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MUSIC: Habanera from Carmen | 0:00:02 | 0:00:07 | |
POLITICAL SPEECH IN SPANISH | 0:00:09 | 0:00:12 | |
Nearly 60 years after the Cuban revolution, | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
change, it seems, is in the air. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
with the people of Cuba. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
In the most significant changes in our policy in more than 50 years, | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
we will begin to normalise relations between our two countries. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
No-one's sure what the future holds, | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
but here, on the outskirts of Havana... | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
..ballet superstar Carlos Acosta is hoping to transform | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
an abandoned dream of the revolution's founding fathers. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:57 | |
You know, when you see this masterpiece, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
you broadly understand how passionate I feel about this place. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
I mean, it's not difficult to see. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
No, it's not difficult. It is an amazing structure. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
It's unbelievable, you know. I mean, and it's like, when I went around | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
and I knew I wanted to have a base for my new company | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
and get ready for the transition after dance, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
I came here, I saw that this wonderful national monument. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:24 | |
It was like this, in decay, | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
and then I decided, you know, to get all my efforts to save this place. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:31 | |
They had an idea to create a city of art. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
This is Fidel's idea? | 0:01:36 | 0:01:37 | |
Fidel and Che Guevara's idea, that's right, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
to create the most amazing five schools of art in the world, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:45 | |
and so there was a ballet school, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
this originally was intended to be the ballet school. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
Over there, you see over there? That's the music school. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
Over here, it's the contemporary dance school, | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
then the plastic arts school and the drama school. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
Those were the five schools of the vision that they set out to do. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
So, at the very beginning of the revolution, Fidel has this vision? | 0:02:06 | 0:02:13 | |
That's right. This is the zone before the revolution, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
the Beverly Hills of the nation, you know, huge mansions, | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
all this was like a golf club, a golf...a golf grounds. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:27 | |
And so before he actually demolished the golf course, | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
-they thought that... -They played golf? | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
..they'd play golf for the last time. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
These are beautiful, these Catalan curves are lovely. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:44 | |
Imagine, somebody would give you the programme, the Royal Ballet, | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
say, "Come on, please, over here..." | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
-Well, take me to the auditorium. -That's right, that's right. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:55 | |
MUSIC: Le Corsaire | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
OK, so this is where the Royal Ballet is going to come. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
-Yes. -OK? They're going to be dancing in the mud with the mosquitoes. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:30 | |
No, I'm just kidding. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
This is what it looks like now. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
It's not going to look like that always, of course. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
But as you see, right now, this has been created as an auditorium. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:43 | |
The idea is to expand the capacity to 500-plus, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
which it's already a theatre with this capacity, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
by creating a mezzanine and so on. I mean, this is an idea. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
The proscenium arch will be there | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
and then, over here, it will be the stage. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
So you can imagine, Carlos, | 0:04:00 | 0:04:01 | |
I take it you can imagine yourself dancing here. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
I can imagine instantly dancing differently. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
-I mean, if we hurry up, you know... -Before you're too old, you mean! | 0:04:08 | 0:04:14 | |
That's right! That dream can be true, but we must hurry. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
Breathing new life into Havana's forgotten ballet school | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
is a bold ambition, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:27 | |
but it would be somewhat foolish to bet against Carlos beating the odds. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:32 | |
Carlos is someone | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
that just decides to do something and finds a way to do it, | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
very successfully every time, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
so he will be successful in whatever he wants to do. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
Carlos wants to constantly | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
learn more, express more, find out more. He's just... | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
He's itchy! | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
I think now it's really interesting retiring. I mean, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:58 | |
I know from my own experience, you have to step away for a bit | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
to breathe, but he doesn't want to step away. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
He wants to get right immersed in what he can give back and how | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
he can get the next talent seen, and that's really exciting. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
Are you aware that people think you're something, | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
someone special in their lives? | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
When I'm doing the book signing and I actually see somebody | 0:05:35 | 0:05:40 | |
telling me how much pleasure I have brought into their life... | 0:05:40 | 0:05:45 | |
Thank you for all the wonderful years. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
You've certainly brightened my life. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
Thank you very much. Thank you. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
It's like, wow, that's very... | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
Like, it is still surreal to me. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
But I know, you know, I'm aware, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
but in life you have to move on. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
What I don't want is that one day | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
the same people come and say to me, "Why don't you retire?" | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
You know? That's exactly what I try to avoid. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
After a glittering 17-year career with the Royal Ballet, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
Carlos Acosta is soon to take his final bow. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
My wife keeps saying, "Why don't you bring your turban home?" | 0:06:38 | 0:06:42 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:06:42 | 0:06:44 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
Little lover boy! | 0:07:03 | 0:07:04 | |
What is surprising is that combination of natural talent | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
but also fierce intelligence. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
When Carlos walks on the stage, he's there, he's so present | 0:07:19 | 0:07:25 | |
and he's got such magnetism | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
even before he's actually done a step. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
He gave the guys a different energy, a different hunger, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
and he also did that for the public. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
His physicality is incredible. He's very strong, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
very muscular. He has power. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:08:14 | 0:08:16 | |
My life has been in the 17 years getting up, have breakfast, | 0:08:19 | 0:08:23 | |
go to the Royal Opera house, for 17 years. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
How you doing? | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
-Good, how are you? -Good summer? -Yeah, very good. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
-Relaxed? -Yeah. -Yeah? Excellent. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
It is a family. It is a family. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
You think about it, I spend more time in this company than | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
in my actual family, so how you leave your family behind, you know? | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
No, you know something? Let's do it... | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
Carlos is, in fact, masterminding his own farewell. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
Let's learn, all of us, let's learn this. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Choreographing, directing and dancing in a brand-new | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
production of Carmen that will be his Royal Ballet swansong. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
That's right, so when you go, bam, bam... | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
and bam, and la, ti, da, bam! | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
Bam-bam uh-uh-uh ng-uh ng-uh... | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
Yeah? | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
That's right, OK. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
One leg first, and good. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:19 | |
HE HUMS SUITE 1 FROM CARMEN | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
What made you choose Carmen | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
for this big moment in your life, in your career? | 0:09:37 | 0:09:42 | |
Carmen, well, it's a very powerful story. It's great music. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
MUSIC: Suite 1 from Carmen | 0:09:46 | 0:09:50 | |
I thought that I could do something quite modern, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
striking and simple, but also that was emotion-based. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:59 | |
And sort of create my own story. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
I need challenges, so it's almost like, I programme myself | 0:10:08 | 0:10:12 | |
and challenges give me a purpose. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
This is where Carlos grew up, in the back streets of Havana. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:25 | |
And his extraordinary journey from here to the world stage | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
has been, perhaps, the biggest challenge of all. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
Why was he called Yuli? | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
My father, he's tough. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
He... He's tough! | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
Was your father Pedro especially tough with Carlos? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
I grew up in Los Pinos, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:11 | |
which is a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Havana. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
It was a working-class neighbourhood. Food was rationed. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:19 | |
You would go, collect the food like everybody else. Very simple. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:24 | |
By the time I open my eyes, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
my father and my mother were split up already | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
but neither of them had anywhere else to go, so they had to share. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:35 | |
-You know, nobody's going anywhere. -How many rooms were there? | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
-One bedroom. -The one bedroom? -Just one bedroom. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
-How many of you? -We were five. It was very, very tight. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
Nobody knew anything about ballet and dance and art in general. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
There were no books. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
-You were quite a mischievous boy, weren't you? -Mmm. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
My father was a truck driver, so he was quite tight with money, | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
you know, he'd give you just enough. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
Sometimes I wanted to go to the movies, to the cinema | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
to watch some movies, but he would not give you any money, | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
so I, from the very beginning, had a sense of independence. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:13 | |
I knew that I had to make my own living in a way. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
One of the things was stealing whatever you could steal to sell it | 0:13:17 | 0:13:22 | |
and, with that revenue, then I could buy myself a cinema ticket. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
-Revenue? Is that what you called it? -Well, you know... | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
So this is your life? You're busy stealing, fighting, break dancing... | 0:13:33 | 0:13:40 | |
So where did ballet come from? | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
So, what happened was, the neighbour downstairs, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:53 | |
she recommended a ballet school to my father. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
First, it was in the centre of the city, in Vedado, which is, | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
like, wellbeing, it's the centre, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
and second, hot meals for free. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
-Right. -OK? | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
And third, it's good to get me off from these gangs of breakers | 0:14:09 | 0:14:15 | |
that will lead to no good eventually. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
So, my father said, "Breakdancing, ballet - why not? | 0:14:19 | 0:14:25 | |
"You like dance? OK, I got news for you. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
"I'm going to put you in a ballet school." And that was that. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:32 | |
I was praying not to get in | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
because, I mean, ballet... first of all, | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
to be a ballet dancer in my neighbourhood was very embarrassing. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:59 | |
Very embarrassing and, you know, they would call me Alicia Alonso - | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
"There's Alicia" - and all this sort of thing. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
And the other thing with ballet, in the beginning, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
it could be very boring. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
I was a restless child. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
You compare the music of hip-hop or Michael Jackson music, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:19 | |
it is very fast paced. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:20 | |
In the ballet, in the beginning, you are put with this tedious | 0:15:20 | 0:15:25 | |
ballet lesson. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
Trying to show this... For a nine-year-old! | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
I love it now, but for a nine-year-old it just sounded tedious. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:34 | |
So many details to soak in, from the fingers to the elbows. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:40 | |
How they... And then all this. It is too much information and too slow. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:45 | |
And this was going on. This is a very, very alien world. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:50 | |
It was not good. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
HE SPEAKS SPANISH | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
BIRD TWEETS | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
This is almost the first photograph of you. | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
That is my first photograph. It was THE day of the photograph. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
I remember that very clearly. I forgot the day of the photograph. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:06 | |
We were swimming in some...in La Finca, | 0:16:06 | 0:16:11 | |
we were swimming in this place called La Poseta, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
and then my father just went to look for me over there | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
and just dragged me all the way down. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
He make me put his tie. That was very embarrassing. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
Oh, that's his tie? | 0:16:22 | 0:16:23 | |
That's his tie. I was saying, "Not the tie! Not the tie!" | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
"You shut your mouth!" | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
He put the tie on and just dragged me all the way to the photograph, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
and that was the day of the photograph. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
There used to be this forest at the back that has | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
completely disappeared. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:46 | |
It was a magical place with owls and all kinds of... | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
Caverns. Natural caverns and pathways | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
made by nature. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
It's a magical place. It was just really wonderful. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:01 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
THEY SING | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
This magic environment that you were in was fuelled | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
also by your father and his beliefs and he had this shrine, didn't he? | 0:17:12 | 0:17:17 | |
Explain to me what Santeria is. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
It was a very basic religion, coming from a kind of voodoo. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:23 | |
You do sacrifices, you do offering for the gods. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
It is also worship. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT AND SINGING | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
There was a shrine in our home and sometimes we had nothing to eat, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
but the shrine has this wonderful buffet. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
It's supposed to be for the gods, though, not for you! | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
Exactly. You see the ants, how they were eating the whole thing. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:56 | |
Sometimes I would get into trouble because I would eat the whole shrine. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT AND SINGING | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
That was in most people's houses as well. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
In the '80s, religion was prohibited, | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
so everybody tried to not say... | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
-You have to be quite secretive. -You had to be quite secretive. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
It was a very controversial topic. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
THEY SING | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
CHEERING | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
Ironically, Pope Francis, | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
received a rapturous welcome in Cuba earlier this year | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
and has played a key role in the easing of relations with America. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:52 | |
But for Carlos, it was his personal battle with ballet that | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
dominated his young life. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
How long did it take you | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
when you were having to go to ballet school in those early days? | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
-What time did you get up in the morning? -At five. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
The routes from here were not straightforward. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:28 | |
The buses were overcrowded. Sometimes you were hanging. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
Sometimes there was one bus | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
and it was so full that you couldn't get on. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
Is that one of the reasons why you played truant quite a lot? | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
I'd wake up at five. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:42 | |
By the time I arrived and eat and go to bed, | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
it was, like, ten o'clock at night. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:52 | |
I was nine years old, | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
so it was very hard to follow that routine every single day. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
They kicked me out from the school. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
Even though I was talented, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
even though when I was there I show aptitude and so on, | 0:20:09 | 0:20:13 | |
they decided that the best thing for me was to transfer me | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
and send me to a different school in Pinar del Rio. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
CAR HORN BLARES | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
# There's a story | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
# The gypsies know is true | 0:20:53 | 0:20:58 | |
# That when your love with golden earrings... # | 0:20:58 | 0:21:05 | |
The Pinar del Rio school had a particularity | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
that it was a boarding school. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
I became like an exile. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
For two years, I was there and then my parents would never come and see me. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
The worst time was on Wednesday, when every parents would come | 0:22:23 | 0:22:29 | |
to bring hot food and meals and everything and show their support, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:33 | |
I had to sit down and see that every single Wednesday. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
-That loneliness, was that really bad? -It was lonely, definitely. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:41 | |
Loneliness. That kind of loneliness, it carries on and carries on. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
By the time I got to the Royal Ballet, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
Carlos was an established star. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
He always had this melancholy for Cuba | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
and I always laughed at him because I know Cuba well. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
I thought it was a reinterpretation of the reality of Cuba | 0:23:16 | 0:23:22 | |
that he had in his mind, but what can you do? | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
It is your homeland and your family is there, | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
of course you are going to have this nostalgia for it. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
There were lots of things about England, | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
full stop, that were so different from what | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
he had been brought up with and... | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
He was also the only black principal in the company. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
When I joined the Royal Ballet, we only were two black people | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
in a crowd of 80. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
When you are nine, ten, you don't think about these things. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
When you are 20, you say, "Hang on a minute." | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
For me, I was on my own. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
On my own learning English, adapting to a different environment. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
It give me something that I think is the most important thing. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:20 | |
It is, like, "No-one is going to do it for me." | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
I had to do it for myself. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:30 | |
You either fall making your choices or raise up. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
Maybe it took time for him to realise that he was really changing | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
and maybe thought about classical ballet. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
BALLET TEACHER SPEAKS SPANISH | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
When was the moment that you decided that ballet was for you, | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
this was going to be something you cared about, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
you were passionate about? | 0:25:07 | 0:25:08 | |
Well, the school in Pinar del Rio wanted to organise | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
a trip to see the National Ballet of Cuba for the first time, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
so I was dragged along with everybody else. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
But I saw this guy called Alberto Terrero | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
and he was jumping and the way he was built, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
tremendous muscular leg and everything, and the smile... | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
This ballet was commanding the stage. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
When I was 13 years old, I said, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
"Wow. This is like sports people, Pele... This is a cool thing." | 0:25:37 | 0:25:42 | |
It's not what I thought it was. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
I was in my mind saying, "Perhaps I'll really give a chance. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:50 | |
"I can jump like that." | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
So it began from that point. It was a turning point. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
Tell me, Maestra, do you remember your first encounter with Carlos | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
when he came here, to the National Ballet School? | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
Chery was my second mother. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
She was what I had, what I needed next to me. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
When she took me under her wing, she was my mother. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
She absolutely filled that gap. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
With nearly 3,000 students, | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
Ramona "Chery" De Saa | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
presides over the largest ballet school in the world. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
This is an amazing place. It is all, much of it, thanks to you, | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
so what is it that keeps the pulse of this place going? | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
The Cuban school developed mainly from the Russian tradition, | 0:28:45 | 0:28:50 | |
but then they were able to adapt it to the Cuban physiognomy | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
and the Cuban nature. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
So it is a combination of really fantastic strong masculine | 0:28:55 | 0:29:00 | |
technique, and passion and warmth and sense of humour and sexiness | 0:29:00 | 0:29:07 | |
that is the Cuban nature. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:09 | |
Those things combined makes explosive male dancers. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
What was special about Chery as a teacher? | 0:29:53 | 0:29:56 | |
I think what was special about her - | 0:29:56 | 0:29:58 | |
there are many things that made her special - but her commitment. | 0:29:58 | 0:30:02 | |
Her passion was contagious. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:04 | |
It is very, very important to teach... | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
to translate that passion and that joy. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
And, to me, the happiest thing is that she would just say, | 0:30:12 | 0:30:17 | |
"That... That's all right." | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
That meant the world to me. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
Such was Ramona's belief in Carlos's ability, | 0:30:56 | 0:31:00 | |
she entered him into the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
a revered international ballet competition that aims to find | 0:31:03 | 0:31:07 | |
the best young dancers in the world. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
In Lausanne, it was... I mean, the good thing is that, to me, | 0:31:28 | 0:31:34 | |
Chery's words were the Bible for me, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
and if she said that I could do something good, it meant... | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
If Chery said that, it's because I can... | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
It was that blindly. You just wanted to do it make her proud. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:48 | |
And so, when I passed into the finals, | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
I knew - this is it. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
-PRESENTER: -Acosta, Carlos, au Cuba. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
Do you still think you have the palette of Havana in your head? | 0:33:09 | 0:33:12 | |
You know, whether it's the cars or the buildings, | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
the greens and yellows and the blues. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
That must be something, if you grow up with it, | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
-you don't get that anywhere else, really. -Hmm. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
And this is why, um...perfect. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
Yeah. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:29 | |
It's very grand, touristically, | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
-and a lot of it decaying. -Yes. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:35 | |
There is also beauty in that, somehow, you know? | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
It's sad, but it could be very atmospheric, | 0:33:38 | 0:33:43 | |
-it could be, almost, artistic. -Yeah. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:47 | |
-It is scary, you know, how much work all this place needs. -Absolutely. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:54 | |
It's like, "Wow. Where to begin?" | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
-Where do you start? -Where do you start? Yeah. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
But it's got to start soon, or it'll all be... | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
Every time there's a rainstorm, | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
the buildings deteriorate and decay more and more, don't they? | 0:34:03 | 0:34:09 | |
Yeah. There used to be a huge house here. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
All these places have collapsed... | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
wherever you see a hole, or something. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
They are all, like, treasured. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:22 | |
A crucial step in Carlos's master plan for the future | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
is to cast his new dance company | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
and he's holding the first series of auditions | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
for a thoroughly Cuban-flavoured adventure. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
I want to have a company that it will be a legacy. | 0:34:57 | 0:34:59 | |
I want to work with the dancers and pass everything I can. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:03 | |
I will bring choreographers to work for this company. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
I will choreograph myself | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
when I have a cool idea that I think is worth it. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:11 | |
It's not about me and my ego, it's about that the company lasts. | 0:35:11 | 0:35:16 | |
I think every dancer that has come here comes with the hope | 0:35:18 | 0:35:23 | |
to be chosen. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:25 | |
If he is so good, his company has to be also good. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:29 | |
What Carlos is trying to do is to create a new company, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:43 | |
a small company, where he can continue to choreograph | 0:35:43 | 0:35:46 | |
and obviously direct it, that he can also take on tour around the world. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
So, all of these are Cuban dancers? | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
-They are all Cuban dancers. -Amazing. -All of them, yeah. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
From different backgrounds of dance, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
some are contemporary, some are classical-based... | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
How much preparation have they had for this, | 0:36:08 | 0:36:10 | |
in terms of what they're going to have to do? | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
It is a class, it is a standard classical ballet class, | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
and a standard contemporary class, | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
and they all have to pass a test. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
And then you try to see how they move, the quality of movement, | 0:36:21 | 0:36:28 | |
whether they are musical or not, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
and what they do with their exercise combination, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
the imprint that they managed to put into the exercise. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
DRUMS PLAY | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
And how much is it to do with personality as well as movement? | 0:37:00 | 0:37:06 | |
I mean, I am not looking for Baryshnikov, you know? | 0:37:06 | 0:37:10 | |
I am looking for a subject that I can work with | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
and turn it into one, you know, so they are all very young, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:18 | |
you know, and so I am looking for potential. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:21 | |
And then, on top of that potential, we will direct them. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:25 | |
Eventually, personality, | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
it plays a big, big role, | 0:37:28 | 0:37:32 | |
because it is a performance, performance and personality, | 0:37:32 | 0:37:36 | |
but you can work on that, as well. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
So, how long before they get to know whether you love them or not? | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
Now we selected a few, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
so that they could come... | 0:37:54 | 0:37:56 | |
Those who have passed this round, | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
we come back again with some more groups, and then we'll see. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:05 | |
But it is a process, so... | 0:38:11 | 0:38:13 | |
Wow, this is excellent. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
-These details. -Yeah. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
I mean, that's the red. That's quite a good... | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
-Ignore all of that, but that would work well, wouldn't it? -Yeah. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
-I like that red very much. -There were some other drawings somewhere. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:46 | |
The whole designing, what we are aiming for, | 0:38:46 | 0:38:48 | |
is simplicity, but powerful. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
So, a lot of element of the Spanish for glory, for instance, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
and that reflects across the whole design | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
but also into the music as well. | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
-And so Carmen again? -Carmen, again, is here. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
What do you think? The red... The red... | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
I think it's a combination of red and black. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:08 | |
This kind of tone is great. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:10 | |
The skin coming through... | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
There is a circle in which she dances - that circle is red. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:16 | |
You know? It is danger. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
Carmen is somebody who... | 0:39:18 | 0:39:20 | |
She's always looking for trouble, you know, | 0:39:20 | 0:39:22 | |
and seduction. This is her main motive. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:27 | |
You're going to have a corset/dress that, in the fight, | 0:39:27 | 0:39:34 | |
they're going to rip it off and, from that point, | 0:39:34 | 0:39:37 | |
you get, like, into a corset, almost like you get in your underwear | 0:39:37 | 0:39:41 | |
kind of stuff, and then you go to jail...in underwear! | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
As you do! | 0:39:46 | 0:39:47 | |
That's all that is. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:49 | |
And then you've got, like, you know, um, two more changes after that. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:56 | |
He's running away from the ballet cliche. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
Nobody has ever seen you like that and it's true, you know. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:04 | |
I am going to look, literally, totally different. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:06 | |
I'm thinking of my dad in Argentina going, in the cinema, | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
"What happened to my daughter?!" | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
I can see it! I can so see it! | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
# Ba-ba-be, ba-bam, bam! # | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
For this new production, Carlos is hotting up | 0:40:17 | 0:40:20 | |
and honing in on the fatal love triangle between soldier Don Jose, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:25 | |
flash young toreador Escamillo | 0:40:25 | 0:40:27 | |
and, of course, the feisty Carmen. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
So they get stripped and then become like a corset. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:34 | |
-And, for us, it is kind of jeans... -Also, a little underwear! | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
A little corset. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
This is us. This is Don Jose. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
Military jacket, green, with a maroon whirl. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
He has a hat as well. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:49 | |
And then Escamillo. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:52 | |
The cool dude. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
So, we have buttons on the waistcoat... | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
So, in the case of Escamillo, we will go more to a trendy look, | 0:40:58 | 0:41:04 | |
sexy look... | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
Not too cleavage. You're not playing Carmen, Carlos. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:09 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
Next time. I'm still thinking about it. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
Never say never. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
But I really want the audience to recognise that this is fresh, | 0:41:17 | 0:41:21 | |
this is the Royal Ballet now. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
To me, it is very important to bring these kind of new elements to dance. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:27 | |
Carlos isn't the first Cuban ballet star to find fame abroad | 0:41:32 | 0:41:37 | |
and return home with grand ambitions. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
WALTZ MUSIC PLAYS | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
Meet Alicia Alonso, | 0:41:49 | 0:41:52 | |
legendary prima ballerina who danced when almost blind. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:56 | |
Alicia is the all-powerful matriarch of Cuba's national ballet company. | 0:41:56 | 0:42:01 | |
And then, after the revolution, you got the support of Castro. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:45 | |
So, what is it that defines the classical Cuban style? | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:43:29 | 0:43:31 | |
Well, perhaps not exclusively. | 0:43:31 | 0:43:33 | |
Despite Castro and the regime actively supporting | 0:44:13 | 0:44:16 | |
ballet in Cuba, the flamboyance of the ballet school | 0:44:16 | 0:44:20 | |
he first dreamt up with Che Guevara in the early '60s | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
fell foul of an ideological shift | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
towards Soviet-style rationalist architecture. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:30 | |
So, this elegant ruin was never finished, | 0:44:34 | 0:44:37 | |
and never functioned as a ballet school, | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
something Carlos is now looking to put right. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:44 | |
If I tell you the ambition that I have, I think it is | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
a scary one because I am already fighting for this. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
My mission for here is a place that has many functions. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:57 | |
We have the base for my new company, | 0:44:57 | 0:45:01 | |
we have a theatre, which would allow us to produce shows, | 0:45:01 | 0:45:05 | |
to bring foreign companies, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:06 | |
so that we could become an artistic destination. | 0:45:06 | 0:45:10 | |
That is one element. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:12 | |
The most important element, is what I really would like to do, | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
is to give everybody who has talent a chance to dance for free. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:21 | |
I believe in free education. I am a subject of free education. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:25 | |
Thanks to the free education is I am me, here, now, talking to you, | 0:45:25 | 0:45:29 | |
and so I believe in that. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:30 | |
And now that I am in a position, I want to give that back, | 0:45:30 | 0:45:34 | |
but not just for Cuba alone. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
I really want anybody, you know, kids who have talent, | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
who want to give it a shot, to let them know that there is a place, | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
here in Havana, that it can launch | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
their career if they really fight for it, | 0:45:45 | 0:45:47 | |
and money is not going to be an issue. | 0:45:47 | 0:45:49 | |
So we are trying to produce a kind of sustainable scheme here, | 0:45:49 | 0:45:53 | |
with the theatre, with a pyramid of friends, | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
like, I help this dream to come true. | 0:45:56 | 0:45:58 | |
Swan Lake. | 0:46:01 | 0:46:04 | |
Five years ago, people would have said this is a mad dream | 0:46:04 | 0:46:09 | |
but, somehow or other, your timing is good, isn't it? | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
I think this could be a moment. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:14 | |
This opportunity, with Obama and Raul making things happen, | 0:46:16 | 0:46:19 | |
I think is great. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:21 | |
It gives a lot of people hope, you know, | 0:46:21 | 0:46:23 | |
so that is what it is all about. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:25 | |
And I think it is a time for Cuba to flourish. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:28 | |
Cuba has a wealth of artists. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:30 | |
You want singers? Rhythms? This is the place. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:34 | |
Dancing? This is the place. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:36 | |
But we need resources and that's what these things will bring. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:41 | |
# Fiesta Cubana, Cubana, Cubana Cubana, Cubana | 0:46:41 | 0:46:45 | |
# Cubana... # | 0:46:45 | 0:46:47 | |
In the meantime, where to begin? | 0:46:47 | 0:46:51 | |
Something a little more down to earth. | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
# Chic chicco chi ca Chic chicco chi ca | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
# Cubana | 0:47:00 | 0:47:01 | |
# Chic chicco chi ca Chic chicco chi ca | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
# Cubana | 0:47:04 | 0:47:05 | |
# That's the time when Havana plays | 0:47:05 | 0:47:08 | |
# When they dance maybe two, three days | 0:47:08 | 0:47:10 | |
# Fiesta Cubana | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
# Fiesta Cubana | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
# The senoras are on the loose | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
# The fiesta is their excuse Fiesta Cubana... # | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
Temporarily, I've been given the chance to form my company here, | 0:47:19 | 0:47:24 | |
to have a base, a company base here, | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
while the main school is being refurbished, | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
so this is where we are going to train and we are going to | 0:47:31 | 0:47:36 | |
elaborate the repertoire and everything, | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
so this is going to be our base for the time being. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:43 | |
It is, as you see, it is what it is at the moment, | 0:47:43 | 0:47:47 | |
but, yeah, it's a good space. It's really tall, the whole thing, | 0:47:47 | 0:47:54 | |
so I think for the size of the company, this will be perfect. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:58 | |
Let me take you around. Let me take you around. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:01 | |
So, this is the other place. | 0:48:08 | 0:48:12 | |
All that... | 0:48:12 | 0:48:13 | |
All this needs to be re-adapted. | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
So that would be another studio, | 0:48:17 | 0:48:20 | |
and then, maybe, physiotherapy and so on. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
At the moment, I'm just trying to make things happen rapidly, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:29 | |
make it happen, have a plan. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
We know we are going to start there | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
and this has got to be finished here, | 0:48:34 | 0:48:36 | |
and the floors are coming when, | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
so they understand and everybody works towards a deadline, | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
but when I fly to London, back to London again, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
you switch, one switch off, | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
connect the other, and then Carmen and...you know. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:53 | |
I've been living like this for a long time, | 0:48:53 | 0:48:55 | |
so I think I've mastered that kind of switching on and off. | 0:48:55 | 0:49:02 | |
Morning, company. Make your way to the front of the stalls... | 0:49:06 | 0:49:09 | |
So they need to... | 0:49:12 | 0:49:15 | |
It's quite clear. Many of them... | 0:49:15 | 0:49:16 | |
So, I make it more towards the back. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
'Carlos is under huge pressure, I think, | 0:49:19 | 0:49:22 | |
'to actually dance two roles, to choreographic it, | 0:49:22 | 0:49:26 | |
'to have a huge say in the designs, the look, the music, | 0:49:26 | 0:49:30 | |
'the live musicians. It's huge.' | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
'It's particularly hard in this case cos he's on stage, | 0:49:39 | 0:49:41 | |
'then he's off stage, | 0:49:41 | 0:49:43 | |
'so finding the time to be objective is really, really tricky. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
'And the schedules are very fast. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:49 | |
'We don't have very long to rehearse on stage. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
'It is a very, very quick turnaround, | 0:49:52 | 0:49:54 | |
'so there's not much time to finesse everything.' | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
THEY SING | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
It is a big challenge to create a more theatrical piece, | 0:50:03 | 0:50:08 | |
where I invoke the opera, the chorus... | 0:50:08 | 0:50:11 | |
I sing it, | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
so it breaks a little bit with the boundaries of dance. | 0:50:13 | 0:50:17 | |
But of course, when you have 24 chorus members on the stage, | 0:50:20 | 0:50:25 | |
you have another 40 dancers on stage, you've got crew | 0:50:25 | 0:50:30 | |
and all that, it's like... There's no space to dance | 0:50:30 | 0:50:35 | |
and so that is the problem that I actually wasn't anticipating. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:40 | |
At the end, also, you also had to perform well, | 0:50:43 | 0:50:46 | |
so it really is insane. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:49 | |
I'm surprised you're not a complete neurotic mess. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:53 | |
I am a neurotic mess! | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
I mean, it's definitely a lot to take on, | 0:51:00 | 0:51:03 | |
but I think he absolutely loves it and you can see how much | 0:51:03 | 0:51:06 | |
he enjoys it, and it's almost like a drug. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
And the middle bit with the table... | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
This is animal fear. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:14 | |
It's talking, it's singing... | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
You've made it even more difficult for yourself | 0:51:16 | 0:51:18 | |
by playing the two parts, and on different, alternate nights | 0:51:18 | 0:51:22 | |
you have to put yourself in the Don Jose part and then the other part. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
It's like go out with a bang, right? | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
Well, you know, it's... | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
Don Jose leads the ballet, but, you know, | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
I cannot afford myself | 0:51:36 | 0:51:38 | |
to not actually dance Escamillo, | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
which is the fun character. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
He's the coolest guy in town. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:50 | |
CHORUS SINGS | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
Just stop very quickly. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:01 | |
Stage left, your placing is brilliant, chorus and dancers. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
Stage right, we've a bit of a block. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:07 | |
Carmen is about emotion, you know, and anger and passion is within. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:15 | |
PIANO MUSIC PLAYS | 0:52:15 | 0:52:17 | |
And not so much about the jumps. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
But when I had to do those jumps, wow. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
I know my body is screaming at me for doing these kind of steps. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:38 | |
HE GROANS | 0:52:38 | 0:52:41 | |
And the bottom line is that I don't need to do them any more, really. | 0:52:41 | 0:52:45 | |
I have done them for many years. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:47 | |
Coming on with the tables was once the light had come up on Matt. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:50 | |
-That was the last time we did it. -That's what we're still doing... | 0:52:50 | 0:52:54 | |
# Stars, they come and go | 0:52:54 | 0:52:56 | |
# They come fast, they come slow | 0:52:56 | 0:52:59 | |
# They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze | 0:52:59 | 0:53:03 | |
# All you see is glory | 0:53:05 | 0:53:08 | |
# But it gets lonely there when there's no-one there to share... # | 0:53:10 | 0:53:15 | |
There's a vulnerability. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:18 | |
He's like a little kid. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:19 | |
Because you want to care for him and you want him to be happy. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:26 | |
His personality is...is complicated. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:31 | |
He has lots of layers and, somehow, all of that makes Carlos. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:36 | |
As we come into the '90s, which was what we call the special period, | 0:53:41 | 0:53:45 | |
Cuba was completely isolated. | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
That was the big exodus, where the situation was so bad here, | 0:53:48 | 0:53:52 | |
everybody was fleeing in rafts wherever they could get. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:57 | |
A lot of people died on the sea. I mean, it was just devastating. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:04 | |
Nevertheless, in the middle of all that, | 0:54:04 | 0:54:06 | |
I was probably the one guy who wanted to go back, you know? | 0:54:06 | 0:54:10 | |
Because I miss it. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:12 | |
My father, he... | 0:54:13 | 0:54:16 | |
He said, "The only way forward is for you to commit yourself to dance. | 0:54:16 | 0:54:21 | |
"You forget about us, you forget about everybody. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:24 | |
"You have to dance. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:26 | |
"You not only have to dance for you, you have to dance for us, | 0:54:26 | 0:54:30 | |
"because you owe it to us as well, | 0:54:30 | 0:54:32 | |
"because we also have to have the peace of mind that knowing that | 0:54:32 | 0:54:36 | |
"somebody of ours is out there, you know, living the life." | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
Tough though it was accepting his father's stern stance, | 0:54:41 | 0:54:45 | |
Carlos's success overseas meant the world to his family back in Cuba. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:50 | |
My grandad, he was the most proud person in the family, | 0:54:52 | 0:54:58 | |
and the same of my grandma. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
I remember, she was going out to the street, | 0:55:03 | 0:55:08 | |
just going and saying, "Oh, because my son is Carlos Acosta." | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
And you say, "Yeah, but that person doesn't need to know that. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:16 | |
"They don't care!" | 0:55:16 | 0:55:18 | |
You know, although my father passed away and my mother passed away, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:24 | |
I am very, very content that they could see the glory | 0:55:24 | 0:55:29 | |
and they could actually... | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
You know, I would be able to provide them with a better life, | 0:55:31 | 0:55:36 | |
with a better living, and this is something that is wonderful. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:40 | |
# The latest story that I know | 0:55:42 | 0:55:44 | |
# Is the one that I'm supposed to go out with | 0:55:44 | 0:55:48 | |
# And the latest story that I know | 0:55:48 | 0:55:51 | |
# Is the one that I'm supposed to go out with... # | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
It's 17 years at the Royal Opera House. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
In the early years, you had to find your way through it. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
How do you feel now, looking back, close to the end of a chapter? | 0:56:00 | 0:56:05 | |
I'm feeling really weird at the moment, you know, | 0:56:05 | 0:56:08 | |
after the 17 years, to be honest, because I have been | 0:56:08 | 0:56:12 | |
so busy that I haven't actually landed. | 0:56:12 | 0:56:16 | |
It is... It is a big thing, it is your whole lifestyle. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:22 | |
A bit stiff today. | 0:56:22 | 0:56:26 | |
Tense. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:27 | |
What it is is the anticipation of performing, you know? | 0:56:30 | 0:56:34 | |
But it goes... You know, sometimes... | 0:56:34 | 0:56:36 | |
Normally, the opening night is very nerve... | 0:56:36 | 0:56:40 | |
and then you relax a bit once you crack the rise, you know? | 0:56:40 | 0:56:43 | |
But tonight is...is special. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:50 | |
I tried to take it as just another show cos... | 0:56:50 | 0:56:56 | |
We have, really, not very pleasant consequences | 0:56:58 | 0:57:03 | |
if I don't think that way. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:06 | |
Coming to terms that, you know, you're not going to be Romeo | 0:57:19 | 0:57:23 | |
any more, you're not going to be all these roles any more, you know? | 0:57:23 | 0:57:27 | |
It's a reason for grieving. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:29 | |
I always say there are a lot of great dancers, good dancers, | 0:57:31 | 0:57:35 | |
and they are artists. And, to me, you know, | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
I want to turn myself into an artist, | 0:57:37 | 0:57:40 | |
somebody who experiences the roles deeply. | 0:57:40 | 0:57:44 | |
Now, I am going to carry on dancing, you know, more contemporary. | 0:57:51 | 0:57:57 | |
Hopefully I've managed to bring my artistry to this new chapter. | 0:57:57 | 0:58:03 | |
To me, it is all about evolution. | 0:58:05 | 0:58:07 | |
Ladies and gentlemen of the Royal Ballet, | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
this is you beginners' call, please. Your beginners' call. | 0:58:17 | 0:58:19 | |
MUSIC STARTS | 0:58:25 | 0:58:28 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:00:51 | 1:00:53 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 1:00:56 | 1:00:59 | |
CHEERING INTENSIFIES | 1:01:22 | 1:01:25 | |
So, you're looking forward to the future as a kind of adventure? | 1:01:41 | 1:01:45 | |
There are so many things about life that | 1:01:45 | 1:01:48 | |
I am looking forward to experiencing | 1:01:48 | 1:01:50 | |
because I had so many choices, and it all comes down to what I really | 1:01:50 | 1:01:53 | |
want or what I really can handle, you know, | 1:01:53 | 1:01:57 | |
because I'm also a father. | 1:01:57 | 1:01:59 | |
CHEERING CONTINUES | 1:01:59 | 1:02:02 | |
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Carlos... | 1:02:25 | 1:02:28 | |
..this is a very special moment... | 1:02:29 | 1:02:31 | |
for us to celebrate your extraordinary career, | 1:02:31 | 1:02:35 | |
here at the Royal Ballet. | 1:02:35 | 1:02:37 | |
Over the past 17 years, you have given so many virtuoso performances | 1:02:37 | 1:02:43 | |
with your vitality, your charisma, and you have inspired us all. | 1:02:43 | 1:02:49 | |
CHEERING | 1:02:49 | 1:02:51 | |
And you have been a trailblazer for male dancers, and you have | 1:03:03 | 1:03:07 | |
been an inspiration to so many young men, who are probably on the stage | 1:03:07 | 1:03:12 | |
now because of you, and so we thank you with all our hearts for that. | 1:03:12 | 1:03:16 | |
CHEERING | 1:03:19 | 1:03:21 | |
Well... | 1:03:29 | 1:03:31 | |
..the reality is that to make... to build a career like that, | 1:03:32 | 1:03:37 | |
you need the help of the audience, of course, | 1:03:37 | 1:03:41 | |
the help of these wonderful people that you have got here. | 1:03:41 | 1:03:47 | |
They are like a family... | 1:03:47 | 1:03:49 | |
to me, | 1:03:49 | 1:03:51 | |
the help of all the wonderful people who are inside right now, | 1:03:51 | 1:03:55 | |
perhaps hiding in the wings, which are the crew members, | 1:03:55 | 1:03:58 | |
and all the lot of wonderful people in the offices | 1:03:58 | 1:04:01 | |
and in the physiotherapy room, so... | 1:04:01 | 1:04:05 | |
LAUGHTER | 1:04:05 | 1:04:07 | |
As you can see, it is a collective art. Particularly... | 1:04:07 | 1:04:12 | |
I'd like to thank my ballerinas, ladies and gentlemen. | 1:04:12 | 1:04:15 | |
They have been wonderful and gave me really wonderful | 1:04:15 | 1:04:19 | |
memories on this stage that I will never forget, so they... | 1:04:19 | 1:04:23 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:04:23 | 1:04:26 | |
And very important, my wife Charlotte, | 1:04:28 | 1:04:31 | |
who gave me so much love and support every single day at home, | 1:04:31 | 1:04:35 | |
you know, so that I could come here and perform for you, | 1:04:35 | 1:04:39 | |
so let's hear a big... | 1:04:39 | 1:04:42 | |
Look at that, look at that. Isn't she beautiful? | 1:04:49 | 1:04:52 | |
Unbelievable. | 1:04:52 | 1:04:54 | |
And I want to say something to the new generation of dancers, actually. | 1:04:54 | 1:04:57 | |
My advice for you is... | 1:04:57 | 1:04:58 | |
..allow yourself the freedom to commit mistakes. | 1:05:00 | 1:05:03 | |
There is no such a thing as failure | 1:05:03 | 1:05:05 | |
because life is an eternal learning process. | 1:05:05 | 1:05:09 | |
You are always learning, so be curious and enjoy, enjoy, | 1:05:09 | 1:05:14 | |
enjoy, because one day you blink | 1:05:14 | 1:05:16 | |
and you realise that 17 years have gone by and it is over, | 1:05:16 | 1:05:21 | |
and I know that too well. | 1:05:21 | 1:05:24 | |
So thank you very much. | 1:05:24 | 1:05:26 | |
CHEERING AND WHISTLING | 1:05:26 | 1:05:29 | |
So, this is where you, what, lie down and do nothing? | 1:06:19 | 1:06:21 | |
That's it. They go, "Thank you for saving the school. | 1:06:21 | 1:06:25 | |
"Now I am just going to lie down and do nothing." | 1:06:25 | 1:06:28 |