City of a Thousand Trades is a love letter to Birmingham, commissioned by Acosta to celebrate the city’s richly diverse heritage and melting pot of cultures. Brought to stage by Havana-born choreographer Miguel Altunaga with music by Mathias Coppens, inspired by the city’s soundscape, this first piece excellently put a spotlight on immigrant's joruneys and is a theme that many Latino Life readers who have moved to the United Kingdom might relate to.
Not only was it fantastic to see a piece celebrating Birmingham, but its powerful dancing, shadows, interactive scenery and voice recordings of people who had moved to the city describing their highs and lows brought the piece to life. Negative aspects including racism and loneliness where portrayed by the international cast, creating a tense atmosphere. However, as they began to eventually feel a sense of belonging, getting to know the city and its people better, they began to dance with a synergy to illustrate the melting pot of cultures and opportunities in the city. The ballet also included the theme of conflict, illustrating the hard choice of leaving their family behind in search of a new life abroad, made more difficult but the cold and harsh Birmingham winters.
In the second piece of work, Imminent, Brazilian / British choreographer Daniela Cardim explores the sensation of knowing that something isn’t right, even though the world around us seems to be flowing harmoniously. Using was a more tradtional ballet which was explored the sensation of knowing that something isn't right, but defying the status quo and listening to your instincts, in order to venture into the unkown and find new opportunities. Without the interactive set that we saw in the first piece, Imminent was a more abstract work, which the dancers carried out well through excellent choreography.
The final piece Chacona is a powerful ensemble piece for 16 dancers set to music by J.S. Bach, played on stage by violin, guitar and piano. Created by Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero, it features an exclusive pas de deux performed by Carlos Acosta and guest artist Alessandra Ferri. The performance is marked by fantastic live musicians who mesmerized on the guitar, piano and violin on stage. Playing Bach, the audience was treated to a mix of live dance and music which worked effortlessly and was a strong finish to the overall performance.
Delicate dancing with intricated timing mixed to create a complelling performance. As each piece varied, the show felt like a combination of consistantly thought provoking and exceptionally performed pieces that I would highly recommend. Curated by Carlos brings a wide mix of Latino performers and producers, incuding Cubans, Brazilians and Spaniards for this enjoyable mix of top performances to an equally wide and diverse crowd.
If you would also like to watch this performance, Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage is launching its new Video on Demand platform with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s triple bill Curated by Carlos. Curated by Carlos will be available as a digital screening, for audiences around the world to watch wherever they may be.
The show will be available to rent on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage at any time between 12:00pm GMT (noon) on Thursday 11 November 2021 and 12:00pm GMT (noon) on Thursday 18 November 2021. Curated by Carlos will be available to rent from anywhere in the world from £8 - £15. Once purchased, each rental will be available for 48 hours. An Audio Described version of the film will also be available.
