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climbed by nearly 40% on last year. -- for this time. Stand by for | :00:05. | :00:15. | |
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HARDtalk comes from the Royal Ballet in central London. My guest | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
is one of the world's greatest dancers, Carlos Acosta. He was born | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
in Fidel Castro's Cuba. His father was a truck driver. For the last | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
are two decades, he has been thrilling audiences around the | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
world. In ballet, he says there is beauty and freedom, and also pain | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
and sacrifice. Could that be a sign that his career is about to move in | :00:45. | :00:54. | |
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Carlos Acosta, welcome to HARDtalk. Right now, you are preparing for a | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
performance of Romeo and Juliet in a new venue. That fascinates me. It | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
is not a traditional ballet venue at all. 15,000 seats to fill in | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
what is usually a rock and roll the venue. Are you daunted by that? | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
think it will be a hard space to dance because we lose that intimacy | :01:33. | :01:42. | |
that is needed for ballet. The ballet is a visual art. You have to | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
be able to see it, not see it. You have to be close enough so you can | :01:48. | :01:55. | |
connect with the ballet and the story and the expression and so on. | :01:55. | :02:02. | |
They will have to rely on screening. Those people higher up, where ever | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
they are, they can see what is going on. The idea is great. The | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
idea is to reach out and make ballet accessible for everyone. | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
This is a great idea. I really think that it is a really good | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
cause. The have been dancing for more than 20 years. I suspect | :02:21. | :02:29. | |
people have been talking to you about making ballet more accessible. | :02:29. | :02:39. | |
Do you think it has changed in that respect? I think it has. I still | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
think we should do more. The whole world, the world we live in today, | :02:44. | :02:54. | |
has to be represented on stage. In our recent history, we need to push | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
it to the limits to balance the situation, I feel, because every | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
situation we represent on our stage at... When you see and ballet, I | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
want to make sure that I can be a prince and everyone can be a prince | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
and I think that can be fair and I think we should do more about that. | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
You have been a Prince many times on stage. You get up on stage, you | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
give people enormous pleasure with your performances and you go | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
through a new talked about it very openly, incredible pain, but to do | :03:30. | :03:37. | |
it. Playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, it makes you dance almost | :03:38. | :03:47. | |
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"till I drop dead." You will feel like dying? It is wonderful here. | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
These people have danced the role before, they know what I am talking | :03:54. | :04:01. | |
about. It is part of my life. It is almost impossible to be 100% when | :04:01. | :04:11. | |
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you have to expose your body too many hours of hammering and jumping. | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
I say that stance is a religion. All that word you have to put in | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
just for the pleasure of the audience. Correct to make dance is | :04:25. | :04:35. | |
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You have said several times in the past that frankly, you get a little | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
bit bored with some of the classical repertoire. You said Swan | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
Lake was, there comes a point when you are not up for doing Swan Lake | :05:13. | :05:21. | |
one more time. How do you keep the roles of fresh, keep it and you? | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
Going back to Swan Lake, the problem is, after you have done it | :05:25. | :05:34. | |
so much, there is no room for you to grow. You try to keep your love | :05:34. | :05:42. | |
for as what people expect of you. - - keep your level. How many times | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
can you do this one and keep it fresh? I feel I need challenges and | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
right now, on my stage, Swan Lake does not challenge me. Is that one | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
reason why you find it difficult in Cuba, looking at the state of | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
ballet there. You have described it as being stuck with a very | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
traditional, a small, conservative approach. A birth repertoire there | :06:14. | :06:23. | |
has been stuck for a while. -- the repertoire there. I think it comes | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
down to the artistic choices. It is not fair for the dancers. Dancers | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
need to be challenged all the time. You need to bring new energy to the | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
repertoire. Otherwise, if you only have to look forward to Swan Lake, | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
a sleeping beauty, where will you go? The world out there is doing | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
these wonderful works. This is the system that created year. If it was | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
not for the disciplined and conservatism commitment in Cuba to | :07:03. | :07:12. | |
old style ballet, you would not be the dancer you are. The system | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
works and it is great. When you have the base, you need to keep on | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
and keep going and you need to be part of what is going on out there | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
in the world, with a new creations. When I am talking about Swan Lake | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
as a classic, I am not saying it in disrespectful stock they have the | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
most wonderful technique and the most basic form of dance. At the | :07:36. | :07:43. | |
same time, you need to evolve. You have to project your dance to the | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
future and to create new ways of expression, otherwise, we are stuck | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
in a vehicle that has been created in the 1800s. Where do we go from | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
now? We need to create our own vehicle. We want to talk about your | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
creative vehicle. Before we go there, let us talk about Cuba for a | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
little while longer. People watching this do not know your | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
story. It is a remarkable story. It really hinges on your father. If | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
your father had not forced you to go to ballet school, coming out of | :08:20. | :08:27. | |
a poor neighbourhood, one of 11 children in a poor family, if he | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
had not made that decision and forced you to go, your life would | :08:32. | :08:39. | |
have been entirely different. father made me go best answer I was | :08:39. | :08:48. | |
three years old. I was living in a very a run-down part of Havana. I | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
was a street kid. There was this fashion craze about break dancing | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
and I had this our own club of break dancing around eight or nine | :08:58. | :09:06. | |
years odd. I did not like school very much. But I could dance. I | :09:06. | :09:15. | |
could break dance. I used to do the Michael Jackson moves. My father | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
saw I was heading towards delinquency so someone recommended | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
this ballet school which was in the centre of the city and he did not | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
think twice. The next thing I knew, I was in a ballet class. I really | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
hated it. Anyone who does not know anything about ballet, when you | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
start, you and nine years old and you start learning it, it can be | :09:39. | :09:48. | |
the most tedious thing. All these movements, you are falling asleep. | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
As a kid, you can run on the street and be play for, which is what I | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
wanted to do. Yes, it was painful. Look at the progress she knew made. | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
By 16 years old, you were winning international prizes in Europe. | :10:05. | :10:12. | |
Just a couple of years before, you still hated it. What was this which | :10:12. | :10:20. | |
that changed your mind? -- what was it. I saw a professional production | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
for the first time. That was when I fell in love and with it. I was | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
always told by my teachers that I had something. I could learn | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
quickly. I liked that attention. For once, I felt like I could do | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
something because I always had this complex that I was no good. | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
Teachers would choreograph May, pick me, in front of a crowd of | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
people. I liked the way I felt about this attention. I wanted | :10:49. | :10:56. | |
Morar. That is why I began to have this love with dance. I realised it | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
could change my life and my family's life. We think about the | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
way you were groomed to be one of the great dancers. You had a great | :11:09. | :11:19. | |
:11:19. | :11:20. | ||
teacher. She is a figurehead of Cuban dance. For many years, her | :11:20. | :11:28. | |
dance school was way Fidel Castro's students could express high art. It | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
was a regimented and disciplined way. Did you find it oppressive, | :11:35. | :11:45. | |
:11:45. | :11:46. | ||
working with her? Not at all. She was the founder. Together with her | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
ex-husband, they were the founders of the dance movement in Cuba. They | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
found a source where everybody else came from and it is almost like a | :11:58. | :12:08. | |
parents. I think she always had, she made the whole nation proud. | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
You need to be very grateful for that. They are always going to be | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
the founder of the movement and will always, in my case, they will | :12:19. | :12:28. | |
You maintained a good relationship with her and for ballet and the | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
Cuban government. It seems to me you were lucky in a way because | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
many Cuban dances, quality dancers, have not been given the options you | :12:38. | :12:45. | |
were given to pursue your career abroad. Trained at home and expand | :12:45. | :12:53. | |
your horizons overseas. I was lucky. That is true. I feel | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
for those people who felt they should go abroad in order to dance | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
and feel fulfilled. Even this year, we had in Canada, | :13:04. | :13:14. | |
:13:14. | :13:17. | ||
five top dancers from the National Ballet defect. | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
The tis a logical course. It is understandable and we need to | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
change it. -- it is a logical course. | :13:28. | :13:38. | |
:13:38. | :13:39. | ||
If you don't have space to grow, what is the point? If all I have at | :13:39. | :13:46. | |
the end of the day to keep me alive his dance, I'm going to learn | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
something and evolve as an artist. If I don't have that, what is the | :13:52. | :14:02. | |
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point? I -- if you close that, there is no point. | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
Because you walk this fine line, maintaining a good relationship | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
with the government but pursuing your career overseas, have you feel | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
when this year you are given the top prize in the country, the | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
National Dance Prize, everyone salutes you and in the citation of | :14:26. | :14:35. | |
the award, they call you an artist who loves the revolution - had you | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
feel when you see those words? The revolution, I am a product of | :14:41. | :14:51. | |
:14:51. | :14:54. | ||
the revolution. I was very poor. You feel if you had been the same | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
child brought up in the United Kingdom from that poor background, | :14:57. | :15:07. | |
:15:07. | :15:09. | ||
no way you could have been so successful? | :15:09. | :15:16. | |
How would I buy my shoes and gear? My salary was able to maintain my | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
entire family. The feel when you're dancing with | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
stars from Russia and Eastern Europe, the United States, whatever, | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
is there something Cuban and Latin about the way you do ballet? | :15:30. | :15:37. | |
A I think so. Definitely! How do you define that? | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
Cuban is a very eclectic race. We inherit so many cultures along the | :15:43. | :15:50. | |
way, Spanish, African, Chinese - it is a melting pot. After being in | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
the Caribbean with the Sun and the sea and the drums, you cannot help | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
but bring been Cuban to your art form. At the end of the day, | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
everyone has a different way of expressing love. We bring our own | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
identity in to whatever role. If there is something distinctly | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
Cuban and Latin about your art, it seems there is something complex | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
going on in your life because your art has taken you an awful long way | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
from Havana. You had said your hard still lies in Havana but the fact | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
is your career choices have separated you from your family, | :16:32. | :16:41. | |
from your city, from your country. I wonder how you deal with that? | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
I have created many defence mechanisms. It is easier now. I | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
have my fiancee. It is always great to have a partner. | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
I have sorry to be personal but she is not Cuban. | :16:55. | :17:01. | |
-- I am sorry. So you made a choice there too. | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
You're wrote an autobiography entitled No Way Home. | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
Are you moving further away? Home is the neighbourhood where I | :17:12. | :17:22. | |
was born. Of course I will never be able to go back. I'm dealing with | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
all those thoughts and memories, trying not to think that much and | :17:26. | :17:34. | |
trying to concentrate on moving forward. I am grateful, at the end | :17:34. | :17:41. | |
of the day. Artists' pay a price and that is the price. At the same | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
time, I would not do it any other way. | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
We talked about Alicia Alonso. She is the great figurehead of Cuban | :17:53. | :18:01. | |
Ballet. When she finally retires, would you like to be the next | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
leader of the Cuban National Ballet? | :18:05. | :18:15. | |
:18:15. | :18:19. | ||
I always say no. The National Ballet of Cuba is Alicia Alonso's | :18:19. | :18:28. | |
work, her legacy. I want to find a new way, a bridge from Cuba to the | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
world. If you want to study dance or anything you want to do, you can | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
come there, not ask permission from anyone. I want to have my own | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
company to try and formed the dances of today. So a classical | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
dancer can move from any dance style. | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
You want to find a fusion? We talk about your training that is deeply | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
classical and conservative but it seems, increasingly in your dance, | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
life, Korea, you want to find more bridges to Latin beats and salsa | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
and so one. This is the world. It is unlimited. | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
A classical ballet dancer, if you are a principal dancer, you need to | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
be able to dance anything. Contemporary, the larger, you can | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
even incorporate couple where that we see in contemporary dance, plus | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
dance classical at the highest level. That is the dancer we are | :19:36. | :19:43. | |
looking for, who can move anywhere. This is the dance I would like to | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
form. Do not limit yourself to one tradition and 1 formation. | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
How much longer will you keep dancing. | :19:54. | :20:02. | |
As long as I can still deliver freshness and I don't make a fool | :20:02. | :20:10. | |
of myself because I respect my audience too much. If I feel like I | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
still have something to give. Maybe three more years. It all depends. | :20:16. | :20:24. | |
Some times it seems your mood catches up with you. You have | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
talked about the pain in your hips, ask yourself whether it was worth | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
it. You have said that the art is beautiful and someone has to do it. | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
The point is it does not have to be you. | :20:40. | :20:50. | |
:20:50. | :20:54. | ||
I think I have what it takes. I think sometimes it is difficult to | :20:54. | :21:04. | |
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know when it is the right time. Hopefully I still represent the | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
quality people like from my dancing. It is not very far away now. | :21:09. | :21:19. | |
:21:19. | :21:21. | ||
Really? You say that with a smile. | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
Ballet is like an old marriage. You have this partner and kids and you | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
spend 30 years married and for some reason, you don't feel like you can | :21:34. | :21:44. | |
:21:44. | :21:52. | ||
be together any more. That is ballet. It is very difficult to | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
assert that truth. On the other hand, you have taken | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
yourself in different directions. I saw reports you were writing a book. | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
You have written an autobiography but you were writing a book about | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
Cuba and facing on the story of particular individuals and family | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
going all away from slavery in the 1,800s all the way to present day. | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
What has happened to that question markets is nearly complete. | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
I am still in editing. Sometimes you don't know if it is any good. | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
You need readers. I have written in Spanish and it is difficult to find | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
readers here to read in Spanish. It is a work in progress. It is | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
already finished but we are changing the structure. I think it | :22:44. | :22:53. | |
is something good. I want the reader to have fun and give some | :22:53. | :23:00. | |
sense of Cuban history but it is completely fictional. | :23:00. | :23:07. | |
We say it is fiction -- you say it is fiction but it has made you | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
think about your homeland, its history to its president. Just the | :23:11. | :23:18. | |
other day, Obama was talking about change in Cuba and said, we see | :23:18. | :23:20. | |
change but we need to see a whole lot more. | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
Do you think Cuba is on the brink of, maybe, a Cuban spring - | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
fundamental change? I think it is changing but it is up | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
to Cubans to change it. Cuba is our home. It is wrong for anybody to go | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
to your home and tell you how you should rearrange the furniture. It | :23:40. | :23:47. | |
is up to Cubans to change it. I think it is. Not as rapidly as | :23:47. | :23:54. |