Last Updated on August 6, 2026
The Cuban Ballet Superstar Returns to the Stage
4.0 out of 5.0 starsCarlos Acosta retired from the stage in 2015; but the stage hasn’t never left him, and in Myths and Modern Masters, his self-curated programme, which has just opened at Covent Garden, he proves once again that at 53 he’s still got what it takes.
At just over two and half hours, Myths and Modern Masters touches all the bases; It shows Acosta has lost none of his charismatic stage presence, illustrates his own choreography, and showcases some of the exceptional dancers of Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), where is artistic director, and Acosta Danza, his own Cuban company. As well, it offers a platform to young Cuban choreographers. And it brings his own 14-year-old daughter Aila Acosta Holland to the stage she last stepped on as a little girl at the end of her father’s farewell performance.
Myths and Modern Masters opens with The Moor’s Pavane, a 1949 chamber work by the Mexican choreographer José Limón set to music by Henry Purcell, that distills the essence of Shakespeare’s Othello through the interactions of four characters: Othello, danced here by Carlos Acosta, Desdemona, Iago and Emilia, respectively Beatrice Parma, Max Maslen and Miki Mitsutani, all BRB principals.
It’s shaped like a Renaissance pavane, its courtly gestures coloured by Graham movement and expressionistic gestures. Acosta is a noble and dignified Moor, his every movement charged with meaning, Maslen an insidious villain, whispering venom into his master’s ear, Parma a soft, loving Desdemona, and Mitsutani a feisty Emilia. It’s a compelling work, and given that it’s rarely performed in this country, I thought it an excellent choice.
Another felicitous decision was to end the programme with Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, a witty depiction of young men and women at play, set to seven Rolling Stones tracks, starting with the eponymous Rooster and ending with the rousing Sympathy for the Devil. It premiered in 1991 and its mood is very 1960s, and yet it feels and looks contemporary and relatable.
Acosta leads a cast of ten, backed by dancers from Acosta Danza dressed by Marian Bruce in colourful 60s street costumes. He enters doing the rooster strut, which will return as a leitmotif throughout the work’s 27 minutes, where the men’s comical bravado is consistently debunked by the women’s gentle mockery. The Cuban dancers take to its loose hip, swing-inspired movement like fish to water giving vibrant, amusing performances marred only, rather like the rest of the show, by overly subdued lighting.
The middle section of Myths and Modern Masters consisted of three pieces, including one of the highlights of the evening: the pas de deux Diana and Actaeon, danced by two BRB young Cuban prodigies, Katherine Ochoa and Yasiel Hodelin Bello.
Diana and Actaeon, a virtuoso piece choreographed by Agrippina Vaganova to music by Drigo, is a gala staple, and I’ve seen it many times before, but never with the thrilling aplomb Ochoa and Bello brought to their performance. Ochoa in particular was riveting, not only for her time-stopping Cuban balances and fouettés that looked as if they’d never stop turning, but for her absolute command of the stage. Hers was a breathtaking performance, and Hodelin Bello matched her power with his own virtuoso, feline jumps and turns.
It was not a good idea to programme Nosotros immediately after this. A pas de deux created by the Cuban choreographers Beatriz García and Raúl Reinoso (also credited with the unsightly white costumes), it was danced by Acosta and Amisaday Naara to a score by Pepe Gavilondo. It purported to explore facets of love, but it felt jejune and inconsequential.
Two years ago, Acosta transposed the popular ballet The Nutcracker to Havana, and a jolly show it proved to be. So, he included a Nutcracker in Havana Suite in Myths and Modern Masters. It gave individual dancers the opportunity to shine, none more so than Beatrice Parma and Enrique Berejano Vidal, both impeccable in the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux; but it seemed to go on for far too long, and not quite to fit in somehow.
On the whole, though, with live music provided by the hard-working Royal Ballet Sinfonia directed by Paul Murphy, Myths and Modern Masters is an enjoyable, very vital programme.
Carlos Acosta: Myths and Modern Masters is at the RBO 5 – 9 August at 7.30 pm; Sun at 2.30 pm only
Dur.: 2 hours 40 mins inc two intervals. Tickets: £32 – £207
RBO
Bow Street
London WC2E 9DD
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