Dance superstar Carlos Acosta is bringing his daring new production of a Christmas classic to Britain, says
Gillian Spickernell
As the spring sunshine finally makes its appearance, last Christmas is a fading memory and the next one is comfortably far off – unless, that is, you are one of the dancers of Acosta Danza.
This troupe of 20 or so performers has already begun rehearsals for Nutcracker in Havana, a Cuban take on the world-famous and much-loved classical ballet. The company was founded by Cuban ballet superstar Carlos Acosta after he retired from the Royal Ballet in 2016.
This new production is directed and choreographed by Acosta himself, whose Cuban homeland has always been a major influence throughout his career. Nutcracker in Havana is the latest colourful creation from a man who since ‘retiring’ has been busier than ever.
‘Nutcracker is about home and family,’ he told me when I caught up with him at the production’s press launch in London last month. ‘We never had Christmas in Cuba,’ he explained. That was because the communist dictator Fidel Castro wouldn’t allow it to be celebrated. It wasn’t until after the Pope visited in 1999 that it was reinstated. Now Acosta wants to give his fellow Cubans the opportunity to enjoy the festivities as much as we do.
The idea for Nutcracker in Havana came to him on a miserable day during lockdown in 2021, when Acosta was on tour with On Before, a full-length dance show that is an homage to his late mother.
He suggested it to Stephen Crocker, the chief executive and creative director of Norwich Theatre, a man who is also on a mission to bring a new audience to dance. He could immediately see its potential.
‘A lot of the Nutcrackers that we see are very opulent, they are set in Europe and danced by predominantly white companies,’ said Crocker. ‘To be able to put it into a Caribbean setting and see it danced by a nonwhite company will allow it to connect with people in different ways.’
The big question was how Acosta and Crocker could transform the famous Tchaikovsky score and Petipa choreography to incorporate a Cuban influence – to make it sufficiently different but still recognisable. This was no easy feat, given that the ballet was first staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1892.
His answer was to take the original story but to set it in Cuba, as well as incorporating new theatrical elements – not just the chor
