Carmen is a tale that’s been told many times. It began as a story by Prosper Merimee and its best known iteration is undoubtedly Georges Bizet’s opera. It has, though, also been a ballet choreographed by everyone from Marius Petipa and Roland Petit to Mats Ek and Richard Alston – and the flamenco film version by Antonio Gades is magic. Now, it’s the turn of Carlos Acosta who has brought his company, Acosta Danza (along with some guest artists from Birmingham Royal Ballet where he is also Artistic Director) to Sadler’s Wells for his own version. And it has a distinctly Cuban flavour.
This is not an entirely new piece. Acosta’s first version was created in 2015 when he was leaving the Royal Ballet where he had been a dancer for 17 years. It was something of a parting gift. It was a much shorter version than the present one and disappointingly received. Acosta himself felt that, to truly get to grips with the story, he needed to make it a full-length ballet and inject more of his Cuban roots, combining classical and more contemporary styles. They are all here including, appropriately enough for a piece set in Seville, quite a few nods towards flamenco.
Acosta has not only combined different styles here, he has created some intense, complex and athletic choreography. Fortunately, Acosta Danza is a superb company, able to take on anything that’s thrown at them. Sometimes, literally. There’s a bit of bottle juggling and rifle catching; a clever game with a rope when Carmen, the supposed prisoner, predictably manages to tie up her gaoler, Don Jose; the dancers clap, shout, whoop and stomp; and Acosta himself as the Bull (aka Fate) wears massive horns that become intricate parts of his lifts.
There are some wonderful ensemble moments for the company in the tavern and the gypsy camp where both the dancing and the characterisation are terrific. And that goes for – in spades – the two main characters. As Carmen, Laura Rodriguez is a firecracker, fearless in her leaps and smouldering in her performance. Rodriguez played the title role in 2017 in Acosta’s original shorter version but here she has more time and space to develop her character. This is a Carmen who knows her power over men and, just as easily, is bored by them, pushing away her pleading Don Jose.
As her luckless lover, Alejandro Silva is an emotional powerhouse. Instantly smitten with his seductive gypsy, he is tormented both by her games and his own conscience, consumed by the guilt of having abandoned his family and his role as a soldier. (Interestingly, there’s no Michaela in this version to remind him of this, but Silva is just as stricken all on his own.) The duets Acosta has created for them are a wonder.
Enrique Corrales, starts as a rather stiff, formal toreador but sparks in his duets with Rodriguez. Acosta himself as the Bull, representing Carmen’s inevitable destiny, is an occasional visitor to the stage, driving the action, pulling the strings of his dancers, always powerful, always irresistibly drawing the eye.
The music is, of course, familiar – though not all of it. You hear the Toreador Song and the Habanera but not necessarily as you might expect them. Acosta has used Rodion Shchedrin’s 1967 Carmen Suite (which on occasions sounds a bit tinny, to be honest) and added in other compositions by Martin Yates, Yhovani Duarte and Denis Paralta.
At the very, very last moment, the company explodes into the best curtain call ever – an explosion of flamenco style and Cuban energy. Don’t miss it.
Carmen by Acosta Danza runs at Sadler’s Wells until 6th July. For more information, and for tickets, please visit www.sadlerswells.com.
Photos by Buby
