Carlos and their unreal movements
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- 04 / 07 / 2008
Acosta has been wowing us since he joined the Royal Ballet in 1998, and he's wowing us still in a show he first performed at Sadler's Wells in 2006 and which he's transferred to the Coliseum as part of the Spring Dance season.
It is, essentially, an Acosta and friends event, with chums from the Royal Ballet joining him in a mixed bill of short works, both old favorites and newer pieces.
Purists and nit-pickers will grumble that excerpts shows rob ballet of its dramatic context, and it's true that at last night's opener the Winter Dreams and La Sylphide duets both suffered outside their full-length frames.
However, an excerpts show is also a sit-back-and-relax show, where you can simply enjoy the dancing, and watch lots of tip-top dancers you don't normally see together.
And the dancers really are very good. Tamara Rojo and Sarah Lamb are two of the Royal's best, while Martin Harvey and Valeri Hristov are rapidly growing in stature. Hristov shone in La Sylphide, while Harvey showed the right amount of romantic boldness in Winter Dreams.
After the first half of older ballets, including Acosta and Rojo in Diana and Actaeon (this is the one with the loin cloth), came the second half of newer and little-seen work. Many are from Acosta's time at Houston Ballet and Cuban National Ballet, and the highlight was easily the show closer Majisimo.
This divertissement of mildly Spanish carousing made you laugh out loud as the eight dancers outdid each other in speed and daring.
Integral to the show is Acosta's onstage/off-stage motif. At the start of the performance, the dancers saunter on in their tattered rehearsal kit, limber up, change into their costumes, perform, and after the show wander off again.
This gives you a sense of the glamour and grit of a dancer's life, and is a nice touch.
(Evening Standard)
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