like me, very hard. it was very hard to pull that off because, obviously, we did not have the means nor the money to purchase shoes. the shoes can last you one day, and then you had to put, like, a sticky tape and that is how you do with one shoe for the entire year. i don t know if, you know, if it was not for that kind of system, if i or somebody like me would be able to make it like i did. but you are the boss now and you have your own company in cuba, acosta danza, and also you are the director of the birmingham royal ballet. a tough boss? iam. but i can only apply what i apply to myself. i want people to take this art seriously. i want great ideas, i want to go and do something to the audience that they have not seen, and i need everyone to be with me on that.
hello. i mjohn wilson. welcome to this cultural life, the radio 4 podcast series in which i talk to leading creative figures about the key moments of their life and the most important cultural works that have fired their imagination and had a profound impact on their own art. my guest is carlos acosta, the cuban born ballet star who, over a 30 year career, is now regarded as one of the greatest dancers of all time. he became the first black principal of the royal ballet and set new standards of grace and athleticism in theatres around the world. having retired from the classical stage, he set up his own cuban dance company, acosta danza, and is also director of the birmingham royal ballet.
do you think you would have become one of the greatest dancers if it had not have been for the communist regime? for somebody like me, very hard. it was very hard to pull that off because, obviously, we did not have the means nor the money to purchase shoes. the shoes last you one day and then you had to put, like, a sticky tape and that is how you do with one shoe for an entire year. i don t know if, you know, if it was not for that kind of system, if i or somebody like me would be able to make it like i did. but you are the boss now and you have your own company in cuba, acosta danza, and you are the director of the birmingham royal ballet. a tough boss? iam. but i can only apply what i apply to myself. i want people to take it seriously. this art seriously.
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There’s less gravity defying, more gravitas as the Cuban star makes a dazzling return to the Royal Opera House in a seamless show of crowd-pleasing highs