Carlos Acosta’s touring production of Nutcracker in Havana has been on the road since 1 November and will finish in Salford late January, so it has to travel light, relying on video projection (we fly over Havana and Cuban plantations), simple set design and mapping by Nina Dunn and Andrew Exeter’s lighting. And on a versatile cast of some twenty-six dancers costumed by Angelo Alberto.
A postcard from Havana, dated 24 December 1998, on the front scrim prepares us for the setting. Interval scrim is of Havana’s National Capitol building. Acosta’s fresh concept is that his new version of Nutcracker will spread its reach. Acosta, born in 1973, did not know about Christmas as a child, banned as it was in Cuba from 1969 to 1997. In snowy Soviet Union, it was moved to New Year with a Father Frost and a Snow Maiden… In hot Havana, I gather, Yoruba culture mixed with Catholic.
The family house is not a mansion as per usual but a modest shack. It’s the warm, humorous life inside that matters: grandparents, parents and children with a few visiting friends. Tío Elías Drosselmeyer (Alexander Verona), the uncle from Miami, returns after thirty years away with magic tricks and lots of goodies, especially new clothes for the family, and extends the house, putting in a sweeping staircase. And brings a Mambí soldier (of the War of Independence) doll for Clara (Laura Rodríguez). Fritz (Raúl Reinoso) is a pain as usual.
Clara does go to sleep and dream of the Kingdom of Sweets, there is a Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince, there is a lovely Flower waltz, Rats to defeat and snow on palm trees. But there is also maypole and clog dancing—isn’t this La Fille mal gardée? Acosta is going for a fiesta vibe.
The clogs are Cuban chancletas, a bit like Scholl sandals but homemade from wooden sole and old tyre rubber to hold them on—strange to see them put on over pointe shoes. Not all female dancers are on pointe, there’s a mix of classical and contemporary moves.
You do need your programme notes for synopsis and background information. The dancing automata are gods from Yoruba culture—Changó (Frank Junior, also King Rat and in the Spanish Dance with Melisa Moreda), Oshún (Zeleidy Crespo) with Soldadito (Chay Deivis, also in the Arabian dance with the fabulous Amisaday Naara in some amazing lifts).
The national dances have a distinctive flavour with some terrific solo dancing from Brandy Martinez in the Russian Dance and Leandro Fernández and Denzel Francis in the martial arts flavoured Chinese Dance. The Mirlitones are delightful, as are the Flowers, especially their lead couple, Patricia Torres and Enrique Corrales.
The highlight has to be guest star Laurretta Summerscales, formerly of English National Ballet, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, who indeed has to be from another world. Her Prince is Yasiel Hodelin Bello (with Birmingham Royal Ballet since 2023). Their gala-style showcase with its variations is performed in a cabaret jazz club. Clara is seated on the Fairy’s mirrored throne, the customers at side tables.
Tchaikovsky’s music is still recognisable in its Cuban makeover by composers Pepe Gavilondo and Yasel Muñoz, but of necessity it is recorded. The audience seems to love it. My fourteen-year-old companion certainly does. I wonder if Acosta is Tío Elías Drosselmeyer when he goes home to Cuba…
How does Acosta have the time to supervise, never mind choreograph? He established his own dance company, Acosta Danza, in 2016, in 2017 he opened his first Dance Academy through the Carlos Acosta International Dance Foundation and in 2023 he opened The Acosta Dance Centre in Woolwich, giving a leg up to many aspiring dancers, some of whom are dancing tonight. And, of course, since January 2020, he has been AD of Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Reviewer: Vera Liber