Cubasi
May, 2004

With the story of his life he could easily write a soap opera. The screen writer would necessarily be top of the line because Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada’s existence goes beyond the limits of unimaginable.

Maybe when his fans see him dancing, absolute owner of the stage, king of swirls and jumps, charismatic, histrionic, athletic, filled with energy and temperament, do not guess that this universal First Dancer could have served some time in prison. Now in his 30 years he is acclaimed all over the world. Specialized Press in the US has declared him as the bridge that fills the gap between Nureyev and Baryshnikov. His artistic and technical skills have allowed him to find his way in the English National Ballet or the Royal Ballet in London; in the American Ballet Theatre or the Houston Ballet just to mention some famous companies. Nevertheless, this young, selected as the best dancer of England in year 2003 is still Cuban down deep in his roots. The same day he was born in Los Pinos, Arroyo Naranjo municipality. Surrounded by pictures where he poses next to famous personalities, offer a clear account of part of his restless life.

Carlos you’d be a perfect model for a soap opera.

"It’s possible. Ever since I was a little boy I used to hang around with street gangs. I couldn’t stand school and my actions lead me, effortlessly, to delinquency. My father tormented with all this, sought help on a close neighbour, her friend proposed him to take me to the Ballet School in L and 9 Street. Thus he’d keep me under control. My father didn’t give it a second thought, because with this he was released of a big problem. Of course, if you ask him now, he’d tell you he enjoyed ballet, but reality is another.

“This is how I reluctantly arrived to L and 19 Street because I really wanted to be a football soccer player. At first, I was bruised and scratched all over because my mates used to call me sissy and I had to defend my honour. Things got worse when my mother suffered a brain haemorrhage and my father went two years to prison, for an accident. It was my two sisters’ job to take care of me. I mean, I was almost free, and as I almost hated ballet, I started to miss classes at school. I `let down´ shows. It seemed unbearable because they decided to transfer me to Villa Clara, which bottom line was an expulsion. I knew that the minute I arrived to school and realize nobody was waiting for me. Fourth grade of elemental school, which was the grade I was attending, didn’t even exist. In a nutshell, I was on the street and with no chance to return to L and 19 street."

What happened next?

"Mi father went to Pinar del Río and tried to hook me in the Art School there, they didn’t want students from Havana, and they had a fame of disastrous. After long conversations, they put me in trial. I was talking to nobody, because he had sworn he’d break my head if I misbehave. After that I was accepted and was able to finish elementary level. It was Pinar del Río where I started to love ballet. I was interned and was not entering brawls alone, already 9 years old, and three buses. My professors were amazing. Especially, Juan Carlos González, who did a praiseworthy labor and arose the desire of upgrading in me, of being better. The fact is that I returned to Havana to L and 19 Street to my random test. I was another person by then. I had come to my senses. I had grown up. My neck had stretched; I had this afro hairdo like this (he drew with his hands something similar to a tree top over his head). Well to put it in just a few words I acquired a grade of 100 points something unheard of before. It was a scandal.

“I think that sometimes we go the easy way, and we say: not good, let’s through it away, but we don’t ask ourselves why it is like that. Anyway, I think that in the long run it suit me well. I am of the imposing kind, persistent. I didn’t think myself a bad person, insensitive. It wasn’t disrespect either."

When you speak I feel certain resentment…

"Although I have my reasons, it would seem childish and banal. I’d be a mediocre if I stop to analyze these little things. To me, everything was left in the past. From a long time now I only think in the future, in what will happen ahead. I have no hurt feelings. It is possible that in that failure laid the key of my success, because it sprinkled in me the toughness that later made me who I am."

At the age of 16 you traveled to Italy. What happened?

"Ramona de Saá saw me in the preliminaries. Back then there was a cultural exchange between the National Ballet School and the Ballet of the New Theatre of Turín, Italy. Then, it was decided to try with two students, who would join the work of that company. I and another boy, named Ariel Serrano were chosen. We were performing Carmen at that time. I will never forget, because her choreographer, dead now, said to Ramona that I had something special and to train me for the Grand Prix of Lausanne, Switzerland. The professor agreed and started the training. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know if that was edible or not, but she thought I was good that was enough. Going to the competition was a real Odysseys. I registered last one yet I won the coveted award. From that moment on my luck started to change. It was not the dance group anymore, but solo performances."

But there were awards in your life as a student…

"Back to Cuba I was trained for the Dance Biennial of Paris, where I also won a Grand Prix and the Chopin Award, of the artistic Corporation of Poland. Many other awards followed this one as the Prize to merit in the Contest for Young Talents of Positano, Italy, and the Vignale Dance. Can you imagine they were so many that people started to call me the Golden Mulato. In 1995 I won the Award to Young Artists Princess Grace Foundation in the US."

Nevertheless, not everything has been rose-coloured. For example, at the Royal Ballet of London you were on the bench.

"It was not exactly like that. I was rather not doing my best. It’s so easy to be filed: either you are the buffoon or dance Guanguancó, but you’d never be the prince. I thought I was there not only to leap. I am an artist. Therefore I had to settle things down. When Romeo and Juliet was performed I was called to interpret Mercurio. I didn’t have anything against that role actually, what bothered me was they didn’t choose me for Romeo. I wasn’t either picked for the premier nights. In exchange, a dancer of lower category played the role, between you and me; he was inferior in his interpretation of the character. So that reached the point of no return and I couldn’t bear it. I explained myself. They gave me the chance and that’s how they put me out."

At present you are the main Guest artist together with Sylvie Guillem, a category invented to accommodate the ego of the famous ballet dancer. Is it that Carlos is also walking on the clouds? How much is left of the boy from Los Pinos?

"I asked for that. That is no conflict to my simplicity. I am one of those who sits around on the street corner with friends and drink “rotgut”. I had never denied Los Pinos. But that boy does not worked in other spheres. You must understand that you shouldn’t stop your upgrading, because if you abandon yourself you’re ordinary. And might be humble from Los Pinos , but I am not ordinary. I’m still the same, friend of my friends and friend of people of good heart. If any day you see me refusing to share with my people, pull my ears because I’d be Carlos Acosta no more. I wouldn’t be a good artist anymore.

“On the other hand, while other people have fun in Casa de la Música, Carlos is locked up home creating a show or rehearsing, or training. That category is a recognition to my work, to the price I pay. My colleagues are with their relatives or see it with regularity. Although after I finish my dancing and signing of autographs with my legs swollen, I go home alone. I sit in a restaurant with no one by my side, and I start to think about Havana, my family. It is like this since I was 16 years old. Then I do deserve it”.

On may you will dance in the Paris Opera Ballet becoming the first Cuban to make it there…

"In the Paris Opera nobody dances. They are smug. The 99,9% of dancers come from their school. I am the third Cuban to succeed because Alicia Alonso and Josefina Méndez had made it before. I never thought about that possibility, because it was too complicated. As an artist, I could die in peace. I will interpret Nureyev’s version of Don Quixote which is very difficult. I can only assure you that I am nervous.!

What are Carlos Acosta’s ambitions?

"That people enjoy my art. I wish that the people who attend the theatre forget about their daily problems for a moment. Succeeding in this respect is priceless to me. All this time I have been worried about being as good as I can be, exploiting my conditions to the limits. Being within the world ranking or not doesn’t keep me awake at night. My purpose is to connect with the public with what I do."

What induced you to try in choreography?

"My instinct. I felt I had to tell a story. And Tocororo appeared, based on my life. I wanted to create a show. One that Cuban people would enjoy. Luckily, it worked out just fine. People liked it here and in London broke the sold-out record. Thanks to this work I was nominated for Lawrence Oliver award, equivalent to the Oscars or the Tony, but in England."

Will there be more choreographies?

"I want to make a musical play inspired in the Caballero de París (Gentleman of Paris), which will surely take me a year and a half or maybe two."

Why did you take so many years to come to dance to International Ballet Festival Of Havana?

"That happened in 2002, last festival. Before that I had a permanent contract that prevented me from coming. I was in Houston and the seasons were too long. I could not simply move."

Would it have been different if you had stayed in the BNC?

"I couldn’t tell. I just know this is a short career and I had the fortune to have some contacts since early in my life, without losing the connection with the Island, which it was important for me. On the other hand the confrontation with the art abroad helped me a lot. To see what other people were doing. That international experience has enabled me to grow, to learn from different sources. At the same time I am the undeniable result of the Cuban School of Ballet."

Will we see you in the coming Ballet Festival?

"I’m doing my best to be here. I have plenty of engagements. There’s something I can guarantee you, we are making a national tour with Tocororo and I have plans to dance here in December."

What’s Cuba to Carlos?

"Everything. My house, my family, my friends. I cannot live without this beautiful Island and its people."