No no. Lynn Barber meets the dancer whose rags to riches story is a modern-day fairytale. The bathroom leads off my bedroom, which I've made light and airy. I wanted to produce two realities Ive always liked the two sides of the coin. At 18, he moved to London to be a principal dancer with the English National Ballet. In Havana, you cant beat La Guardia for atmosphere and food. The film-makers hearts are in Havana and, yes, their enthusiasm is infectious. "Wow. Breakfast was often a toasted bread roll which wed put into milk and add sugar. I see it as another legacy of Cuba for the world. And do they have the willingness to change it? Bertha Usey Acosta on Thursday, February 27, 2003 at 4:30 P.M. Beloved wife of the late Frank Acosta. He has spent three of his four decades in rehearsal rooms, analysing every step. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, 30% off clothing with a Zavvi discount code, Sitewide 10% off with this Book Depository student discount, Save 10% on all gifts & experiences - Red Letter Days discount code, 20 extra entries with this Omaze promo code, 15 off cruise booking with Cruise Nation: AttractionTickets.com discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK January 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this January, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. He meanwhile commutes between England and Cuba an odd sort of life but one he finds deeply fulfilling. Pig's Foot is Acosta's first novel, which is published next week; it follows his autobiography, No Way Home, which documented his path from being the youngest of 11 children growing up in an. Birth Sign Gemini. The film-watching, as it's turned out, is often done with Ruswel, a good Cuban friend of mine who's an interpreter, and his partner Eva, who's from Spain and an actress. "No, because in my mind I'm not a writer. Id like to write about somebody coming from Cuba, who goes to London. Everyone had the possibility, but there is also the talent, and on top of the talent are the sacrifices. This account already exists. Acosta, of mixed Spanish and African heritage, came to prominence in the early 1990s while still in his teens, and North American and European dance companies began offering him lead romantic roles over the next decade. Mother of Donald and F.J. Acosta, Janet Duhe and Lily Galland. My father claimed that he gave me that name, because I used to say there was a warrior Indian of the Sioux tribe of North America, who was always beside me and protected me and I used to talk to. It just wasnt enough and we fought over it. His narrator, Oscar Kortico, is the sole survivor of four generations of a Cuban family, originally like Acostas fathers family of slave origin. This is a film by the Spanish director Icar Bollan working from a screenplay by her husband Paul Laverty still best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach. I had people who always saw my talent first. Here? I suddenly realized that Yuli was never going to be in better hands. Sympathy . I thought, Whats all this about? Pig's Foot is Acosta's first novel, which is published next week; it follows his autobiography, No Way Home, which documented hispath from being the youngest of 11 children growing up in animpoverished Havana family to becoming principal at the Royal Ballet and the best male ballet dancer of hisgeneration. So why did he write his first novel? . These two worlds, so different, and the search for the soul along the way. Did you like it? he asks. When it was recommended to me that I needed to travel to see my mother [because she was very ill], it was quite sad because I spoke to her on the phone and asked, What do you want me to bring? She replied: A lasagne. So, I flew from London with a lasagne but when I got there she was dead. It's a work in which the dancer plays himself in the present day scenes but leaves the more substantial acting to the excellent Edilson Manuel Olbera Nez who appears in the episodes concerned with his childhood and to Keyvin Martinez who portrays him as a young man. In fact, I felt constant hunger. Bertha Hesles Acosta, lovingly called "Nana", born October 19, 1940 in Eagle Pass, Texas to Jose Alfredo and Bertha Schroeder Hesles, went home to Our Lord on the Feast Day of the Epiphany, January 7, 2018. Present-day sections in which the real-life Acosta makes sense of his dad, through dance, are thrilling. ", Being in London as a teenager, speaking no English, was especially hard. It would have been easier to use a tried and tested formula, following in the footsteps of Billy Elliot, for example, but this is a very comprehensive film, with the spirit to innovate, I find it difficult to think Yuli might not be liked. My father gave food to the saints in his shrine; food we could have eaten. I've started my autobiography; although I'm only 31, there already seems to be so much to say. I remember when we started in a room lent by the National School of Ballet, where we met from four in the afternoon, all tight but eager to devour the world. In 1997 CBS News filmed Acosta for a special report for their programme 60 Minutes (broadcast in January 1998), following him during his performances for the Houston Ballet and relaxing with friends and family in Cuba. Television performances include two live BBC broadcasts from The Royal Opera House: the Opening Celebration in December 1999 when Acosta performed the Man's Solo in Le Corsaire, and in February 2000 the role of Franz in Ninette de Valois' Copplia. LONDON The Birmingham Royal Ballet is leaping into a new era. They find that incredibly beautiful. Our Teaching element emerged with the aim of complementing what already exists and with the desire to contribute to the renowned tradition of our country in the training of dancers. I decided that if Im going to keep dancing, I dont want to step back. The prize was a years scholarship to any ballet school in the world, or money. WhatI'm doing now is collecting what Iplanted. One day I was approached by a producer telling me that the text had a lot of cinematic value, that there was a movie in it, and that planted a seed in my head. At the invitation of Ivan Nagy, Acosta danced with the English National Ballet in London during the 1991/92 season. It's like a dormitory when everyone settles down at night, like old times. Theaudience comes to see what you present. Charlotte speaks to her in English and I speak in Spanish, and the best I could give her is to be able to know that side of her roots, because Cuba is just so wonderful. We meet in an office deep within theRoyal Opera House, and he seems genuinely taken aback when I tell him how much I enjoyed his book. My baby! cries Carlos Acosta, swooping down on my copy of his first novel, Pigs Foot, and giving it mwah! Was there any trouble with disgruntled girlfriends? During meals at ballet school Id keep one eye on those ballerinas who wanted to be thinner, because they didnt always finish their meals. Books were not part ofmy family. He lives in a garden. It was the welcome given to his autobiography No Way Home that prompted the birth of this film project. You get the feeling that Bollan and Laverty arent interested in what Acosta got up to in London with the Royal Ballet, and cant be bothered to tell us that Acosta now lives in Somerset with his English wife and three children. Acosta at ISA, with one of the original National Art Schools buildings in the background. They tell me about their problems, and it's good to talk about subjects away from the ballet world, such as film and literature. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number, I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Evening Standard. But sometimes theyd share with me some really yummy steak. Jul 2008 - Jan 20123 years 7 months. Twins can be 10 times the work. Dance Consortiums spring tour of Acosta Danzas Evolution opens at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton on 3 March; danceconsortium.com, Yuli: this portrait of Carlos Acosta and Cuba is a dance film like no other, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Carlos Acosta: My mother roasted my pet rabbits. But his father was worried that the older boys in his gang were leading him into petty crime, and decided that he needed to go to ballet school to learn some discipline. Yonah's mother Marilin, my sister, has done the costumes for the show. Sometimes even using intercutting, these sequences on occasion show Acosta himself representing his past through dance, while at other times another dancer is used to do this. He orders a mojito, though it is only teatime. ", What does it feel like when he goes out on stage? Lynn Barber On the Art of the Celebrity Interview, Carlos Acostas famous smile really does light up the room, or in this case a rather dark brasserie in Soho. Photograph: Tristram Kenton, Carlos Acosta leaps into Waterstones' spotlight as debut novelist. In the end he produced a fantastical tale involving several generations of a family going back to the 1800s, against the backdrop of Cuban history. He trained at the Cuban National Ballet School and accepted a dance position in Houston, Texas before joining England's Royal Ballet in the late 1990s. There is nothing like it. So for months Dad made terrible meals. I dont know why, it just came into my head, and I began saying, what if it is a very little hamlet in a very isolated place? The writing, he says, was very lonely and everything, but not nearly as painful as dance. Read our, {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}. He joined the bench on January 6, 2022. "Iwanted to understand what made books a classic," he says. We have a seven-year-old and identical twins who are three. Acostas mother and ebullient half-sister Berta are pale-skinned Hispanics. I dont know. Acosta's rise from an underprivileged background in Cuba (the Cuban scenes are the highlight) to world stardom, his travails and struggles, and the evolution of his great talent. Now the body, all these jumps, the splits in the air - I do that now and three days later I'm still recovering from it. A big mirror runs across one wall behind the bed and opposite, where the chimney used to be, is the desk where I write. 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