NEXT GENERATION
Sadler’s Wells East
★★★★
“The dancers show their beauty and abundance of talent throughout”
One of the thrilling experiences in theatre and performance is to see the stars of tomorrow start to emerge. Not yet fully formed, but with many of the jigsaw pieces in place. Who, might you guess, will rise to the heights and who fall by the wayside?
We can imagine the excitement of the ballet world when a boy, turning 18, the 11th child of an impoverished working class family in Havana won the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne – before climbing to the peak of international ballet. Now, for the next three nights at Sadlers Wells East, we get to see how Carlos Acosta – now founder of the Cuban Dance Academy and Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet – is paving the way for others like him. Ten extraordinary young graduates from Acosta’s junior academy are performing four pieces in a programme that is vibrant, full of energy and poignancy, and that draws heavily on Cuba’s cultural heritage.
Acosta Danza Yunior is only three years old, designed to be a bridge for 18-21 year olds between the Academy and Acosta Danza. So what we have here is technical skill and youthful energy in its first flowering. Every one of the dancers casts on stage the shadow of their devotion to dance and the discipline of their training. We also have lovely pieces by artistic creators connected to Acosta and Cuba: Susana Pous, Didy Veldman and Juliano Nunes.
The first piece, in two parts, is a fluid and tragic exposition of migration. Eight dancers come together in bounded space – an interpretation of island – flow as if a single structure and then break up as individuals silently depart and those that remain briefly mourn. Lighting streams from the side and an overhanging sun/moon light up the otherwise dark scene. One note on the programme – it lists one piece for the first half of the evening but it unfolds as two parts — it seems to be a work sitting somewhere between a single vision and two distinct pieces.
In the second half, two dancers open with Kit Holder’s Capriccio, inspired by René Magritte’s ‘The Lovers’. It is a physical and evocative exploration of connectedness and separation. For the final piece the eight dancers of the first half return in a journey the programme describes as ‘from general sentiment to spiritual essence’. It appears to echo some of the ideas of the first half of the show, but is subtle in its emotion and enhanced by a fragile art installation by Glenda Leon of water lily flowers moving and hanging overhead.
The dancers show their beauty and abundance of talent throughout. Not yet in their prime, some emotional depth has yet to be developed in their performance. This will no doubt come as they move forward, and extraordinary connection replaces what seems a degree of reticence in feelings. Overall, this is a rare opportunity to see what may be to come for international dance and where Carlos Acosta may still be achieving his best.
NEXT GENERATION
Sadler’s Wells East
Reviewed on 17th June 2026
by Louise Sibley
Photography by Jayne Jackson
