Carlos Acosta to be Birmingham Royal Ballet director

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jan/15/carlos-acosta-birmingham-royal-ballet-director-dance

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Carlos Acosta, the ballet superstar considered one of the greatest dancers of all time, is to take charge of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

The surprise announcement, which will be considered a major coup for the Birmingham company, was made on Tuesday afternoon. Acosta will take up his appointment in January 2020, succeeding the current director, David Bintley, who stands down at the end of the current season in July.

Acosta said it was “a tremendous honour and privilege” to have been appointed as new director of “one of the country’s leading classical ballet companies.

“My ambition is to build on its classical traditions, to expand its repertoire and to reach out to new and more diverse audiences. I want to define what it is to be a world-leading classical ballet company in the 21st century.”

Acosta, for 17 years a principal at the Royal Ballet, is regarded as one of the greatest dancers in the world and has a remarkable rags-to-riches life story.

The youngest of 11 children, he was born and brought up in one of the poorest districts in Havana and frequently skipped school. He was effectively forced in to ballet by his father, a lorry driver, to keep him off the streets and out of trouble.

Acosta trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba before leaving to gradually build his stellar dance career with many of the world’s leading ballet companies.

He bade farewell to Covent Garden in 2015 but continued to dance with his company Acosta Danza, most recently appearing at the Royal Albert Hall last October in a mixed bill celebrating his 30-year career.

Sir David Normington, the chair of Birmingham Royal Ballet, said it was a great moment for the company. “We have secured the greatest male dancer of his generation to be our new director,” he said. “I know he will bring us his legendary artistry, energy and charisma and enable us to connect with new audiences, particularly in Birmingham.

“It is a statement to the whole dance world that, building on David Bintley’s great legacy, Birmingham Royal Ballet intends to remain a major force for classical ballet in the UK and beyond.”

Birmingham Royal Ballet is based at the Birmingham Hippodrome. It was originally established as Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, a touring sister company to the Royal Ballet, before relocating to Birmingham and changing its name in 1990.

Like other arts organisations in Birmingham it is facing further deep cuts in its budget from one of its principal funders, the cash-strapped Birmingham city council.

The appointment of Acosta was welcomed by Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England. He said: “Birmingham Royal Ballet is an exceptional company, with an international reputation for the artistic quality of its work.

“We look forward to seeing Carlos build on this legacy, and to the company continuing to delight audiences with their array of classical and groundbreaking ballets.”

Acosta is known for being warm and refreshingly down-to earth. In a Guardian Weekend Q&A last year he revealed his guilty pleasure to be BBC One’s Poldark and his most unappealing habit leaving wet towels on the bed. “It makes my wife very angry.”