Carlos Acosta Tickets

Carlos Acosta
The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul. The suppleness of body, the agile movements and the collaboration of immense physical and mental unison truly makes up an experienced ballet dancer. Carlos Acosta (born 1973) is one such Cuban ballet dancer who is now an international guest artist to much critical acclaim. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet as a principal and the National Ballet of Cuba and invited to Hollywood according to BBC reports on 23rd October.

Acosta was born in Havana, Cuba in 1973. At his father's insistence, he studied ballet at the National Ballet School of Cuba with many influential teachers including Ramona de Saa. In June 1991 he received his diploma with maximum a gold medal. From 1989 to 1991 Carlos performed throughout the world with many companies including the Compagnia Teatro Nuovo di Torino in Italy.

At the invitation of Ivan Nagy, Carlos danced with the English National Ballet in London during the 1991/92 season. He made his debut in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and also appeared in Cinderella and as the Prince in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker. In 1992 and 1993 he was a member of the National Ballet of Cuba and later rose up as Principal Dancer in 1994. In October 1993 and September 1994 he toured with the company to Madrid, Spain, where he danced various roles.

Carlos was a guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre during the company's Metropolitan Opera House season in the summer of 2002. He rejoined the ABT as Principal Dancer, for the company's 2003 season at New York City Center. In 1997 CBS News filmed Carlos for a special report for their program 60 Minutes following him during his performances for the Houston Ballet and relaxing with friends and family in Cuba.

Tocororo is Carlos' own ballet and has been touring theatres worldwide to high acclaim. It is loosely based on Acosta's own life experiences. It is set to original music by Miguel Nunez, which blends popular and symphonic Cuban styles and is performed live on stage by a group of five Cuban musicians.

Over the past few years, Carlos has enjoyed a flourishing career as an international guest artist, appearing in the U.S., Russia, the Netherlands, Chile, Argentina, Greece, Japan, Italy, Germany and France. There are also strong rumors circulating that he will be performing with the Australian Ballet in 2008.

Most recently Carlos was featured in The Reluctant Ballet Dancer, a programme in the Imagine series shown on BBC1 on 9 July 2003 and presented by Alan Yentob. He was also interviewed for the BBC's HardTalk programme which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2003. In 2006 he was filmed in the BBC studios performing a dance from Tocororo, which was broadcast on the News night programme.