The world knows Carlos Acosta as one of the most gifted dancers of his generation, not as a choreographer or director. But his debut show Tocororo is powered with so much energy and style that Acosta may well have an alternative career in front of him.
Audiences aware of Acosta's life story might be puzzled by the show's central conceit. Acosta travelled from Havana's slums to international celebrity on the ticket of his prodigious classical talent. In Tocororo, however, which parallels Acosta's own journey, ballet is made the language of handicap. It is what the inexperienced country hero dances before he is initiated into the style of the Cuban streets, the dance language of the big wide world.
Aside from the incongruity of a young rural hick being able to dance like a ballet prince, Acosta develops some cracking mileage from this idea. There are some fabulous dance dialogues between Acosta and virtuoso gang leader Alexander Verona.Tocororo introduces himself with graceful poses and tries to impress with his pirouettes, but snake-hipped Verona trumps him mercilessly. Skinny-limbed and slick with power, Verona's body catches the rhythms of the street with mesmerising skill.
Inevitably, as Tocororo adapts to his new life so his dancing turns sexy and extrovert and he starts to infiltrate his ballet moves with those of the Havana gangs. The latter's crowd numbers are almost the best part of the show. Accompanied by a crackling five-piece band, Acosta's hand-picked Cuban dancers blaze through a series of routines whose vitality and invention rank with the best of Broadway.
It is a measure of Acosta's promise as a choreographer that while he is the show's star, he makes everyone else shine, too. Almost outclassing the adults is his nephew as the young Tocororo. Yonah Acosta is a superb dancer, and an equally fine actor. The anguished, dignified set of his body as he leaves his rural home is profoundly and startlingly moving.
Of course there are flaws. Acosta's pacing of key emotional scenes is laboured, and the wise woman who is wheeled on to comment on the action belongs to another show. Tocororo can't really choose between cartoon simplicities and interior drama. But the oddities and longueurs are swept aside by the technical dazzle of the performers and their beguiling personalities. Acosta's triumph is to choreograph the slickest of dance showcases while keeping hold of a real story.
· Until July 26. Box office: 020-7863 8000.
