[Source: Reuters]

Ballet star Carlos Acosta is giving “The Nutcracker” a colourful makeover with a new production inspired by his Cuban roots and traditions.

The 50-year-old has choreographed and directed “Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker in Havana”, which is set in 1940s and 1950s and has a Cuban version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famed score and as well as ballet, a variety of dance styles.

Launching the show in London on Monday, Acosta shared videos of his Acosta Danza company dancers in rehearsals in Cuba.

“‘Nutcracker’ means Christmas in many ways, it’s very tied with that festivity but we never had Christmas in Cuba, so I thought that I was going to place the show in the heart of Cuban traditions as a way of giving the Cuban people the Christmas we never had,” he told Reuters.

“I reworked it in a way to bring our own culture in.

The Tchaikovsky score is going to be heavily curated so that we could incorporate a fusion of rhythms such as Conga, Latin jazz, Bossa nova and Guaracha… while at the same time you hear that it’s Tchaikovsky all along.”