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For the next five nights however, Acosta will be at the London Coliseum,
dancing his Classical Selection; this consists of sixteen dances that he feels
have shaped and inspired his career. When the lights went down, the crowd were
silent, and the piano appeared under a single spotlight at the back of the
stage, I was suddenly aware of the enormity of the auditorium. What a perfect
setting for such a special show. I’ve chosen to write about just a few of my
favourite dances from the night.
Accompanying Acosta were eight other dancers, and he danced most of his
sections with the same girl, Marianela Nuñez. The pair looked as if they had
been dancing together for years; their movements were so in time, and so
emotionally connected. The opening dance, Winter Dreams, is a distillation of Chekov’s Three
Sisters, and recalls the farewell between Masha and her love, Colonel
Vershinin, when his regiment is ordered to move on to a different town. The
dance was beautiful, and by the end, when Masha is left on stage clutching
Vershinin’s overcoat, you can see Nuñez’s stomach heaving in heartbreak.
However, next time we see her, in Scheherezade,
the transformation is incredible; she is a strong and feisty Zobéide, seducing
her lover or, as he is sometimes named, The Golden Slave (Acosta). With the
music and style of dance being so different too, she is altogether a changed
character.
Over my years of going to the ballet I have seen many dancers take on
the role of a swan, but never before have I seen someone so believable as
Melissa Hamilton. She danced Mikhail Fokine’s interpretation of The Dying Swan, and I almost forgot she
was human. With beautiful music by Camille Saint-Saëns, I’m sure my jaw wasn’t
the only one in my lap as we watched her. Later, Hamilton danced MacMillan’s Gloria with Nehemiah Kish. Inspired by
the after-effects of war, here she embodies a woman in mourning and is again
breath-taking.
Probably the pas de deux I enjoyed most was Massenet’s Manon, because of how happy and joyful
it was! Manon wakes in her glorious, fifteen-foot high four-poster bed to find
her lover, des Grieux, already awake and writing at his desk. Their dance is
complete with effortless lifts, romantic embraces, and a fair amount of
smooching – it’s every girl’s fantasy, isn’t it?! Unfortunately, this is just a
lovely snippet of the overall opera, and inevitably, Manon is destined to come
to a rather sticky end (I’ll let you read her story by yourself, so as not to
spoil the mood!). Leanne Benjamin is a wonderful dancer though, and just as
energetic and spritely as the other female dancers, despite being 49 years old!
She is retiring this month from the Royal Ballet with an OBE.
The last dance of the night was quite literally a showstopper. Up until
this point, Acosta had acted mainly as support to the beautiful women he was
dancing with, but now it was his turn to shine! The dance, named Memoria, was created in July 2009 for performances
at the Coliseum, to accompany music written by Mexican electronica artist
Murcof. With his athletic and muscular frame, Acosta moved through jumps,
flips, headstands, floor work, and more traditional ballet positions fluently, completely
embodying his native South American beat. He was absolutely mesmerising, and I
feel so lucky to have witnessed one of the greats being so… great :)
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