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Premieres Plus Birmingham Hippodrome *** EVENTUALLY there comes a time in the life
of a professional footballer when it takes that bit longer for joints
and muscles to start working again in the mornings, when a yard of speed
has gone missing and the final whistle seems to take that much That’s when experience comes in, still appearing to look good with less effort, letting the ball do the work and pacing yourself to last the full 90 minutes. You couldn’t help wondering whether Mr Acosta, who is 38 remember, has reached the same point in his ballet career, the point where he lets the ball do the work in his 90 minute show. ENTHUSIASTIC Not that the audience minded. There was enthusiastic applause at the end with even a few on their feet but there was just a nagging feeling this was as much a tribute to a glorious career than to the performance they had just seen. Would there have been the same appreciation had
this been some unknown star from the National Ballet of Uzbekistan for
instance? Since he first burst on to the scene from the
Cuban National Ballet School in the early 90s Acosta has been one of the
finest male ballet dancers of his generation yet you would hardly know
it from Premieres Plus. Admittedly this is not a ballet or even a ballet
inspired production but a show described as performance art or as
contemporary dance and Acosta says in the programme notes that it
“continues the path I have begun in recent years to explore new
territory as a dancer and as an artist”. What Acosta did he did superbly, lithe, sleek and
elegant as a gazelle in slow motion, but much of the performance was
just that, slow motion. It was all a bit one paced and repetitive
showing how many shapes and contortions ballet dancers can make their
bodies achieve that the rest of us can only dream – painfully - about. There is no real zip and although Acosta is no
doubt still superbly fit there is no athleticism, no signs of the
amazing power and grace that have made him such an influential figure in
dance. This was all low gear stuff. In Premeries Plus Acosta, a principal guest
artist with the Royal Ballet is joined by the French-born ballerina
Zenaida Yanowsky (right) who is a principal dancer with the same
company and to be honest she steals the show particularly in Sarin,
a piece choreographed by her brother Yuri. She manages to send rhythmic waves rippling
through her arms that are just amazing to watch while her body flows
like some computer generated graphic. No one surely can be that fluid
but there are no tricks, mirrors, smoke, magicians with capes and
rabbits in a hat, she just takes the limits of human anatomy to the
limit. Both beautiful and fascinating to watch. Acosta’s highlight came in
Russell Maliphant's Two when, fixed in the gloom in the centre
of a cylinder of light he sends his arms and feet arcing through the air
breaking into the fence of light surrounding him making it look almost
as if they are on fire – a clever and stunning effect.
Indeed most of the effects were created by imaginative lighting, all designed by Chris Davey, with cones of light, squares, shafts, circles and every geometric shape you can think of all in stark, harsh, clear white apart from a Close Encounters golden backlight at the end. The only real props or scenery
came with a host of candles in Kim Brandstrup’s Footnote to Ashton,
which was another beautifully danced piece by Miss Yanowsky. In fact the
solos worked better than the duets but it was all a bit one paced and
gloomy even down to the West Midlands own The Godiva Awakes Choir. They wandered on and
off at various points of the performance like mourners on their way to
or coming from a funeral or glum refugees from some disaster or
other. They ended the show with Morten Lauridsen’s
piece O Magnum Mysterium, a responsorial chant from the
Matins of Christmas. It is the sort of piece you
hear in cathedrals as background music to fill out a full house
with a particularly long communion. Beautifully sung
but hardly a show stopper or sprit lifter. Much the same could be said of the the whole show. It was all beautifully danced, lit and performed and at times was mesmerising to watch, including a sensuous slow motion film Falling Deep Inside in the second half, but there was no spark, no emotion, nor feeling for what was going on, no romance, despair, love, hate – nothing to engage the audience or touch the soul - just technical brilliance. What was needed was passion, some raw emotion.
Without it the performance just comes over as arty,
worthy, if a little pretentious, but
ultimately, empty. Roger
Clarke
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Carlos
Acosta