Carlos Acosta, Ballet Dancer HARDtalk


Carlos Acosta, Ballet Dancer

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climbed by nearly 40% on last year. -- for this time. Stand by for

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HARDtalk comes from the Royal Ballet in central London. My guest

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is one of the world's greatest dancers, Carlos Acosta. He was born

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in Fidel Castro's Cuba. His father was a truck driver. For the last

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are two decades, he has been thrilling audiences around the

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world. In ballet, he says there is beauty and freedom, and also pain

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and sacrifice. Could that be a sign that his career is about to move in

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Carlos Acosta, welcome to HARDtalk. Right now, you are preparing for a

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performance of Romeo and Juliet in a new venue. That fascinates me. It

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is not a traditional ballet venue at all. 15,000 seats to fill in

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what is usually a rock and roll the venue. Are you daunted by that?

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think it will be a hard space to dance because we lose that intimacy

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that is needed for ballet. The ballet is a visual art. You have to

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be able to see it, not see it. You have to be close enough so you can

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connect with the ballet and the story and the expression and so on.

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They will have to rely on screening. Those people higher up, where ever

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they are, they can see what is going on. The idea is great. The

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idea is to reach out and make ballet accessible for everyone.

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This is a great idea. I really think that it is a really good

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cause. The have been dancing for more than 20 years. I suspect

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people have been talking to you about making ballet more accessible.

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Do you think it has changed in that respect? I think it has. I still

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think we should do more. The whole world, the world we live in today,

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has to be represented on stage. In our recent history, we need to push

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it to the limits to balance the situation, I feel, because every

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situation we represent on our stage at... When you see and ballet, I

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want to make sure that I can be a prince and everyone can be a prince

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and I think that can be fair and I think we should do more about that.

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You have been a Prince many times on stage. You get up on stage, you

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give people enormous pleasure with your performances and you go

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through a new talked about it very openly, incredible pain, but to do

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it. Playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, it makes you dance almost

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"till I drop dead." You will feel like dying? It is wonderful here.

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These people have danced the role before, they know what I am talking

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about. It is part of my life. It is almost impossible to be 100% when

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you have to expose your body too many hours of hammering and jumping.

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I say that stance is a religion. All that word you have to put in

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just for the pleasure of the audience. Correct to make dance is

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You have said several times in the past that frankly, you get a little

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bit bored with some of the classical repertoire. You said Swan

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Lake was, there comes a point when you are not up for doing Swan Lake

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one more time. How do you keep the roles of fresh, keep it and you?

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Going back to Swan Lake, the problem is, after you have done it

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so much, there is no room for you to grow. You try to keep your love

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for as what people expect of you. - - keep your level. How many times

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can you do this one and keep it fresh? I feel I need challenges and

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right now, on my stage, Swan Lake does not challenge me. Is that one

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reason why you find it difficult in Cuba, looking at the state of

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ballet there. You have described it as being stuck with a very

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traditional, a small, conservative approach. A birth repertoire there

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has been stuck for a while. -- the repertoire there. I think it comes

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down to the artistic choices. It is not fair for the dancers. Dancers

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need to be challenged all the time. You need to bring new energy to the

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repertoire. Otherwise, if you only have to look forward to Swan Lake,

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a sleeping beauty, where will you go? The world out there is doing

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these wonderful works. This is the system that created year. If it was

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not for the disciplined and conservatism commitment in Cuba to

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old style ballet, you would not be the dancer you are. The system

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works and it is great. When you have the base, you need to keep on

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and keep going and you need to be part of what is going on out there

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in the world, with a new creations. When I am talking about Swan Lake

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as a classic, I am not saying it in disrespectful stock they have the

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most wonderful technique and the most basic form of dance. At the

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same time, you need to evolve. You have to project your dance to the

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future and to create new ways of expression, otherwise, we are stuck

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in a vehicle that has been created in the 1800s. Where do we go from

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now? We need to create our own vehicle. We want to talk about your

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creative vehicle. Before we go there, let us talk about Cuba for a

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little while longer. People watching this do not know your

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story. It is a remarkable story. It really hinges on your father. If

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your father had not forced you to go to ballet school, coming out of

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a poor neighbourhood, one of 11 children in a poor family, if he

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had not made that decision and forced you to go, your life would

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have been entirely different. father made me go best answer I was

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three years old. I was living in a very a run-down part of Havana. I

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was a street kid. There was this fashion craze about break dancing

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and I had this our own club of break dancing around eight or nine

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years odd. I did not like school very much. But I could dance. I

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could break dance. I used to do the Michael Jackson moves. My father

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saw I was heading towards delinquency so someone recommended

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this ballet school which was in the centre of the city and he did not

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think twice. The next thing I knew, I was in a ballet class. I really

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hated it. Anyone who does not know anything about ballet, when you

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start, you and nine years old and you start learning it, it can be

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the most tedious thing. All these movements, you are falling asleep.

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As a kid, you can run on the street and be play for, which is what I

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wanted to do. Yes, it was painful. Look at the progress she knew made.

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By 16 years old, you were winning international prizes in Europe.

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Just a couple of years before, you still hated it. What was this which

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that changed your mind? -- what was it. I saw a professional production

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for the first time. That was when I fell in love and with it. I was

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always told by my teachers that I had something. I could learn

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quickly. I liked that attention. For once, I felt like I could do

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something because I always had this complex that I was no good.

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Teachers would choreograph May, pick me, in front of a crowd of

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people. I liked the way I felt about this attention. I wanted

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Morar. That is why I began to have this love with dance. I realised it

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could change my life and my family's life. We think about the

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way you were groomed to be one of the great dancers. You had a great

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teacher. She is a figurehead of Cuban dance. For many years, her

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dance school was way Fidel Castro's students could express high art. It

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was a regimented and disciplined way. Did you find it oppressive,

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working with her? Not at all. She was the founder. Together with her

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ex-husband, they were the founders of the dance movement in Cuba. They

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found a source where everybody else came from and it is almost like a

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parents. I think she always had, she made the whole nation proud.

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You need to be very grateful for that. They are always going to be

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the founder of the movement and will always, in my case, they will

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You maintained a good relationship with her and for ballet and the

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Cuban government. It seems to me you were lucky in a way because

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many Cuban dances, quality dancers, have not been given the options you

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were given to pursue your career abroad. Trained at home and expand

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your horizons overseas. I was lucky. That is true. I feel

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for those people who felt they should go abroad in order to dance

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and feel fulfilled. Even this year, we had in Canada,

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five top dancers from the National Ballet defect.

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The tis a logical course. It is understandable and we need to

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change it. -- it is a logical course.

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If you don't have space to grow, what is the point? If all I have at

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the end of the day to keep me alive his dance, I'm going to learn

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something and evolve as an artist. If I don't have that, what is the

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point? I -- if you close that, there is no point.

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Because you walk this fine line, maintaining a good relationship

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with the government but pursuing your career overseas, have you feel

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when this year you are given the top prize in the country, the

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National Dance Prize, everyone salutes you and in the citation of

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the award, they call you an artist who loves the revolution - had you

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feel when you see those words? The revolution, I am a product of

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the revolution. I was very poor. You feel if you had been the same

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child brought up in the United Kingdom from that poor background,

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no way you could have been so successful?

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How would I buy my shoes and gear? My salary was able to maintain my

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entire family. The feel when you're dancing with

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stars from Russia and Eastern Europe, the United States, whatever,

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is there something Cuban and Latin about the way you do ballet?

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A I think so. Definitely! How do you define that?

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Cuban is a very eclectic race. We inherit so many cultures along the

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way, Spanish, African, Chinese - it is a melting pot. After being in

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the Caribbean with the Sun and the sea and the drums, you cannot help

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but bring been Cuban to your art form. At the end of the day,

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everyone has a different way of expressing love. We bring our own

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identity in to whatever role. If there is something distinctly

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Cuban and Latin about your art, it seems there is something complex

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going on in your life because your art has taken you an awful long way

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from Havana. You had said your hard still lies in Havana but the fact

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is your career choices have separated you from your family,

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from your city, from your country. I wonder how you deal with that?

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I have created many defence mechanisms. It is easier now. I

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have my fiancee. It is always great to have a partner.

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I have sorry to be personal but she is not Cuban.

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-- I am sorry. So you made a choice there too.

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You're wrote an autobiography entitled No Way Home.

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Are you moving further away? Home is the neighbourhood where I

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was born. Of course I will never be able to go back. I'm dealing with

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all those thoughts and memories, trying not to think that much and

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trying to concentrate on moving forward. I am grateful, at the end

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of the day. Artists' pay a price and that is the price. At the same

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time, I would not do it any other way.

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We talked about Alicia Alonso. She is the great figurehead of Cuban

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Ballet. When she finally retires, would you like to be the next

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leader of the Cuban National Ballet?

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I always say no. The National Ballet of Cuba is Alicia Alonso's

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work, her legacy. I want to find a new way, a bridge from Cuba to the

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world. If you want to study dance or anything you want to do, you can

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come there, not ask permission from anyone. I want to have my own

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company to try and formed the dances of today. So a classical

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dancer can move from any dance style.

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You want to find a fusion? We talk about your training that is deeply

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classical and conservative but it seems, increasingly in your dance,

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life, Korea, you want to find more bridges to Latin beats and salsa

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and so one. This is the world. It is unlimited.

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A classical ballet dancer, if you are a principal dancer, you need to

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be able to dance anything. Contemporary, the larger, you can

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even incorporate couple where that we see in contemporary dance, plus

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dance classical at the highest level. That is the dancer we are

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looking for, who can move anywhere. This is the dance I would like to

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form. Do not limit yourself to one tradition and 1 formation.

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How much longer will you keep dancing.

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As long as I can still deliver freshness and I don't make a fool

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of myself because I respect my audience too much. If I feel like I

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still have something to give. Maybe three more years. It all depends.

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Some times it seems your mood catches up with you. You have

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talked about the pain in your hips, ask yourself whether it was worth

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it. You have said that the art is beautiful and someone has to do it.

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The point is it does not have to be you.

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I think I have what it takes. I think sometimes it is difficult to

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know when it is the right time. Hopefully I still represent the

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quality people like from my dancing. It is not very far away now.

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Really? You say that with a smile.

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Ballet is like an old marriage. You have this partner and kids and you

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spend 30 years married and for some reason, you don't feel like you can

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be together any more. That is ballet. It is very difficult to

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assert that truth. On the other hand, you have taken

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yourself in different directions. I saw reports you were writing a book.

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You have written an autobiography but you were writing a book about

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Cuba and facing on the story of particular individuals and family

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going all away from slavery in the 1,800s all the way to present day.

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What has happened to that question markets is nearly complete.

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I am still in editing. Sometimes you don't know if it is any good.

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You need readers. I have written in Spanish and it is difficult to find

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readers here to read in Spanish. It is a work in progress. It is

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already finished but we are changing the structure. I think it

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is something good. I want the reader to have fun and give some

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sense of Cuban history but it is completely fictional.

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We say it is fiction -- you say it is fiction but it has made you

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think about your homeland, its history to its president. Just the

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other day, Obama was talking about change in Cuba and said, we see

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change but we need to see a whole lot more.

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Do you think Cuba is on the brink of, maybe, a Cuban spring -

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fundamental change? I think it is changing but it is up

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to Cubans to change it. Cuba is our home. It is wrong for anybody to go

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to your home and tell you how you should rearrange the furniture. It

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is up to Cubans to change it. I think it is. Not as rapidly as

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