“I want to make it snow in Havana,” said Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta as he announced a new version of ballet’s favourite frosty Christmas show The Nutcracker on Monday. Nutcracker in Havana will weave traditional Cuban rhythms and dances together with classical ballet, all set to a revised version of Tchaikovsky’s famous musical score by Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo.
Having grown up in Havana under Fidel Castro, who effectively banned Christmas, Acosta did not celebrate it until he left the island to join Houston Ballet in 1993, aged 20. He was staying with the company’s director when he came home one day to find a giant tree in the living room. “I said, this man has gone mad! What is he doing planting a tree in the living room?!” But over Acosta’s 17 years dancing with the Royal Ballet in London, he came to love the annual festivities. “It’s a lovely period of bringing everyone together,” he said. “I want to give my nation that kind of experience.”
In Acosta’s vision, the story of Clara, an enchanted Nutcracker doll and their journey through a magical land of dreams, will take on a Cuban accent. Clara’s humble wooden home is transformed into a 1940s-style Havana ballroom, the Nutcracker doll becomes a mambi – one of the soldiers who fought against Spain in the Cuban war of independence – and toys come to life in the shape of Yoruba gods and goddesses. The show will have video projection and set design by Nina Dunn.
The cast of 21 come from Acosta’s Havana-based company, Acosta Danza. The premiere will take place at Norwich Theatre Royal on 1 November, before a UK tour. “You wouldn’t think of Norfolk as a home for Cuban dance, but it’s often nice to surprise,” said Stephen Crocker, CEO of Norwich Theatres, co-producer of Nutcracker in Havana. “Carlos is so inspirational to work with.”
The Nutcracker is a stalwart of the ballet repertoire, often counting for half of a company’s takings for the year, said Acosta. But the best productions tend to do long runs in single large theatres. In line with Acosta’s mission to open dance up to broader audiences, the aim is to make a production that can easily go on tour but is “still as magical”.
One of the greatest ballet dancers of his generation, Havana-born Acosta, 50, retired from the Royal Ballet in 2015, set up Acosta Danza in 2016, and since 2020 has been artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, where commissions such as Black Sabbath: The Ballet have caught the imagination of dance fans and newcomers alike. His many other projects include choreography, films, books, and a dance academy in Havana. In 2023 he opened the Acosta Dance Centre in Woolwich, south-east London, site of the former Royal Arsenal. And yet still he finds time to make a new large-scale, full-evening ballet on top of everything else. “I just need to be constantly creating,” said Acosta. “Then when you see a result, it’s a great feeling, a feeling I crave. It’s stressful but when you do something fresh and new for a new audience, it’s amazing. You think: I want that again.”