Holland Dance Festival, Luxor Theater Rotterdam and Stichting Droom en Daad brought Carlos Acosta’s Cuban dance company to the Netherlands and it was a hit. Acosta Danza’s successful performances are a wonderful continuation of the intensive collaboration to bring international dance companies to the Netherlands. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater bit the bullet in 2019. With sold-out performances and wildly enthusiastic audiences at Acosta Danza last week, the collaboration in Rotterdam stands like a house.

In the festively decorated new Luxor Theater Rotterdam, the red carpet was laid out to welcome nearly 5,600 visitors spread over four sold-out nights. Chief guest was, of course, star dancer, choreographer and, above all, dance visionary Carlos Acosta, founder of the Cuban dance company Acosta Danza. Together with Samuel Wuersten, artistic and general director Holland Dance Festival, they opened the program each evening. In addition to an extensive workshop program for 175 pupils and students from various Rotterdam programs, there was also a roundtable discussion on the topic of artistic leadership. Also shown at LanterenVenster was the film Yuli, a feature on the eventful life of Carlos Acosta.

Carlos Acosta: “I feel that a dream of mine just have come true. The Netherlands is a very important country for us. Because it is very cultural and a very strong place for contemporary dance. I always wanted to come here to bring our artistry from Cuba to this part of the world, but particularly to Rotterdam. The dancers feel amazing here, they are very eager and happy to be able to dance for this audience. These are such extreme talents from Cuba and I am so proud of them.”

“The collaboration with Holland Dance Festival, Luxor and Droom & Daad has been great from the start, there really is a lot of mutual respect. All I want for the people is to feel happy, to have a sense of who we are as a nation and as a culture. Cuba is a melting pot of different cultures and so that is very embedded in the program Cuban Eclectico. It should be a celebration with people coming together to enjoy and dance to the many folk rhythms. In the last piece of the evening, which is called De Punto a Cabo, you can almost participate in a day at the sea bay in Havana, called Malecón. Everything happens there and there will be conga and dancing, filled of what Cuba really is all about.” applause for the spirited
dancers of Acosta Danza