CUBA'S CARLOS ACOSTA, one of Latin America's finest ballet dancers, is taking his ground-breaking, partly autobiographical Tocororo: A Cuban Tale around the world.
There were sell-out performances in London, where the dance Acosta created ran for five weeks at the Sadler's Wells Theatre this spring. Tonight, he'll perform at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as part of the Latin Passion Festival.
At 32, Acosta is at the apogee of his career, having achieved a level of fame he couldn't have imagined growing up in Cuba, the youngest of 11 children. 'I'm on the top of my game,' he says. 'Probably I have eight or 10 years left. This is my time. This is my present and I should use it.'
Behind the scenes, Acosta has been working on an autobiography. He still has four or five chapters to go. His life story is an inspiring, rags-to-riches tale - all the more remarkable because of the colour of his skin.
Lead roles in ballet have traditionally gone to the fair, says Acosta. Even now, people can be typecast on the basis of appearance. 'It's very difficult for someone at the highest level to play the prince part, the Romeos,' he says. 'I think I'm the only one in the course of history that has reached that level. It wasn't that difficult for me. It kind of flowed. Sometimes people couldn't imagine me playing a role, until I got a shot.'
And yet, as a child, Acosta was a poor student and got into trouble for petty thieving. His father sent him at the age of nine to Cuba's National School of Ballet. After four years, the school threatened to kick him out because he failed to apply himself. He was then sent to a ballet boarding school at Pinar del Rio, in the south of Cuba. It changed his life.
