Acosta Danza, Nutcracker in Havana, Southbank Centre

This is a 'save the date' post, as not all details are available yet; but we thought we'd give you advance notice of an intriguing new initiative by the indefatigable Carlos Acosta – Cuban superstar ballet dancer, artistic director of not one, but two ballet companies, choreographer and director, and very much a dreamer of dreams.

In this case the dream is an audacious transposition of the Christmas ballet par excellence, The Nutcracker, to Havana, capital of a country where, as Acosta noted at the project launch in his own Acosta Dance Centre, Woolwich, Christmas had been erased by the Communist government until the breakthrough visit by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

The Nutcracker, possibly the world's most performed ballet, has undergone any number of makeovers since its premiere in 19th century Russia; only last Christmas the British choreographer Drew McOnie delighted audiences with his small scale adaptation that ran to sold out houses at the Southbank.

But it took Carlos Acosta, In collaboration with Norwich Theatre and Valid Productions, to set the ballet in Cuba for the very first time. Entitled Nutcracker in Havana, it will be performed by his Havana-based Acosta Danza and will come to London in December as part of an extensive UK tour (1 November to 18 January).

Acosta bases his work on the traditional story: a Christmas Eve party, followed by a journey to a kingdom of dreams with all its attendant divertissements. However, this familiar template will be infused with Havana's colour and vibrant culture. Clara's home is now the simple shack of a humble family; Clara's Christmas night dream will pass through the grand Havana ballrooms of the 1940s and 50s.

The divertissements will also have a makeover. The Rat King is present and correct, but now he is the African-Cuban god Shango.


The Rat King in Nutcracker in Havana at Malecón. Photo: Eduardo Lara
And the ballet's iconic Sugar Plum Fairy is represented by the Cuban goddess of love, Oshun, while the titular Nutcracker is, in fact, kitted out as a mambise, one of the guerrilla soldiers that fought Cuba's war of independence against Spain.

Nutcracker in Havana, the first full-length narrative ballet crated for and performed by Acosta Danza, will – of course! – use Tchaikovsky's score, but in a jazz and boss nova-influenced new version by the Cuban composer and frequent Acosta Danza collaborator Pepe Gavilondo. Acosta himself choreographs and directs. Video design is by Nina Dunn, who has already collaborated with Acosta's Birmingham Royal Ballet. Costumes are by the Caribbean fashion and costume designer Angelo Alberto.

In short, Nutcracker in Havana is as promising a proposition as it is intriguing, WATCH THIS SPACE for ongoing updates.