Acosta Performances Acosta Reviews Acosta Interviews

Viewed in some lights, Carlos Acosta is a very patient man.

He first wanted to work with the Royal Ballet (RB) nearly 7 whole years ago but unfortunately injury and life conspired against him. Now at last he has arrived and not just as a raw, high-jumping young 'whipper-snapper' but as a deeply impressive and rounded dancer with a fast growing international reputation. Thank goodness the Royal, despite their problems, had the good sense to grab him with both hands and thank goodness that Acosta has continued to see them as a draw for him.

Of course the 'real' Acosta is not patient at all:

"There are so many things I want to do, it's unfortunate that life is so short!"

seems to sum up much of the gusto that comes over as we talk. And although he has lots to do at the Royal ("I'm glad to be here...I'm really excited... it's good...") he has still more than a few things to do elsewhere: "I want to have the chance to dance with different companies". No room for complacency here. Acosta needs to be used and stretched every which way.

We meet in the drizzle and, with the dusk closing in, London has perhaps looked more appealing, "I don't like the weather! But it's a glorious city and it's great to be here". We find our way to an Earls Court Italian cafe. As we enter everybody seems to know him and he has a brief word at this table and that, sometimes in Spanish. Acosta looks muscular and sculpted and after a hard day he obviously needs to tuck into a good salad - where on earth does his energy come from?. There is much banter with the waiter and he has an infectious smile. He likes people, indeed he very much seems one of the people and not at all 'stuck-up' or to have any airs and graces.

	Sound Clip: For the first time I used a Mini Disk to record an interview and proudly pulled it out complete with expensive microphone. Whereupon Carlos pulled out his identical Mini Disk player, recently acquired in Japan. He then proceeded to do a Microphone test! The link is to a Real Audio sound clip - help?

At least the London drizzle is not a surprise to him - he danced with English National Ballet (ENB) in 1991/92. How special he is can be judged from the fact that he was 18 and a Principal in the company. Ivan Nagy had spotted him, in school, on a 'fishing' trip to Cuba. Others inevitably noticed him too because he won the Gold Medal at the Prix de Lausanne in 1990 and at the age of 15 was dancing in Italy.

Acosta's earlier background is anything but the middle-class dancer stereotype:

"My father (a truck driver) was the one who pushed me. I thought dance was for women. Everything was against my will and then they kick me out from school twice. I kept skipping classes to go and play soccer. I wanted to play soccer. Then I saw the National Ballet of Cuba. And WOW - I was really, really impressed. And I decided that I wanted to be the best (dancer) I could be myself. So I dedicate.... I took all the time that I needed to improve - I kept improving and everything fall into place. And then I went to the Prix de Lausanne and I won the competition in 1990."

"I thought no soccer player could be strong like that"

And what ballet wrought this change in a rebellious soccer mad boy? "It was a mixed programme. They were doing Cuban choreography.... Fille mal gardee and Don Q pas de deux". It was the jumps and athleticism that caught his eye: "I thought that no soccer player could be strong like that." Great for ballet, but had things been different Cuba may have got further in the last World Cup of course!

Things were going well with ENB and just when he was thinking about getting experience with RB injury struck: a problem with his ankle that required surgery. He went back to Cuba and did not dance for a whole year. When I ask if it was frustrating, words fail him and there is just a long sigh and a nod. Meantime all was change at ENB with Derek Deane replacing Ivan Nagy and a timely approach from Ben Stevenson got him dancing again, but in Houston. Stevenson, besides running Houston, is a prolific choreographer and Acosta met him at ENB when he was setting a piece for them.

It's been a good 4 years at Houston: "People do not associate Houston with a ballet company. Texas is more like cowboy and stuff! They don't realise what a great company they have." The facilities are good and the company has increasingly been creating a name for itself. Perhaps the greatest expression of this has been the co-production with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) of the Snow Maiden - created on Acosta and Nina Ananiashvili ("She is really beautiful, beautiful dancer").

Acosta obviously likes Houston and will continue to perform there occasionally. But at about 45 dancers (plus students and apprentices) it is not a large company and it will be many years before it has the repertoire of one of the older companies. This is one of the main attractions of the RB to Acosta:

	Sound Clips:     Joining RB     Being here help?

"I was very interested in the repertoire and the fact that London really is a central city for Europe. It's a lot different to Houston! And also the RB itself has a really big name and I wanted to add that name to my cv. I'm really excited by all the MacMillan, and Forsythe too, which I have never done before. A lot of things. I'm 25 so I wanted to add everything I can get to make me more complete as a dancer..... Everything I'm going to do here, nearly everything, is new".

The RB had been no haven of peace recently and with dancers facing redundancy and the closure of the company even being mooted at times, I wonder if he has had pause for thought about the move:

"Not really. I know that all these problems they are going to solve along the way. I never could see the Royal ballet closing. A big institution with a big reputation like the RB... it can't close. At the same time I'm aware of the situation."

Like the Royal's other popular principals, there is more than a little interest in Acosta guesting elsewhere - Australia, la Scala Milan, ABT and Stuttgart are of interest or interested (besides of course the Houston commitments), but it's the RB he wants to dance with and it obviously depends on their schedules. Acosta though is very interested in having more control over when he dances:

"It's a really intense job you know! I think I'm gonna last longer if I rest, and then I dance, and then I rest, and then I dance again. Otherwise it is just boom, boom, boom, boom (he thumps his chest to emphasise). It's too much.... I wanna have more time to myself to rest... I like to travel also"

All-in-all it seems incredibly sensible for him to look after himself because he is so focussed on what he does "I work very hard - that's why I do what I do. You know everybody sees me and say 'wow look at that'. But behind all 'that' there is a lot of dedication and hard work. That's how you do it. You will never do it just sitting there."

Acosta's approach is refreshing - yes he is dedicated but he can also see the sense in ballet not dominating his life for ever and he has other ambitions also - to mere mortals like the rest of us it's inevitably quite sickening and I, for one, am incredibly jealous. His other ambitions are musical and he becomes incredibly animated as he talks:

...we are so lucky, we get to do two lives you know. Ballet dancer and the life after ballet...

"I really like to be musician. Study piano, study singing, voice training. It depends.. if I had the possibility to direct a company I might try that. I don't think all my life I will do that. I wanna do something else - singing - I love music. I wanna go for it.... we will see!"

Anybody seeing him dance with the Royal for the first time at the recent Sadler's Wells season can't but have been impressed. In Middle (In the Middle Somewhat Elevated) he was power and speed personified (oh what speed), and in Raymonda he was both a considerate partner and a delicious and princely high jumper, oh so pleased to be with Miyako Yoshida. But what does he think we should look for in Acosta the dancer?

"I give the best I can.... I give 100%. I think my heart is sincere. I try to help them (the audience) to have a good time. That's what I always work for."

Acosta cares deeply and lets his dancing speak and as we talk he often adopts dancerly poses to emphasise points. The only area we disagree on is who should pay the bill. In the end I give in, contenting myself by wondering quite how many others have had a deep fried Mozzarella sandwich paid for by an RB principal?

Acosta's life has been so different - a hard working fairy tale if you like:

	Sound Clips:     Enjoying Ballet     Looking back on life help?

"I look back on my life and it's really something you know. It's really great - beautiful! Because, er.. I'm really, really poor. Never had a pair of shoes, never had a watch, nothing. From somebody like that to who I am now. I've come a long, long way. I'm proud of what I have accomplished."