Choreographers: Adonis Foniadakis (Pearls); Goyo Montero (Chacona)
On paper, pairing highly rhythmic contemporary dance, rooted in the heat and sensuality of Latin American movement, with the devout, string-led music of the Baroque might seem a mash-up too far. The surprise is that some of the Baroque’s most familiar forms began life on the other side of the Atlantic. The chaconne emerged in Spain’s American colonies towards the end of the 16th century, and it was considered so improper when it arrived in Spain that moralists railed against it; only once European composers had smoothed its edges did it become the stately form Bach and his contemporaries would make their own.
Knowing that, their music sounds rather different, and setting it against something so physical and rhythmic starts to feel surprisingly natural. In Cuban Baroque, Carlos Acosta’s Havana-based company carries the chaconne back across the water, and the results are frequently exhilarating.
Acosta Danza has made its name by fusing classical, contemporary and Cuban dance, and this double bill is built squarely on that idea. Its centrepiece is Pearls, a new work from Greek choreographer Andonis Foniadakis set to Salve Regina by Esteban Salas, the 18th-century composer often described as the father of Cuban classical music. It is followed by Goyo Montero’s Chacona, set to the final movement of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor in an arrangement for guitar and piano, and originally created for Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett.
Across both pieces emerges a tension that both frustrates and leads to something close to profound joy. For anyone not overly au fait with the language of dance, the seemingly mismatch between the frenetic and syncopated style of contemporary dance employed, and the more genteel strings of baroque music, feels frustratingly jarring.
Creating a sort of emotive dissonance, it has the surprising effect of forcing you to lean in and myopically watch the near-impossible fluidity of the movement while concentrating on the baroque score, trying to join the rhythmic dots. But when it happens (fortunately more often than not), the mix of modern and old, Latin and European, movement and music becomes so joyous and exciting that not only does it all make sense, but it feels more natural than original.
The companies dance superbly: these are ensembles in perfect synchronisation and disjointed harmony. Their bodies are simultaneously fluid and flexible whilst also being almost robotically mechanical and precise. The discipline needed to keep that much energy under control is breathtakingly impressive and on display so much that it feels almost pedestrianly natural rather than a physical marvel.
With both pieces set on a blank canvas of a stage, the simple but very effective lighting is used as a frame to contain the key passages of the dance. Beams cut across the stage to build walls and canvases out of light, rather like a stripped-back Pink Floyd concert, and the effect is to focus the eye rather than distract it.
In Cuban Baroque, Acosta Danza has brought together two distinct pieces, anchored in a musical foundation, that deliver a thrilling and physical showcase that intrigues, puzzles, amazes, and continually delights.
Runs until 10 October 2026
