybrid, choreographed by Norge Cedeño and Thais Suárez. Based on the Sisyphus legend, the programme note explains it all: “…a universe where real and unreal blur as the dancers strive to reach imaginary futures.’

Performed with the thumping energy, and the skill, technique, and talent that was by now expected, it seemed to come off the stage into the auditorium, dragging us into the often-frenetic dance. The choreography pulses with exciting, creative, and innovative steps, lifts, throws and floor moves. The opening, with a dancer seemingly entangled in rope suspended from the flies (aka the Heavens) defied imagination as to how the choreography had been worked out.

Celia Ledón’s costuming is absolutely right, with a nice twist at the end, as is the lighting design by Yaron Abulafia.

All in all, a wonderful hour of great dancing and creative choreography. Here’s to the next ten years.