Ballet Nacional de Cuba made its much-anticipated debut at the Coliseum last night, and you half wonder if it was worth the wait.
Cuba produces umpteen good dancers, many more than we can dream of, but the country’s isolation limits their artistic development.
It also limits their Swan Lake. Created by Alicia Alonso, the happy-ending production shows off the dancers but prevents their revealing the ballet’s serious themes.
Much of the choreography, devised by Alonso after the Petipa/Ivanov original, looks like a series of divertissements rather than an integrated dance-drama, while the acting is exaggerated compared with today’s low-key standards. Also hindering the production are the rather dated panto-grade costumes.
All this traps the dancers in amber. Viengsay Valdes was the opening night Odette/Odile, and while her black swan made alluring use of her awesome balance and fearsome spin, her white swan was dramatically exaggerated and idiosyncratically danced. Indeed, her flexed wrists and lunging arabesques verged on the spoof troupe Les Trockaderos.
Valdes jarred with the guesting Carlos Acosta who trained in Cuba but who has spent most of his career in Europe. Next to Valdes, Acosta’s acting is naturalistic and his dancing nuanced —not something you’d normally say about the show-off Carlos.
Other performances were similarly mixed. The corps of swans in Act II were well drilled but lacked the flow and finish needed to create an ethereal vision of downy-soft bewitchment. And while the Tutor made zero impression, the Act I pas de trois was gorgeously done, as was Act III’s Neopolitan dance led by Acosta’s nephew Yonah.
Swan Lake until 3 April. Mixed bill 6-11 April. Information 0871 911 0200, www.eno.org
Ballet Nacional De Cuba: Swan Lake
London Coliseum
St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES
