Carlos Acosta On Before Festival Theatre Edinburgh 16th February 2024 Review
Carlos Acosta “On Before” is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh for two dates only, Friday 16 and Saturday 17 February. This review is for the Friday performance.
As a dancer, Carlos Acosta has, as well as his obvious technical abilities, another skill that cannot be taught and few dancers that I can think of ever manage to bring to any performance. That is the ability to fill any stage (and the Festival Theatre is a large performance space) and somehow fill it with his personality and his own charisma.
Carlos Acosta is magnetic when performing; you are simply drawn to wherever he is. To perform on stage effectively with someone like Carlos and not get submerged, overshadowed by his personality and presence requires a dancer of equal skill and personal magnetism and tonight, Laura Rodríguez, a founding member of Acosta Danza, had all of these qualities. When dancing solo or together, Carlos Acosta and Laura Rodríguez always gave a performance that was very special. The programme of dance this for this show features work from some of the best contemporary creative choreographic talent in the dance world and was made up of
PART ONE
Will Tuckett - On Before
Miguel Altunaga - Memoria
Yury Yanowsky - Sirin
Russell Maliphant - Two
PART TWO
Kim Brandstrup - Footnote to Aston
Estudio 50 - Falling Deep Inside
Beatriz García & Raúl Reinoso - Nosotros
Carlos Acosta & George Céspedes - Hand Duets
Carlos Acosta and Zenaida Yanowsky - O Magnum Mysterium
On Before as a complete production is one that is a very special and personal one to Carlos Acosta as amongst other things it is a tribute to his mother who passed away some years ago. The individual works here tell in their own way the story of a doomed relationship between a man and a woman choreographed to a diverse selection of music that ranges from Handel to the work of contemporary Cuban composer Omar Puente.
Flowing effortlessly throughout On Before is that feeling of being not only in a very intimate space between two people but also at times a very religious space, and the visuals, the movement and that sense of peace that you can sometimes get in the very special spaces of the latter contrast often with the harsher physical dynamics of this doomed relationship which at one point sees our couple as protagonists, almost duelling each other to the death, horns locked like wild stags. There is something beautiful and strangely calming at the same time with the performance by Laura Rodríguez to the sacred music of Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium.
There are many surprises in the works performed tonight, many sources of inspiration from which their movements are taken (including martial arts), but above all these works are an exploration of the emotions that any relationship, especially one that is disintegrating, can bring to the surface in all of us.
As always, whenever and whatever Carlos Acosta performs on stage it is a celebration of the grace, beauty and strength that the human body is capable of, and equally expressive either individually or duetting with Carlos on stage tonight, the very distinctive talents of Laura Rodríguez.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
As a dancer, Carlos Acosta has, as well as his obvious technical abilities, another skill that cannot be taught and few dancers that I can think of ever manage to bring to any performance. That is the ability to fill any stage (and the Festival Theatre is a large performance space) and somehow fill it with his personality and his own charisma.
Carlos Acosta is magnetic when performing; you are simply drawn to wherever he is. To perform on stage effectively with someone like Carlos and not get submerged, overshadowed by his personality and presence requires a dancer of equal skill and personal magnetism and tonight, Laura Rodríguez, a founding member of Acosta Danza, had all of these qualities. When dancing solo or together, Carlos Acosta and Laura Rodríguez always gave a performance that was very special. The programme of dance this for this show features work from some of the best contemporary creative choreographic talent in the dance world and was made up of
PART ONE
Will Tuckett - On Before
Miguel Altunaga - Memoria
Yury Yanowsky - Sirin
Russell Maliphant - Two
PART TWO
Kim Brandstrup - Footnote to Aston
Estudio 50 - Falling Deep Inside
Beatriz García & Raúl Reinoso - Nosotros
Carlos Acosta & George Céspedes - Hand Duets
Carlos Acosta and Zenaida Yanowsky - O Magnum Mysterium
On Before as a complete production is one that is a very special and personal one to Carlos Acosta as amongst other things it is a tribute to his mother who passed away some years ago. The individual works here tell in their own way the story of a doomed relationship between a man and a woman choreographed to a diverse selection of music that ranges from Handel to the work of contemporary Cuban composer Omar Puente.
Flowing effortlessly throughout On Before is that feeling of being not only in a very intimate space between two people but also at times a very religious space, and the visuals, the movement and that sense of peace that you can sometimes get in the very special spaces of the latter contrast often with the harsher physical dynamics of this doomed relationship which at one point sees our couple as protagonists, almost duelling each other to the death, horns locked like wild stags. There is something beautiful and strangely calming at the same time with the performance by Laura Rodríguez to the sacred music of Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium.
There are many surprises in the works performed tonight, many sources of inspiration from which their movements are taken (including martial arts), but above all these works are an exploration of the emotions that any relationship, especially one that is disintegrating, can bring to the surface in all of us.
As always, whenever and whatever Carlos Acosta performs on stage it is a celebration of the grace, beauty and strength that the human body is capable of, and equally expressive either individually or duetting with Carlos on stage tonight, the very distinctive talents of Laura Rodríguez.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com