Carlos Acosta was one of the greatest classical dancers of the modern age, with a career that took him from the backstreets of Havana to the most famous stages in the world. The 11th child of a poor family, he trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba before winning the Prix de Lausanne in 1990 at the age of 16. In 1998 he joined the Royal Ballet, where he stayed for 17 years. He retired from classical ballet in 2016 but has continued dancing in contemporary works. Now artistic director of two companies, Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) and the Cuba-based Acosta Danza, he has decided to return to the classical stage at the Royal Opera House with Carlos at 50, five performances in celebration of his birthday.
What brings you back to the Royal Opera House?
There is still an itch there that I want to scratch one more time. I’m 50, at half-time in my journey, and I just wanted to celebrate that. It’s not a comeback or anything. It’s about returning one last time to a place that is full of memories for me.
How important is it to you that your three daughters get a chance to see you dance some of your most famous classical roles?
Well, Aila, the eldest, who is 11, she does have this memory. But the twins Luna and Maya, they’re six and they think Daddy is just this guy who is around carrying them on his head and being very goofy and funny.
How did you choose the parts you are going to dance?
Obviously, I cannot do everything I would like to do at this point. I have selected pieces like Balanchine’s Apollo and Act II of Swan Lake that give an idea of who I was, and yet I can still have dignity doing. I was playing with doing the balcony pas de deux of Romeo and Juliet but that would have been way too much. I have to do it in a way that I can still walk off, and you don’t have to call an ambulance.
Has training been hard?
I’m doing class. I’m doing my usual Tabata workout. At the moment, I am trying to build stamina and to develop the muscles for the many lifts, which are the biggest strain to the body. I combine it with everything else I have on at the moment, like all these meetings. It’s a lot to pack in, but I’m a very positive person, I love my life, and I live like that with excitement and projects. Where people say it’s crazy, I see a blessing, I see opportunity. I am always thinking about what’s next.
What do you like about Birmingham, the city that is now your work base?
Birmingham is one of the youngest cities in Europe. It’s growing and attracting more and more people. I like the people, they’re very unassuming, very down to earth and very effective. They are the hardest workers.
You’ve just commissioned Black Sabbath – The Ballet, with music by the city’s most famous band played by a full orchestra. How’s that going?
It’s a complicated project because I brought in a lot of creatives and there are a lot of rights to clear. The results I’ve seen in rehearsal already show that it’s going to be great. Hopefully, we come up with a ballet that people connect with.
Some more traditional balletgoers have said it’s a gimmick. What do you say to that?
Ballet comes from a completely different spectrum than Black Sabbath and how these two worlds are going to collide, God knows. But it opens up curiosity. And that’s exactly what’s healthy about this. Creativity isn’t a switch that you turn on. It’s a road that you have to walk. I think the end is going to be a celebration of the band – something fresh and unique.
How difficult is it to preserve arts in the regions?
Our audience is picking up in a big way and we received standstill funding from the Arts Council, which is a huge victory for us when a lot of people got cut. The more art is distributed in the regions, the better. It makes the nation more prosperous and more cultural. The sole purpose of BRB is as a touring company, to bring these jewels everywhere, so people can be exposed to these wonderful pieces of art on their doorstep without having to go to Paris, New York or London. We should do more of that. Art shouldn’t be London-centric.
Coming from Cuba, where cultural education was so important, how do you feel about arts in schools?
It’s very dangerous at the moment because the performing arts have contracted and contracted in schools. When I was growing up in Cuba, the system was that everybody could be anything without money being an issue. It means that as an individual you have more integrity, more powers of understanding and probably more compassion. That’s what the arts do.
What do you miss about Cuba?
I miss my friends who are no longer there when I go back. Life is very hard in Cuba at the moment and there is a sense of hopelessness which leads people to abandon the country. Young people just dream about leaving. In 2016, when [Barack] Obama was there, there was a lot of hope because for the first time in more than 50 years an American president stepped on Cuban soil and made an amazing speech. I was there that night in the Grand Theatre of Havana and everything began to fill us with hope. Then all that stopped. It’s a very, very bad situation.
In 2006 you became the first black dancer to play Romeo at the Royal Ballet. Do you think ballet has become more diverse?
My wife, Charlotte, and I were talking about the TV programmes from the 1980s and 90s, where there was a lot of segregation and where predominantly everybody’s white, and then you have the odd character from a diverse background. Now everybody is mixing more because that is who we are today. We don’t want to go down the road of tokenism. It is a question of saying to those with talent: “Yes, you can also be a prince and there is a road for you if you want to make a career in dance.” It is unquestionably a great thing.
Are there still any factors that would put off a black kid going into ballet?
There are probably cultural factors. It comes from the home, from parents. Every parent gives an education to a child based on their own experience. If they haven’t been exposed to ballet or a book, then it’s very hard to break that cycle. For instance, my family didn’t give me an education in terms of literature, so I had to find other people, people more cultured than my family, who could educate me. It’s hard for a kid to come and watch The Nutcracker if their family don’t really have that habit. We have to convince the parents that this is a great world. Gradually, it’s happening. The whole team at Birmingham is always looking to give chances to those from different backgrounds. And the audience landscape is changing too. Little by little. You don’t get there overnight but I think there are green shoots in abundance.
• Carlos at 50 runs from 26 to 30 July at Royal Opera House, London
