Many companies claiming a particular nationality turn out to be composed of artists from all over the world, (look at English National Ballet, for example), but here every one of the dancers, singers and musicians is from Cuba, and it shows in the energy and the flamboyant exuberance of their show.
Havana Rakatan consists of a series of dance numbers with bits of chat and contributions from the excellent singers, and from the on-stage band, which features a lot of fine guitar playing, and a first-class trumpeter, Alberto Pellicer, who walks here and there pumping his virtuosity out into the audience.
But the show calls itself a dance spectacular, and that's exactly what it is. The aim, successfully achieved, is to make us feel we're in the Spanish alleyways of Havana, or by the sea-wall, or out in the countryside where they're celebrating a marriage and a successful harvest. The scenes are smoothly changed simply by replacing very atmospheric backdrops, painted in almost photographic detail, and beautifully lit to create a tropical sunset, or the pot-bellied, jungle-clad hills and the rich fields of the interior.
There is a theme to the show, a kind of musical history lesson, through which we learn that 500 years ago people from two very different cultures - the colonial Spanish and tribal Africans who came over as slaves - met in Cuba, viewed each other with fear and suspicion, but over the years learnt to live together in harmony. The opening has the whole cast standing motionless and looking out to sea with their backs to the audience, singing a kind of chant. This sets the atmosphere very effectively, and from there on we move through a slickly put together sequence of dances and songs which moves on with terrific pace, touching on the flamenco heritage of the Spanish and the Yoruba ceremonies of slaves from the Congo.
In the second half, we are up to date with a succession of mambos, boleros, rumbas, salsas and so on, danced with great panache in the most colourful of costumes. This is a top-class group which brings a flash of colour and summer to our rather dubious spring, and Milton Keynes theatre did well to book it in, even if only for just one evening. However, you can catch it at the Birmingham Hippodrome next week, and a couple of weeks later it's on for a month at the Peacock Theatre in London.
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