A young Cuban choreographer presents his first piece with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the UK

Photo: Raul Reynoso | Facebook

Text: Copa Noticias 360 editorial

Young Cuban choreographer Raúl Reynoso premiered a piece intended for the Black Sabbath ensemble at the Royal Ballet in Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Reynoso is part of the staging of this ballet with two other choreographers from the British company.

The piece was premiered on September 23 by the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom, a company also directed by Cuban Carlos Acosta. The choreography is called “Black Sabbath The Ballet,” and is intended to be a tribute to the legendary music group.

The young Cuban choreographer created the first act of the show, after several months of work with the British company’s staff, according to an official memorandum. Cuban shared credits with choreographers Cassie Abranches and Pontus Lidberg.

Reynoso, who also belongs to the Acosta Danza company, had already stood out with his choreographic stances. Originally from the western province of Pinar del Río, Reynoso began dance studies at the Raúl Sánchez García Professional Arts School in 2002, and in 2005 he began training at the National Arts School.

His first choreography was choreographed during the first year of this teaching and was entitled “Let Me Be Me”. In 2009, he joined the contemporary dance team in Cuba, under the supervision of Maestro Miguel Iglesias.

Since 2015, Acosta Danza has been a member. As a choreographer, he created the piece “Anadromous”, which premiered in April 2016 in Havana, and which was part of Carlos Acosta’s show “A Classical Farawell”, which was presented on stages in the UAE, the UK and Hong Kong.

In 2018, he premiered “Satori”, a piece that won the Villanueva Award from the Theater Critics Association as one of the best performances presented in Cuba in 2018, in addition to being awarded the Choreography Award from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNIC) in 2019.

The ballet’s opening performance featured a live appearance by Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who was present for some of the rehearsals and came on stage at the end of the show to play guitar on the band’s classic song “Paranoid.”