Carlos Acosta at 50 — a showcase of stamina and stylistic range

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The standing ovation was a racing certainty. Wednesday’s capacity Covent Garden crowd was in full, adoring voice the instant the curtain rose to reveal the birthday boy in full god mode, as George Balanchine’s Apollo. The three-part programme, Carlos at 50, had been carefully selected to celebrate Acosta’s classical career, his enduring love of Cuba and the talents he has nurtured at Birmingham Royal Ballet and his Havana-based company Acosta Danza.

This is a great deal of ground to cover in one evening and while his own performances were first-rate, his choreographic choices were (as always) hit-and-miss and some elements felt a lot like filler.

Acosta himself remains in superb shape — his ripped abdomen rivals Ryan Gosling’s Ken doll — and his stamina is phenomenal. He dances in five of the 10 pieces which demonstrate his impressive dramatic and stylistic range, from the soulful Siegfried to the ebullient street dance of his autobiographical Tocororo, the evening’s up-tempo finale.

Acosta first performed Apollo with the Royal Ballet in 2003 and he retains the silky pirouettes and pussy-footed landings of the newborn deity. He was well matched by Marianela Nuñez’s sassy, sure-footed Terpsichore (the evening could easily be subtitled “Marianela at 41”). Both dancers have such deep muscle memories of Balanchine’s 1928 masterpiece that they can ride the Stravinsky score with confidence and find time to explore the tender, witty interplay between the muse and the god: dance safe in the arms of music.

London’s first glimpses of Acosta during the 1990s tended to be in gala firecrackers that flaunted his dazzling Russo-Cuban technique — but these pyrotechnics were tempered by 17 years steeped in the Royal Ballet repertoire. The inclusion of the dear old Le Corsaire pas de deux, the prawn cocktail of many a gala menu, was presumably intended as a reminder of these juicy early years. Sadly, his nephew Yonah Acosta, tin-eared and underpowered, was not up to the task. An odd piece of casting given that former BRB star Brandon Lawrence was in the line-up. Lawrence, who has signed up with Cathy Marston’s Ballett Zürich for next season, instead gave a showstopping account of Valery Panov’s 1998 Liebestod.

Acosta retired from classical dancing in 2016 but was nonetheless back in tights for a heartfelt Swan Lake Act II, partnering a tremulous Nuñez with loving care. Both were sustained and inspired by the exquisite playing of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Paul Murphy. The pair returned in the bedroom duet from Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, a cut-and-come-again coupling in which the lovers are forever running back for one last loved-up lift.

The evening was enthusiastically received but definitely dragged in places. Acosta’s own Dying Swans and his cliché-ridden 2015 Carmen (delivered with undeserved verve by Acosta Danza) were among the makeweights but his energy, artistry and generosity of spirit were massive compensations. The curtain calls were larky and affectionate — all three of his young daughters took bows — and I doubt they will be his last.

★★★★☆

To July 30, roh.org.uk