Lynn Barber meets the dancer whose rags to riches story is a modern-day fairytale. In my early years as a school-truanting, break-dancing youngster I lived in a cramped apartment; now I'm a successful dancer but I don't really have time to be interested in flashy trappings and I have kept the flat simple and calming. Im the narrator and anyone who doesnt likeit can f--- off.. Everyone had the possibility, but there is also the talent, and on top of the talent are the sacrifices. Did you like it? he asks. It is only the tights that have retired, he laughs. Although those who attended Carmens most recent performances in the Garca Lorca hall of the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso appreciated a preview of where we are going with our students, the concert programme that we propose for this Monday will reveal the rigor with which we are working. His narrator, Oscar Kortico, is the sole survivor of four generations of a Cuban family, originally like Acostas fathers family of slave origin. Don Quixote is at the Royal Opera House until 6November, and Day of the Flowers is in cinemas from 29 November. Carlos Acosta is a Musical.ly Star. See production, box office & company info. She tried to skip through some of the graphic descriptions. His dad is the descendant of slaves. I dont cook for myself. Carlos Acosta's age is 49. I thought, Whats all this about? He was also interviewed for the BBC's HARDtalk programme which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2003. Ballet dancer and choreographer Carlos Acosta. He has his own dance company, Acosta Danza, based in Cuba, and is also a ballet master with the Royal Ballet, coaching younger dancers in his famous roles he will be rehearsing them in Carmen in the New Year. Survivors include her sons: Carlos Orlando Acosta and wife Janet of The Woodlands, Texas, and Ricardo Sergio Acosta and . Present-day sections in which the real-life Acosta makes sense of his dad, through dance, are thrilling. Its important we see ourselves as a collective and have good vibes for each other but that we can disconnect from dancing and each of us bring their own life and its thoughts and problems to the table. We have a seven-year-old and identical twins who are three. The rabbits tasted very good, obviously I was a kid and I sort of got distracted. ), and the racism that all but splits his family down the middle is shocking. Around age 10, I tasted chocolate for the first time. In June 1991 he received his diploma with maximum qualifications and a gold medal. It's a work in which the dancer plays himself in the present day scenes but leaves the more substantial acting to the excellent Edilson Manuel Olbera Nez who appears in the episodes concerned with his childhood and to Keyvin Martinez who portrays him as a young man. BERTHA CASTILLO ACOSTA: Ao de expedicin: 1976: Universidad: DIRECCIN GENERAL DE EDUCACIN NORMAL Y ACTUALIZAC: Ttulo: PROFESOR EN EDUCACIN PRIMARIA : Trabajo actual: Experiencia laboral: Otras cdulas relacionadas. Acosta truanted, failed his exams (and resat them) but once his talent started to shine through, and was recognised, "I then had something that belonged to me. [10][11][12], His nephew Yonah Acosta is a dancer and actor. No. To change that, [they have to] go to Brazil, Africa, and bring dancers here to make a change now and say this is a company of the 21st century. It may sound ugly to say it, but in my opinion it is a work of art. Breakfast was often a toasted bread roll which wed put into milk and add sugar. Carlos Acosta is a guest principal dancer for the Royal Ballet and is currently starring in his own Olivier-nominated show, 'Tocororo - A Cuban Tale', at Sadler's Wells. ", But the issue of a lack of dancers of colour, particularly in the traditional companies, remains "a big thing. Right now, we have a Dominican, three Colombians and two Spaniards. He choreographed and is starring in the Royal Ballet's Don Quixote, which opened last month, but says: "It's hard, it's agony. Besides his novel, he has a leading role in Days of the Flowers, a film by John Roberts about two Scottish girls who take their fathers ashes to Cuba. Carlos Acosta in Yuli: The Carlos Acosta story, Carlos Acosta and Viengsay Valdes in Swan Lake by Ballet Nacional De Cuba (2010), Acosta performs with the Cuban National Ballet (2009), Sarah Lamb and Acosta in Royal Ballet's Afternoon of a Faun (2008), Tamara Rojo and Acosta in the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty (2006), Acosta in Don Quixote at his Classical Farewell (2016), Acosta with his daughter at the final curtain call of Carmen at the Royal Opera House (2015), Acosta and Darcey Bussell speak to Prince Charles at the Royal Opera House Winter Gala (2004), Acosta publishes a memoir, No Way Home (2007), Acosta performs Spartacus at the London Coliseum (2008), Acosta and Marianela Nunez in Don Quixote at the Classical Farewell (2016), Acosta and Zenaida Yanowsky in On Before (2013), Acosta performs at the launch of the Carlos Acosta International Dance Foundation at The Royal Opera House (2012), Acosta with a portrait of himself at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition at the Mall Galleries (2012), Acosta wins Outstanding Achievement in Dance Award at the Oliviers (2007), Acosta Danza company in Christopher Bruce's 'Rooster' at the Royal Albert Hall (2018), Tamara Rojo and Acosta in the Royal Ballet's Romeo and Juliet (2012), Marianela Nunez and Acosta in Diana and Acteon at the London Coliseum (2015). But rice, rice, rice. When I published the book in England it was almost a bestseller. Ido not feel guilty because I have been generous, but at the same time I've fought for what I've got. He was appointed director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2020. We connected after I saw the documentary Full Circles that was about my dream of renovating part of the famous buildings of the National School of Art to create a teaching centre for dancers around the world with low resources. She is now shes an expert now! They had their first daughter, Aila, in 2011 and identical twins Maya and Luna in 2016. A meal might be rice with beans, rice with plantain, rice with sugar water, rice with egg and sometimes rice with meat. Costas grip on sanity has never faltered not that I know of but as a young dancer he struggled with being far from home. House Of The Dragon: Where Was It Filmed & Can You Visit? ", Now that he is 40, Acosta's retirement from ballet cannot be far off, and he is already branching out he has been choreographing more and his plans to open a ballet academy in Cuba are ongoing. It is thrilling.). Yes. [13], Last edited on 29 November 2022, at 18:53, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, "CARLOS ACOSTA CBE BEGINS HIS NEW ROLE AS DIRECTOR OF BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET", Arts & Books: From Havana, trailing sparks, "Queen Elizabeth II's New Year Honors List Released", "Carlos Acosta's first year as Director: plans announced! It's important we see ourselves as a collective and have good vibes for each other but that we. . How hard I work means loneliness. But it is very hard, because many people tried to help him, but he is a guy who is in no way approachable. He lives in a garden flat in Islington, north London. Art of London - Brand Post | Paid Content, The aristocrat, the convicted sex offender and the hunt for their baby, Union announces further ambulance strikes in bitter pay dispute, Police forces to check for rogue cops who slipped through the net, London hit with biggest transport and council tax rises in a decade, Rail deal further away than ever as February 1 and 3 strikes loom, Ukraines interior minister among at least 14 dead in helicopter crash, Tom Hanks reveals acting advice he gave his son ahead of their new film together, Renfield: Trailer released for new Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage Dracula film, Till: Chinonye Chukwus biopic of Mamie Till is a triumph of humanity, Buy less, wear more: TikTok fashion guru @modernvintage_rabias advice, Pensioners banned from using free travel passes before 9am on weekdays, Eamonn Holmes in challenge to tax tribunal ruling over employee status at ITV, Three children among six dead in India kite festival tragedy, We wont put in your Ulez cameras, council tells Sadiq Khan. 1991: Prize for Merit in the Young Talent Competition, 1991: Grand Prix at Cuba's prestigious Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) competition, This page was last edited on 29 November 2022, at 18:53. A dancer who did not want to dance. I think probably this kind of reaction is reaching out for a helping hand, says Acosta. Carlos Acosta? Paperback - July 1, 2008. By what name was Yuli (2018) officially released in India in English? Bertha Hesles Acosta, lovingly called "Nana", born October 19, 1940 in Eagle Pass, Texas to Jose Alfredo and Bertha Schroeder Hesles, went home to Our Lord on the Feast Day of the Epiphany, January 7, 2018. The Acosta Dance Company eats a free lunch, everyone sitting down together in a tiny room at 1pm. 0000064 CARLOS SANTUARIO SOLRZANO PROFESOR EN EDUCACIN PRIMARIA . They tell me about their problems, and it's good to talk about subjects away from the ballet world, such as film and literature. Wasnt it a bit weird for a lorry driver to want his son to go to ballet school? Scriptwriter Paul Laverty doesnt romanticise either of Acostas parents. I think the problem is companies not working hard enough to actually change the fact that in a company of 80 or 100, you have no black dancers, or maybe one or two. ", Being in London as a teenager, speaking no English, was especially hard. Grave Beltrn Ana Bertha Guadarrama Villicaa Sarai Teresa Guajardo Iruegas Jos Eduardo At the invitation of Ivan Nagy, Acosta danced with the English National Ballet in London during the 1991/92 season. WhatI'm doing now is collecting what Iplanted. "It's called youth," he says with a smile. But we are not scared. The prize was a years scholarship to any ballet school in the world, or money. It's something that you develop. And his wife turned out to be the great filmmaker Iciar Bollan (Flowers from another world, I give you my eyes, also the rain). I'm always a little homesick, and we can talk in Spanish, watch movies, go to the Cuban bar up the street. Iwould analyse with a critical eye, until I got a sense of what makes a book a classic. A 15-year-old dark rum; a good Chilean merlot; a mojito. Birthday June 2 and Born on 1973. I would like to do choreography also., And perhaps another novel. Acosta was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to ballet.[6]. Subscribe here. I was already winning [prizes], so naturally I was the one who supported the family, and I did that willingly," he says. So we used to gather around and tell stories and jokes, and I was very good at that. So there is an argument between the two generations of Cubans the older generation, who lived through the Battista era and thought that revolution was the best thing that happened to Cuba, and the younger generation, craving freedom and not to live by any ideology., A darker duality underpins the book, which is dedicated both to Acostas wife, Charlotte, and his daughter, and to his elder sister Berta and aunt Lucia, both victims of schizophrenia. Lived In Tempe AZ, Phoenix AZ, Tucson AZ, Chandler AZ. Charlotte speaks to her in English and I speak in Spanish, and the best I could give her is to be able to know that side of her roots, because Cuba is just so wonderful. Feel free to use them for supporting this channel. His father, Pedro Acosta, was a truck driver, and his mother, Dulce Maria Quesada, often suffered from health problems. JR-Your company Acosta Danza was founded three years and three months ago. Hear the body, but push that elephant little by little until you get to your destination. Long may it flourish. He is glowing with pride, as well he might be. The novel opens in midstream of consciousness, with Oscar recalling the day I came home from primary school dragging a dead cat by the scruff of the neck, and continues in similar trenchant vein. Spain/UK/Germany/Cuba. He danced with English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and ABT. I was very sad, but I ate. "You have black swans and white swans in the real world, they're not all white. He meanwhile commutes between England and Cuba an odd sort of life but one he finds deeply fulfilling. The Hon. Carlos Acosta and Viengsay Valdes in Swan Lake by Ballet Nacional De Cuba . Only a month ago it was the turn of Rudolf Nureyev inThe White Crowand now comes The Carlos Acosta Story otherwise known asYuli. And there was a really nice Cuban restaurant in Kensington High Street, which was very popular but is sadly not there any more, where you could have pork crackling and all kinds of lovely tamales. "It really has nothing to do with the audience. Which is a big shame., Besides madness, there is a great deal of sex in Acostas novel, some tender, some peremptory, some blackly comic. 0000082 FRANCISCO RIVERA CONTRERAS PROFESOR EN . The photograph beside my bed says a lot about my history, though, since it shows me, my mother, my 14-year-old nephew Yonah Acosta and my father; like the mere fact of living in London, it's a reminder of how life has changed since my childhood in a poor area of Havana. Carlos Acosta is one of the best and most famous dancers in the world. Pig's Foot is Acosta's first novel, which is published next week; it follows his autobiography, No Way Home, which documented hispath from being the youngest of 11 children growing up in animpoverished Havana family to becoming principal at the Royal Ballet and the best male ballet dancer of hisgeneration. ", Of his peers at the time, Acosta is one of few perhaps the only one, he thinks "who actually pursued a ballet career. He studied ballet at the Cuban National Ballet School with many influential teachers including Ramona de Sa. A teacher gave me a small bar and I remember going home, sitting with my sister and cutting each piece of chocolate into four. let's check out the Carlos's personal and public life facts, Wikipedia, bio, spouse, net worth, and career details. We'll see. He beams. Our Teaching element emerged with the aim of complementing what already exists and with the desire to contribute to the renowned tradition of our country in the training of dancers. Afterwards, The pain was still too much and I didnt want to carry on performing so I went back to Cuba, and spent a year without dancing. That must have been hard? Birmingham Royal Ballet was also scheduled to perform Carlos Acostas Don Quixote at the Birmingham International Dance Festival in June 2020, though this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its extraordinary to think how touch and go his early years were and how easily he might have dropped out of ballet entirely. However, my sister Bertha insists that it was she who gave me that name The truth is that until not long ago, nobody knew me as Carlos Acosta, I was always Yuli . Unconsciously, I always liked storytelling, without knowing that I could write anything. It's like a dormitory when everyone settles down at night, like old times. Follow @Telegraph !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? Because the ballet world is such a busy, stressful business I needed the flat to be a place to unwind in. I had two rabbits as pets and I arrived home from school one day and there was that smell Id almost forgotten, of meat. Acosta's mother and ebullient half-sister Berta are pale-skinned Hispanics.