Acosta Danza’s UK debut

Posted on September 28, 2017

Carlos Acosta’s new company gives its first UK performances this autumn. Debut, the company’s first programme, runs at Sadler’s Wells from September 27 to 30, before a UK tour visiting The Lowry, Salford, Birmingham Hippodrome, the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, Brighton Dome and the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.

Acosta, who started the company after retiring from The Royal Ballet in 2015, will make a guest appearance as part of the programme. Based in Cuba, the company features both classical and contemporary dancers.

There are five UK premieres in the season. El Cruce Sobre El Niágara, by Cuban choreographer Marianela Boán, is a male duet inspired by a work by Peruvian dramaturg Alonso Alegria.

Imponderable, by Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero, is a new work for 12 dancers, inspired by Cuban folk musician Silvio Rodriguez. Twelve is by UK-based Spanish choreographer Jorge Crecis.

Belles-Lettres, by New York City Ballet soloist and resident choreographer Justin Peck, features pointework and romantic duets. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui will create Mermaid, a new classical duet for Acosta and Marta Ortega.

Acosta said: “Acosta Danza has been founded with the intention of paying tribute to the wealth of Cuban culture. The company will develop its contemporary work, whilst also using elements of classical ballet. It is an aspiration that has grown out of my vision as an artist, incorporating all that I have learned during the past 25 years of my professional career.”

See our 2015 interview with Carlos Acosta here.

Top: The dancers of Acosta Danza. Photograph: Manuel Vason

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.