In 1989, Ariel Serrano, then 17, and Carlos Acosta, 15, were selected from among hundreds of peers at the Cuban National Ballet School to spend a year dancing in Italy as part of a cultural exchange. That year, which Acosta recalls as one of the most beautiful of his life, opened their eyes to the […]
Audiences have much to celebrate when Carlos Acosta performs at the Royal Opera House this month in honor of his 50th birthday. Between working as artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet and directing his own company, Acosta Danza, the Cuban superstar returns to the stage where he spent much of his performing career, reprising some […]
Unlike the sprawling steel-and-glass buildings that often house American ballet companies, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s studios fill a red-brick warehouse down a narrow street next to the company’s home theater, the Hippodrome. There artists create world-class ballet for audiences who might not otherwise see it; the city has historically been known more for manufacturing and heavy […]
It seems hard to believe, but the last time that Alessandra Ferri and Carlos Acosta performed together was more than 20 years ago. At the Havana International Ballet Festival in 2000, Ferri, who was then a principal with American Ballet Theatre, and Acosta, a Royal Ballet star, danced the bedroom pas de deux from Manon, […]
Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo both took The Royal Ballet by storm when they arrived at the company in 1998 and 2000, respectively. Virtuosic, enigmatic performers, the two forged a storied partnership over the course of their next decade together at The Royal. Now they’ve both gone on to lead the next generation of ballet […]
Since the project was first announced toward the end of 2017, we’ve been extremely curious about Yuli. The film, based on Carlos Acosta‘s memoir No Way Home, promised as much dancing as biography, with Acosta appearing as himself and dance sequences featuring his eponymous Cuba-based company Acosta Danza. Add in filmmaking power couple Icíar Bollaín […]
Birmingham Royal Ballet announced today that international star Carlos Acosta will be taking over as director in January of 2020. Current BRB director David Bintley will be stepping down this summer, at the end of the company’s 2019 season, after a 24-year tenure. “It is a tremendous honor and privilege to have been appointed to […]
We admit it. We’re picky about dance movies. They don’t always represent our beloved art form accurately, or use real dancers to play the main roles. But we just watched the first trailer for the new Carlos Acosta biopic, Yuli, and we’re kinda speechless: There’s an adorable young actor—Edilson Manuel Olbera Núñez—playing Acosta (who looks […]