Letter from London No. 1

Letter from London

Carlos Acosta
Royal Ballet School

by John Percival
copyright 2006, John Percival

Carlos Acosta has no lack of companies wanting to hire his services, but he is obviously a believer in self help too. Hence the two seasons he is showing in London this summer. Just completing is what he carefully does not call “Acosta and Friends” à la Nureyev (but plenty of others do just that), given for a week at Sadler’s Wells, 18-23 July; to come at the Coliseum is the third London showing of his spectacle “Tocororo”, a dance tale inspired by his own life.
Nine Royal Ballet dancers joined him for the Sadler’s Wells show; there were to have been eight, but corps de ballet dancer Yuhui Choe was injured and — presumably for lack of time — two other girls were taught her roles. The twelve items given were presented with costumes but no scenery, almost like a rehearsal sequence (clever idea). By far the most exciting was the “Diana and Acteon” pas de deux, in which Marianela Nunez proved so brilliant that she almost eclipsed Acosta’s exuberance. Acosta appeared also among the four couples in “Majisimo”, a showpiece finale by the Cuban choreographer Georges Garcia to music from Massenet’s “Le Cid” — which presumably inspired the choice of other Massenet pieces as interludes, with Paul Murphy conducting Birmingham’s excellent Royal Ballet Sinfonia. To show his range, Acosta also danced Balanchine’s “Agon” pas de deux with Zenaida Yanowsky, and an attractive solo “Les Bourgeois”, to Jacques Brel’s song, in which Ben Van Cauwenbergh’s choreography ingeniously mixed comedy and bravura. Yanowsky had two solos, the “Dying Swan” (!!!) and a Monteverdi “Nisi Dominus” by Will Tuckett allegedly but improbably celebrating Martha Graham. Other unfamiliar dances by Cauwenbergh, Liam Scarlett and Ben Stevenson didn’t do much for the evening, but it was interesting and pleasant to see Nunez and Thiago Soares in “A Buenos Aires”, a duet to Piazolla tango music which was choreographed by Gustavo Mollajoli for Julio Bocca and Raquel Rossetti for the 1985 Moscow international competition where Bocca won the gold medal. There were snippets from “La Sylphide” and MacMillan’s “Winter Dreams”; other dancers appearing were Caroline Duprot, Mara Galeazzi, Sarah Lamb, Samantha Raine, José Martín and Rupert Pennefather. The seven performances were a sold-out hit.

The only other show I’ve seen was the Royal Ballet School’s annual matinee at Covent Garden on 16 July. Vanessa Fenton’s new “Step by Step” to Liszt’s first piano concerto featured students of the lower school, who did quite well by it, especially Anna-Rose O’Sullivan, a little lovely from the lowest year who delectably led the third movement. Natalie Weir’s “Jabula” has reached London via the Queensland Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, so others must like its heavy pseudo-drama better than I did. You in America have already seen the school tackle Ashton’s “Birthday Offering”; I thought it not bad even if a bit approximate. The other ballet given was Balanchine’s “Serenade," always a pleasure to see and neatly done in Victoria Simon’s staging. This brought Sergiy Polunin’s only appearance, so we could admire his style and presence, but not the technique that has already won international competitions in Lausanne, Kiev and America (and he’s not yet in the top form).

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Letter from London