Acosta Danza has announced a new UK tour of Cuban Baroque, a double bill blending Baroque influences with contemporary Cuban dance.
The production will premiere at York Theatre Royal from 1 to 3 October 2026 before touring to Sadler’s Wells in London and Norwich Theatre Royal, with further dates to be confirmed for spring 2027.
The programme opens with the world premiere of a new work by Andonis Foniadakis, set to a live performance of Esteban Sallas’ Salve Regina.
The piece explores the structure of the chaconne while merging Baroque musical traditions with Cuban rhythms and contemporary movement.
Andonis Foniadakis said, “The piece is being built as a chaconne in the broadest sense: a looping architecture that keeps circling back to the same theme like a mantra, each return opening a new variation in colour, density and impulse. Cuban rhythmic principles will seep into the texture (clave, layered pulses, dance-derived momentum) and begin to tilt the baroque theme from within — bringing Sallas’ music fully into the present. In this dialogue, contrast becomes fusion: baroque memory meets Cuban propulsion; choral breath meets percussive drive; live sound meets a discreet electronic halo — shaping a single energetic trajectory that stays clear, intense, and emotionally resonant.”
The second half features Goyo Montero’s Chacona, set to the final movement of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor.
Originally created for Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett, the piece is performed by a 16-dancer ensemble and combines classical music with contemporary choreography.
Goyo Montero said, “This is going to be my fourth collaboration with Acosta Danza since 2015. To bring this work to them and adapt it to their fearless and exceptional dancers is something I am looking forward to very much. To restage this early work and revisit it for them will develop the work further and keep it alive, relevant and ever changing, a choreographer’s dream!”
Artistic director Carlos Acosta added, “I am very excited about this programme which will encapsulate the essence of Acosta Danza, fusing as it will, classical, Cuban and contemporary vocabularies and styles. I am, of course, a big fan of both choreographers and am delighted that Andonis will create a brand new piece on my dancers. I look forward to seeing how that develops over the coming months. The flavour of the evening is summarised neatly by the title Cuban Baroque, but essentially this is a programme that anyone interested in any kind of dance can enjoy. I look forward, as always, to seeing how audiences react to the atmosphere this programme will create in the theatres.”
Founded in 2015, Acosta Danza has gained international acclaim for its distinctive blend of Cuban dance traditions with classical and contemporary styles, and is an associate company of Sadler’s Wells.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
