Review: Acosta Danza in Carmen – formulaic and lacking in pace

Carlos Acosta, Cuban ballet megastar, was last seen as Don Jose in his own production of Carmen for the Royal Ballet in November 2015. Those performances also happened to be his final ones with the company. But lots has occurred since then…

Acosta formed Acosta Danza in the same year, with the group first performing in 2016, and he also became the artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2020 – busy man.

And in 2024, Acosta returns to the stage (as The Bull) with a reworking of his Carmen into two acts for Acosta Danza, and the rest is history as they say… though I sometimes wish Carmen was!

That’s not totally fair as I love moments in the 1949, Roland Petit version, and the recent performances by English National Ballet in Johan Inger’s 2015 production brought new life (for me) to the well-known narrative by seeing more of the drama from Don Jose’s perspective.

So where does Acosta take us, and Carmen now? If honest – nowhere new, and I’d even go as far as to say somewhere more formulaic and lacking in pace than it’s ever been before.

No argument with the dancing, and most of the group scenes have a tightness in production value and choreographic knitting, but the lead characters don’t come off well.

There’s just no character development, and yes, we all know who Carmen is, but surely when exploring a new production one wants to rediscover a character’s potential breadth? Evidently not. As within three minutes or so Carmen has been disrobed down to her negligée and surrounded by a group of men in very tiny pants and nothing else. And that’s basically the overall gist – lite, predictable, generic entertainment. So if that’s your thing, book a ticket.

Acosta needs to rethink the augmentation into two acts, as there’s lots of empty dancing and some insanely long pas de deux – numerous in fact – which cause the relentless narrative to lose its perpetual forward motion. We’re left twiddling our thumbs, or at least I was. And unfortunately, Act 2 is much the same, and reaffirms any doubts initially born in Act 1.

The dance language just isn’t strong, whether for corps de ballet or featured characters, and herein lies the problem. Even if the dancers were good actors, the work doesn’t demand it. Nothing seems to have any emotional intent or underpinning – it’s well executed, superficial fluff. The corps numbers are specifically high impact, but in a contemporary jazz fashion à la Rockettes.

There are endless high kicks, splits, jumps and lifts with legs akimbo and not much alternative. And the majority is done in underwear with a hyper-sexualised undertone. Acosta as The Bull doesn’t really make any sense. He’s a puppet master of the fate of the two main characters but barely dances at all, and mostly just stalks around, though he does have a duo with Carmen where he flings her about for a few minutes. She also has an earlier one with Don José where she’s bound and dances around a cage like a dog on a leash for what seems like forever. Snooze.

The set by Tim Hatley works. It’s powerful in its sparseness, though the red and blue neon lighting by Peter Mumford ends up feeling a little too much gay bar/strip club as it doesn’t really go anywhere for the duration.

I didn’t find any of the additional music of value, just lots of twinkle twinkle, and the existing score seemed to be a recorded version that lacked any serious level of clarity, which is a shame indeed.

Laura Rodriguez is a very capable, secure dancer, but her Carmen lacks depth and spontaneity. She’s also the only cast member en pointe, which left me wondering if this was the right or wrong move. Alejandro Silva as Don José is fine but uneventful. I think this is mostly down to Acosta’s reading, and subsequent communication of the character. Enrique Corrales as Escamillo is the weakest link for me, as his dancing just isn’t strong enough for the role – where is the power in his allegro and crispness of the character’s physical arrogance?

Okay, enough, I think I’ve made my point. For some this will be a success. For me it was a wasted opportunity and a waste of time. It’s the difference between one delicious heirloom tomato, and a vat full of those tasteless ones produced in the Netherlands. And I know which I prefer. Over and out.

Matthew Paluch Guest Author

Matthew Paluch was awarded a place at The Royal Ballet School in 1990 where he graduated in 1997. His first four years as a professional dancer were spent working with London City Ballet, Scottish Ballet, K-Ballet and English National Ballet, becoming a full-time member of ENB until leaving in 2006.

Matthew graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance, Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma in 2007, and was formerly on faculty at The Royal Ballet School. He completed his Masters in Ballet Studies at Roehampton University in 2011, has been a freelance writer since 2010 and currently works in the Law Sector.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.