Carlos Acosta

In a frank and insightful interview with Lesley White, Carlos Acosta describes his journey from break-dancing champion to becoming one of today’s greatest male ballet dancers in the world. He explains how his drive for dance is less from passion and more from survival, and reveals his future plans include returning to Cuba for good.

'Immune to false modesty, he determined early on that he would never be typecast. “I refused to be someone who just jumps. I am an artist. I can convey emotion, I can sell a role. When I joined Covent Garden, I was a principal dancer in my prime ... if people said my look wasn’t right, and wanted to give me the part of the jester, I’d refuse and not dance at all. After the conditions I grew up in, I wasn’t going to come here and be intimidated. All I had to lose was my pride, and I wasn’t going to do that. I endured so much loneliness to cultivate this art, and nobody was going to shatter it.”'

Read more Sunday Times, 30 September.07

Carlos Acosta with guest artists from Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Sadler's Wells, 23-28 October 2007. Information / Online booking

Carlos Acosta with Guests from The Royal Ballet, Londone Coliseum, 31 March - 3 April 2008. Information / Online booking

Carlos’s new autobiography No Way Home is available in bookshops now.