Carlos Acosta

Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada (born 2 June 1973) is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Acosta was born in Havana, Cuba, on 2 June 1973, the eleventh and last child in an impoverished family.

His father, Pedro Acosta, was a truck driver, and his mother, Dulce Maria Quesada, often suffered from health problems.

Acosta grew up with no toys, sometimes went shoeless, and did not even have a birthday cake until he turned 23.

The streets of his neighbourhood provided plenty of entertainment, however, and he spent his time playing football, break-dancing, and raiding nearby mango groves with his friends.

He was an over-energetic child, and his father felt that his youngest son would soon land in serious trouble.

Dance training at one of the state-funded schools, his father decided, would teach the boy discipline and provide him with a free lunch every day.

He studied ballet at the Cuban National Ballet School with many influential teachers including Ramona de Sáa.

From 1989 to 1991 Acosta performed throughout the world, guesting with many companies including the Compagnia Teatro Nuovo di Torino in Italy, where he danced alongside Luciana Savignano, and the Teatro Teresa Carreño in Venezuela.

Acosta, of mixed Spanish and African heritage, came to prominence in the early 1990s while still in his teens, and North American and European dance companies began offering him lead romantic roles over the next decade.

In June 1991 he received his diploma with maximum qualifications and a gold medal.

At the invitation of Ivan Nagy, Acosta danced with the English National Ballet in London during the 1991/92 season.

He made his debut in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and also appeared in Cinderella, partnering Eva Evdokimova and Ludmila Semenyaka, Le Spectre de la Rose, Les Sylphides and as the Prince in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker.

In 1992 and 1993 he was a member of the National Ballet of Cuba under the artistic director Alicia Alonso, rising to principal dancer in 1994.

In October 1993 and September 1994 he toured with the company to Madrid, where he danced various roles including Albrecht in Giselle, Basilio in Don Quixote and Siegfried in Swan Lake.

In November 1993 he was invited by Ben Stevenson, the artistic director of Houston Ballet, to join the company as a principal dancer, and he made his American stage debut as the Prince in The Nutcracker.

Following this, his repertory included:

In 1997 he created the role of Frederick in Stevenson's Dracula and in 1998 he added the role of Misgir in the première of Stevenson's ballet The Snow Maiden, partnering Nina Ananiashvili.

He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015.

After approximately five years in Houston, Acosta joined London's Royal Ballet in 1998.

With his fabled grace and athleticism, he has earned comparisons to Mikhail Baryshnikov or Rudolf Nureyev.

A writer for London's Independent newspaper described Acosta as "a dancer who slashes across space faster than anyone else, who lacerates the air with shapes so clear and sharp they seem to throw off sparks".

In 1998, Acosta joined The Royal Ballet, London, under the direction of Anthony Dowell.

His roles with the company have included:

In the 1999/2000 season he performed:

During the 2001/2 season he made his debut as Basilio in Nureyev's Don Quixote, and in the 2002/2003 season he made his debut as the title role in George Balanchine's Apollo.

He has created roles in Ashley Page's Hidden Variables and William Tuckett's 3:4.

Acosta was a guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre during the company's Metropolitan Opera House season in the summer of 2002, when he performed Prince Désiré in Sleeping Beauty Act III, Oberon in The Dream, Colas in La Fille mal gardée and Conrad in Le Corsaire.

In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank which reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours.

He rejoined the ABT (under artistic director Kevin McKenzie) as Principal Dancer, for the company's 2003 autumn season at New York City Center, to perform in the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and a new staging of Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique).

He has performed Basilio in Nureyev's version of Don Quixote, as well as Solor in Nureyev's La Bayadère, with the Paris Opera Ballet.

In recent years, Acosta has had a career as an international guest artist, appearing in the US, Russia, the Netherlands, Chile, Argentina, Greece, Japan, Italy, Germany and France.

In June 2008 he guested for the first time with the Australian Ballet, in Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, partnered by AB principal Kirsty Martin.

Acosta was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to ballet.

He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in Carmen, which he both choreographed and starred in.

In January 2020, Acosta was appointed as director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, succeeding David Bintley.

In February, he announced the plans for his inaugural season, including a 'Curated by Carlos' festival, and special performances with Alessandra Ferri.

In January 2020, Carlos Acosta was appointed as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, succeeding David Bintley.

In February, he announced the plans for his inaugural season, including a 'Curated by Carlos' festival, and special performances with renowned ballet dancer Alessandra Ferri.