Carlos Acosta to create new version of The Nutcracker set in Havana

The acclaimed dancer, director and choreographer takes on ballet’s favourite frosty Christmas show, with his Cuba-based company Acosta Danza

“I want to make it snow in Havana,” said Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta as he announced a new version of ballet’s favourite frosty Christmas show The Nutcracker on Monday. Nutcracker in Havana will weave traditional Cuban rhythms and dances together with classical ballet, all set to a revised version of Tchaikovsky’s famous musical score by Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo.

Having grown up in Havana under Fidel Castro, who effectively banned Christmas, Acosta did not celebrate it until he left the island to join Houston Ballet in 1993, aged 20. He was staying with the company’s director when he came home one day to find a giant tree in the living room. “I said, this man has gone mad! What is he doing planting a tree in the living room?!” But over Acosta’s 17 years dancing with the Royal Ballet in London, he came to love the annual festivities. “It’s a lovely period of bringing everyone together,” he said. “I want to give my nation that kind of experience.”