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W e’re on a wild goose chase looking for Carlos Acosta . The Cuban-born ballet star, who has just turned 51, is not at the stage door of London’s Sadler’s Wells, where his Cuban dance company Acosta Danza will perform his full-length production of Carmen in July. He’s not in the company office, or in the main auditorium where the Birmingham Royal Ballet , of which he’s been director since 2020, is rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty .

Calls are being made. The receptionist swears she saw him leave the building. His name is signed in the visitors’ book.



Houdini? When he finally appears, it’s the grand entrance we’ve all been waiting for. He’s wearing black shiny boots, a 1970s-style Starsky & Hutch tan leather jacket, and jeans. His feet are positioned outwards like he’s been moulded forever in ballet’s first position.

“I’m so tired,” he says warmly in his thick Cuban accent, looking like he really needs to go straight to bed. “I came from Florida this morning. I was dancing in this production of mine called On Before ,” he continues, referring to his most personal work yet – a homage to his late mother.

“It is probably the only show that I can still do from beginning to end at my age.” Acosta, who was born in a Havana slum in 1973, retired from classical ballet in 2015. Yet such has been his influence on the ballet world that he continues to cast a spell on the industry nearly a decade on.

His career is jam-packed with startling highs: in 1991.

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