CityLife

Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Magia de la Danza

Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Magia De La Danza
The Lowry
April 15, 2010

It was the legendary Carlos Acosta who was the star attraction at the second night of the Cuban National Ballet’s visit to Salford on Thursday – his only appearance with them in the week. And not his first time there, or indeed in Manchester, either.

But there’s always something special about a big-name dance star appearing live, even if he’s only on stage for a few minutes. 

His contribution was high-octane, though, in the pas de deux from the end of Don Quixote, with Viengsay Valdés as his Kitry. Each brought virtuosity and panache to the big solos and they worked skilfully together. 

The show itself, Magia De La Danza, was a mixed bill: extracts from seven of the Cuban company’s repertoire works.

Its focus was therefore on the choreography and style of Alicia Alonso, its founder and artistic director, for all the ballets represented are her productions, and the company’s unique style bears her personal stamp. It seemed to me most apparent in the way the women danced – there was a fluidity, grace and sense of movement spreading through the whole body which no other company has in quite the same measure.

It was there in Yanela Piñera’s dancing in the Nutcracker grand pas de deux (though partner Alejandro Virelles rather stole the show with his extraordinary jumps), and in Anette Delgado’s dancing of Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty act three excerpt (with Javier Torres).

The corps, too, has a daintiness and attention to footwork which is surely an Alonso trademark: we saw that in the Waltz of the Flowers and in the Mazurka from Coppélia – which was itself very much a Mazurka alla Havana, with red-hot costumes, a fast tempo and some showy lifts and patterns.

The other big attraction of the night was the chance to see the Cuban National Ballet’s younger star performers, for Acosta, though the name everyone knows, is one who fled the nest of the country’s remarkable hothouse training system. They want us to know that there are many more coming along like him – and fielded a young Franz (Dani Hernández) and Swanilda (Amaya Rodríguez) in the Coppélia pas de deux, who more than made up for inexperience with youthful charm and confidence.

The Cuban style is to entertain, whether by physical virtuosity or pure spectacle, though they also seem to bring an identity to works such as Giselle and Swan Lake which, though it may jar with received Western wisdom today, can also communicate effectively (their complete Swan Lake was also being performed this week).

They ended the night with a real speciality – a signature piece based on movements from a Gottschalk Symphony, which brought the entire company together with some real Latin rhythms to dance to, even though in this case Alonso’s invention didn’t go much beyond some graceful congas.

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