Carlos Acosta

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and five, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My castaway this week is a dancer. At Covent Garden or across the Atlantic in the American Theatre Ballet he's a star, but in the country he comes from, Cuba, he's a national hero, because his is a story of hardship turned to fortune. After a rough and difficult childhood in the back streets of Havana, he ended up in a boarding school where he learned to dance ballet. He was sent to Europe on a scholarship and began to win international competitions. His career took off, and although he felt often very isolated and homesick, he became one of the most admired principal dancers in ballet to day.

Presenter1:04

Last year he created his own show based on his life that premiered in Havana and was nominated for an Olivier Award when it showed in London last summer. Cuba, he says, is my inspiration. I can't live without going back there. It is who I am, which is Carlos Acosta. And that show you created, Carlos, called Tokororo, is a reflection of all the styles of dance really that have informed you, from salsa to classical ballet and everything in between, hm?

Carlos Acosta1:31

That's right. And of course, you know, the Q one element it has to be there as well as the classic element and uh everything. And I just wanted to tell some story created from my own imagination.

Carlos Acosta1:42

I mean, I've been doing interpreting uh the roles of prints and uh all these uh roles and it takes a a great deal of imagination to to bring them to life. But I was trying to to create something on my own, and so I come up with this story.

Presenter1:59

But if anybody had told you when you were a little boy of eight, nine, ten, on the streets of Havana that you were one day going to dance the Prince in Swan Lake at Coffin Garden, I how would you have reacted?

Carlos Acosta2:11

I mean, I would laugh about that, of course. Uh me a bit a ballet dancer.

Carlos Acosta2:16

That's uh was just uh unthinkable. First, because I wanted to be a footballer and I thought that ballet it was something I didn't want to do because uh it was more like for women, you know. If you are living in my neighborhood, you're not a ballet dancer, let's put it this way. So they laugh at you, would they? They laugh at me, I need to defend my honor, you know, many times and Oh, look at the ballet dancer, all these other things, you know. And I of course, you know, I was a I was a main man, I was a macho man. The irony is that I'm a ballet dancer now and I, you know, I'm proud of it. It's the best thing that could ever happen to me.

Presenter2:48

Yeah.

Presenter2:50

And you've been back there and you've seen them since. Those guys have teased you. What do they say now?

Carlos Acosta2:52

Well, now they joke on then.

Presenter2:57

But when you were a little boy on the streets and they'd have laughed at Bally, what kind of I mean, I'm sure you stood on street corners moving and dancing then. What what did you do? What kind of dance?

Carlos Acosta3:05

Well, what did you do? What kind of dance? It was the eighties and of course breakdancing, uh the beginning of the breakdancing movement and Yeah.

Presenter3:12

Got a ma

Carlos Acosta3:13

Michael.

Presenter3:13

Jack

Carlos Acosta3:13

Michael Johnson say, the with the boom box on the street, making movements and compete with other neighbors and I was involved in in that uh environment.

Presenter3:23

Could you

Carlos Acosta3:23

Do it?

Presenter3:23

I mean, did you do all that kind of thing?

Carlos Acosta3:25

Yeah, I won a competition, a breakdancing competition, and this is where.

Carlos Acosta3:31

I realized that uh I just love to dance and entertain.

Presenter3:35

So you were always a mover. I mean, th the natural ability to to to move within you, it's a matter of how you moved and in what kind of form of dance.

Carlos Acosta3:42

Form of dance? I must say it was easy. Even salsa and breakdance, anything that ha that was related to dance, it was easy for me to pick up.

Presenter3:51

When did you first see ballet then?

Carlos Acosta3:54

I was thirteen, the National Ballet of Cuba came to Pinat del Rio, the city I was going to school, and I saw uh the National Ballet for the first time, leaping around and turning and spinning, and I said, Wow, that's cool, I really want to do that, because I just like the great deal of athleticism that I saw.

Carlos Acosta4:13

And then I realized that uh in a few years' time if I work hard I could become like them.

Presenter4:17

So did you recognize in that moment when you saw it that this could be if you could do it, this could be a a life-changing thing to do?

Carlos Acosta4:25

Yes, I realized that if I worked real hard I could have a future, I could change my life and my family's life, and from that point uh was not turning back.

Presenter4:38

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta4:38

Toeba. Uh

Presenter4:38

First record you're going to take to this There's

Carlos Acosta4:40

Uh

Presenter4:40

But Ireland

Carlos Acosta4:40

What is it? This is happiness. This music is happiness. And I used to listen to that and I still do. When I feel uh homesick, I just put it on and I do the cleaning of my house and jumping around and I hope everybody enjoys it.

Speaker 35:03

Oh yay, lucky yellow.

Presenter5:28

Mg labanda and eccele limono, spraying lemon, you say it is. There's a kind of spirit of Cuba which is your inspiration. But I mean, you've been called all sorts of names the new Nouriv, the black Baryshnikov. You know, it would be very easy for you to have had your head turned, as we say, along the way, to have believed you were this great star, but

Carlos Acosta5:49

Uh

Presenter5:49

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta5:49

Yeah.

Presenter5:49

Yeah, it's not what you've done, is it?

Carlos Acosta5:51

Well, that would be very easy and that's why I constantly I listen to this music and hang out with people who remind me who I am really because fame, success is a ephemeral illusion, you know, that will pass eventually.

Presenter6:05

Huh.

Presenter6:06

You'd have probably begun to realize that something big was going to happen. Um you probably thought it before when you s came to Europe age sixteen, I think, from Cuba. But age sixteen, there you were in Turin and you were sent to Lausanne, weren't you, to enter a competition for the Prix de Lausanne, a big international competition, and you were going to win it. That m that was the moment, perhaps, was it, when you felt...

Carlos Acosta6:31

It was just amazing. I was really floating because you see, you you need to understand that I was convinced that I was bound to be born, grow up and eventually die in my neighborhood. I had no hopes. And then all the suddenly this happened and I realized I could produce a positive impact on people.

Carlos Acosta6:52

People come to see your show and they even feel inspired by it, and I wasn't used to that.

Carlos Acosta6:57

It was just fantastic.

Presenter6:59

But this was nineteen ninety. You were put in for this. I mean, somebody suggested you go in for it. You didn't really know about it, did you?

Carlos Acosta7:05

No, I didn't know. Somebody recommended my teacher that uh she should uh prevent me to the competition because it was the the most famous young competition for ballet.

Carlos Acosta7:15

I had so many problems with the visa and struggling to find somebody to to sponsor me. Everything just happened at the last minute, and that's why out of one hundred and twenty seven competitors, I was the last one.

Presenter7:26

But that was the beginning of fame for you really. Being the hundred and twenty seventh competitor and winning the thing.

Carlos Acosta7:33

I mean, th it really make you think, huh? It makes you think about fate, destiny, whatever, but uh it just gives you strength.

Presenter7:40

And did it mean anything to the people back in Cuba when you got home? Did they understand, you know, how important this achievement was?

Carlos Acosta7:48

Well, you know, I didn't know myself. But uh what it was good is that I could buy gift.

Carlos Acosta7:55

And uh I was the youngest of the whole family and for once I could provide to my sister with nice clothing or invited to a restaurant and to me that was also a new feeling.

Presenter8:06

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta8:06

Money. Yes, and I was only sixteen and I won that competition and uh you know all this suddenly from having nothing I I was in the middle of uh you know having all this cash now at sixteen and

Carlos Acosta8:17

He was just great, you know.

Speaker 38:18

Hmm.

Carlos Acosta8:19

We were really poor, no? I mean, not as poor as some people in in South Africa or uh, you know, even in South America.

Carlos Acosta8:27

But it lead me even to steal uh some of the times because, you know, sometimes uh that can change you and the environment change you. And I'm not embarrassed to talk about that because I know who I am inside. And now there it was, you know, with this grand prize, with cash, it was fantastic.

Presenter8:45

Record number two.

Presenter8:46

Tell me about that.

Carlos Acosta8:48

This is the

Carlos Acosta8:50

main male variation of Donkey Shot is the ballet that I performed the most in my life and it was with Wi I Won the Prid Rosanne, so it's very dear to me.

Speaker 39:15

Uh

Presenter9:55

The Basilio variation from Leon Mincus's Don Quixote to which my castaway Carlos Acosta won the Prix de Lausanne, that was performed by the Sofia National Opera Orchestra conducted by Boris

Presenter10:06

Paint me a picture, then, Carlos Acosta, of your childhood in Los Pinos. This is a district of Havana. You were one of eleven children, all the same father but different mothers, I think.

Carlos Acosta10:17

Different matters, that's right.

Presenter10:18

Did you all live together in one house?

Carlos Acosta10:20

No, no, not really. I grew up with my two sisters.

Carlos Acosta10:24

And, you know, it was a very simple and humble place where everybody was friends, was just family. Everyone relied on on the neighbors, really. It was just great. We had no much, just enough.

Presenter10:35

And what did your father do for a living? How did he provide for

Carlos Acosta10:38

He was a truck driver, and my mother was a housemaiden.

Carlos Acosta10:42

He would go from city to city to transport fruits.

Carlos Acosta10:48

And that's how we make a living.

Presenter10:49

And he was a man you said you didn't mess with.

Carlos Acosta10:53

No, no, he was he was very strict. Was he? He was really, really, really I mean

Carlos Acosta10:58

Some of the things are even harder for me to remember'cause I was just petrified by by him.

Presenter11:03

Well, did he did he hit you then?

Carlos Acosta11:05

He used to he used to hit me, beat me up, all that. But, you know, that was his way of educating, because I'm sure that my grandmother, his mother, did that to him and so on and so forth. So

Presenter11:15

He was obviously very worried about you because you as you said earlier on you you started to steal. I mean you I think

Carlos Acosta11:20

Yeah. Yeah.

Presenter11:21

You you were really going the wrong way, weren't you?

Carlos Acosta11:23

I was going the wrong way for sure and he was involved in an accident where somebody died and so he went to prison for two years. While at the same time my mother had a

Carlos Acosta11:34

a brain tumor and she was in bed and so ordinarily I remained m without any guidance. So that's why I start to skip class, and sometimes even the shows.

Speaker 211:41

Good.

Presenter11:41

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta11:45

Yona would no attend.

Presenter11:47

This was a ballet school, wasn't it?

Carlos Acosta11:48

The ball is cool.

Presenter11:49

But he and he sent you there? Why did he do why would he think of sending you to a ballet school?

Carlos Acosta11:54

To tell you the truth, I'm sure he would tell you otherwise. You know, if he say, you know, you ask my father, why do you send him to school? He says, Oh, because the child husky music and I like Strauss. Nah, this is not the truth, you know. I think to tell you,

Speaker 212:04

Huh?

Speaker 312:04

But

Speaker 212:05

Bye.

Carlos Acosta12:10

The neighbours downstairs, they had their two kids in a valley school.

Carlos Acosta12:14

He was the first thing to showed up, because he had a word with a neighbor and she recommended that school.

Presenter12:19

So he didn't know anything about that.

Carlos Acosta12:20

He didn't know anything about

Carlos Acosta12:22

I mean, he would tell you now, uh this very romantic truck driver, you know, educated in the ball, and all. But the problem is it was an accident, really, you know.

Presenter12:32

Record number three.

Carlos Acosta12:34

This is my favorite movie, which is Nio Cinema Paradiso by Joseph Tornatore. And I love the Enio Morricone music in that. So this is the love scene from New Cinema Paradiso.

Presenter13:15

Love theme from the soundtrack to Cinema Paradiso, written by Ennio Morricone. I think your father was so worried about you at one point, wasn't it, in your delinquent ways, that he sent you to a kind of exorcist to rid you of your demons.

Carlos Acosta13:29

I think so, and also because uh it was his last chance to make it right. So he was on a mission, really.

Presenter13:36

So what happen?

Carlos Acosta13:37

He did everything that was on his power.

Carlos Acosta13:40

to make sure that I was on the right track. But then I kept skipping classes and even though he waked me up at five AM and he had to do something else. He decided I was possessed for some demons or something. So he went to see this witch doctor.

Carlos Acosta13:56

And so uh

Carlos Acosta13:58

You know, the the woman grab a cigar and uh, you know, basically tell me what I was doing. It was uh really amazing.

Presenter14:05

What do you mean?

Carlos Acosta14:06

Well, I used to just going to uh this place to fish and uh she told me that I had to be careful with the water, that I was going to all these places and uh it would be really bad and

Carlos Acosta14:18

I think I was like around eleven years old and never forgot that.

Carlos Acosta14:22

But the maze and you know, I was thinking, you know, what what a what is this? You know, what do you think you doing? But, you know, she told me she told me the truth, she told me what I was doing and w

Carlos Acosta14:32

Well she said you

Presenter14:32

What she said you

Carlos Acosta14:33

You're wasting your time.

Carlos Acosta14:36

In that place that I used to hang out, I shouldn't go because it would be bad for me.

Carlos Acosta14:42

That's why it is in in my Tokororo, you know, the witch uh who tells the the story teller, the fortune teller. She's there, she's there. Yeah, she's there, of course, you know, because I I got that in my brain. I mean, it was just amazing.

Presenter14:49

She's there, is she?

Presenter14:51

Of course, you know,

Presenter14:55

It obviously had a deep impression on you.

Carlos Acosta14:57

Yeah.

Presenter14:58

But in the end because you you didn't attend this day school you were at and your father was in prison and so on, as you say, in the end when he came out he said, Right, I'm going to send you away to school to go to school. Now what kind of school was that? And that was that a specialist kind of school?

Carlos Acosta14:58

But in

Speaker 215:08

Uh

Carlos Acosta15:08

That's right.

Carlos Acosta15:12

Yeah, that was the boarding school in Pinal del Rio. You know, you go in every Sunday and then you go every Friday home.

Carlos Acosta15:20

You know, uh for two years I wouldn't go to Havana to see my parents, I was just there in the

Presenter15:25

Why not? Why didn't you see your family?

Carlos Acosta15:27

Well, you know, I had to go just uh sometimes in the you know, where I where I can,'cause I had no money and uh

Presenter15:35

And they didn't come to see you.

Carlos Acosta15:36

They didn't come to see me, so.

Presenter15:37

So this was the sort of beginning of this kind of homesickness that seems to pervade your life, really?

Carlos Acosta15:41

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta15:43

I think that's the beginning. And that's why I developed this uh independence.

Presenter15:47

But you think the family kind of roped you off, really, or wrote you out of their lives, is that it?

Carlos Acosta15:52

Look, I don't know. I think they will have their own

Carlos Acosta15:56

you know, their own concept about that. I can tell you how I felt and, you know, how I'm feeling today. But past is past and I I don't I live with the present and the future and sometimes I wish I could have my family more with me. But this is the life I got, I have it with the love I got and

Speaker 216:07

But

Presenter16:07

Yeah.

Speaker 216:07

Yeah.

Presenter16:15

But interestingly, perhaps perhaps, you know, ballet became your family in a sense, the world.

Carlos Acosta16:20

Become my refuge.

Presenter16:20

My

Carlos Acosta16:21

That's right.

Carlos Acosta16:25

That only

Carlos Acosta16:27

The thing I have was ballet, that's the only thing I have, so.

Presenter16:31

Tell me about your fourth record.

Carlos Acosta16:33

The first record is from my favorite composer, Mozart. Here is Piano Concerto No. Twenty One. It's one of my favorite pieces ever. It's beautiful, huh? It really is.

Presenter17:38

Part of the opening of Mozart's Piano Concerto Number twenty one, played by Malcolm Bilson with the English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Elliott Gardner. So it was fourteen years ago, wasn't it, Carlos, that you came to Europe. I mean, you'd really only known

Presenter17:53

You had only known Cuba and the Communist system before that, but it had done you well, hadn't it, and given you a good by then a good artistic education. But what would you have

Presenter18:03

What did you think when you arrived in in the capitalist West?

Carlos Acosta18:07

Well

Carlos Acosta18:09

I remember when I went to Italy for the first time and uh even after the Grand Prix then all the suddenly I have money, you know, you you you get crazy, you wanna buy everything.

Carlos Acosta18:20

And you wanna buy toys, everything you never had. You just wanna make it happen like right now. The company used to travel a lot, and whenever we go to hotels, we have those little soaps and the the shampoo package. I was collecting every single one of them because I want to make sure nobody is left out.

Speaker 218:35

Every

Carlos Acosta18:40

And so and I was for a whole year collecting this kind of uh little bags of shampoo and things. Uh at some point uh everything just broke off and I can tell you in that bag it was so messy, you know, with all the shampoo floating in there. But anyway, I took it to Guy like that.

Carlos Acosta18:59

Yeah, of course.

Presenter19:00

But there was the language problem too. I mean, you didn't speak anything but Spanish uh when you first came, did you? And so did you learn Italian before you learned English?

Carlos Acosta19:08

Italian. Italian is easier because it's very similar. You know, being a Latin uh language is very similar to Spanish. But the problem was when when at eighteen, when I first arrived here,

Carlos Acosta19:19

it was really, really, uh harsh, you know, because of the

Carlos Acosta19:23

the language. So I had to teach myself.

Carlos Acosta19:26

More or less. And the good thing is I was eighteen years old, so you pick up things quickly.

Carlos Acosta19:31

But the bad news is that meantime

Carlos Acosta19:35

the distance, you know, even the in the in the work relationship. You know, you're supposed to be Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, but you don't know what's going on.

Carlos Acosta19:44

And so it's a little bit frustrated.

Presenter19:46

But you're right, it it is difficult for us to imagine because as you've described, you're miles away from home, I mean seventeen hours flying time from from Cuba.

Presenter19:55

No family, no friends here really, and you're only kind of seventeen, eighteen years old. It's tough.

Carlos Acosta20:01

It's the process of adaptation and it tends to be very severe. You're trying to live a life uh you don't know. You wanna go to a movie, but there's no use going to a movie because you can't understand. And so it's very hard. And at some point you question whether you did right in taking that path. But I knew, like I say, uh, ballets

Carlos Acosta20:23

all I ever had and I knew that that the place was here for me to do it.

Carlos Acosta20:29

Next piece of music. So this is happiness now and uh again back to dancing, back to feel the cue and moves and I'm gonna watch every one of you through the microphone to make sure you are dancing. Okay, y raquere paca la compan.

Presenter20:36

Yeah.

Presenter21:14

Irak dere and bacalo con pan, which is codfish with bread, yes. That's right. And you haven't stopped moving since it's started here.

Carlos Acosta21:19

Right.

Carlos Acosta21:20

Yeah.

Presenter21:23

So you I mean, since all of that happened, you've danced everywhere, Carlos, haven't you? You've d I mean, anywhere that's on the ballet map from South America to Japan, China, everywhere. You're at the Houston Ballet

Carlos Acosta21:30

Yeah.

Speaker 321:30

The mayor

Carlos Acosta21:30

Can't teach you.

Presenter21:35

You've obviously been here.

Presenter21:37

You're not the first black dancer to succeed in classical ballet, but um you're the only one around at the moment, aren't you? You're a rare animal.

Carlos Acosta21:46

I am a rare animal indeed. That's right. But it's good. I think I'm sending out the right kind of message, you know. Just for the fact that I'm the Royal Opera House here performing Romeo and Juliet, a Q one guy from Los Pinos. It's a new face. It's something

Carlos Acosta22:03

that he hasn't seen before.

Presenter22:05

You're the first black person to be a principal dancer at the Royal Balliol. I mean, do you think?

Presenter22:11

Why do you think they're so conservative? They obviously are.

Carlos Acosta22:15

Listen, I I don't know what the problem is. All I can tell you is that send out the wrong kind of message. People, human beings, tends to be very conservative, tend to type caste people. You know, society is ruled by codes.

Carlos Acosta22:28

When Paseo Domingo is playing Othello, I don't see, you know, a Spanish guy uh painting as black to project the Great Warrior. No, I've seen an artist, I see a warrior, I see all the elements. Why? Because he got the gift, he got the talent to convince everybody that he is Othello.

Presenter22:45

Easy.

Carlos Acosta22:46

And everybody should have that opportunity.

Presenter22:48

Of course. But do do you think that kind of discrimination is peculiar to classical ballet?'Cause it hasn't happened in contemporary dance, has it?

Carlos Acosta22:55

Classical ballet is still the prince on people's mind. He's the guy with blue eyes and blonde. That's that's the prince. Now we have n princes in Africa, we have royalty in Africa, and when you see Siegfried,

Carlos Acosta23:09

Siegfried is not a prince that lived, you know, it's just a prince, you know, that falls in love with the Swan. Now, you can take that and make the best of you. I can be a prince, I can be anything I want if I've been given the opportunity, you know.

Presenter23:23

Hmm.

Carlos Acosta23:23

Because you

Presenter23:23

Because you've you've played all the big roles now, haven't you? I mean you've you've you've made it but as we say you're a you're a rare beast.

Carlos Acosta23:26

That's right.

Presenter23:29

Um what about your family? Have they been able to come over and see you do all of these things?

Carlos Acosta23:29

That's right.

Carlos Acosta23:36

Just uh last summer I fulfilled that dream which is bringing everybody to

Carlos Acosta23:41

to see my show, Togororo, you know, I managed to do that for the first time and to be able to to be with them, it was just great, one of my old dreams, so

Presenter23:50

Great moment.

Carlos Acosta23:51

Great, great, great, great morning.

Presenter23:53

And when you think of being back home in Cuba, when you kind of you know, when you're feeling really low and

Presenter23:59

You get in a lot of pain, don't you? I mean, all ballet dancers do, and you're feeling really miserable and know what what's your kind of image of of Cuba? What what do you what do you long to be? Where do you long to be out there?

Carlos Acosta24:10

There be sh

Carlos Acosta24:12

The sun, the green, the people, you know, the music.

Carlos Acosta24:17

Nothing special, it's just that, it's just been there and

Carlos Acosta24:21

That for me that's that's what is happiness, you know. It's not about complex stuff, just little things, simple stuff.

Presenter24:29

Make it.

Carlos Acosta24:29

Embassy.

Carlos Acosta24:31

Jimi Hendrix, the voodoo child. Okay, I'm working on my Afro, so let's enjoy this.

Speaker 324:37

This

Carlos Acosta24:38

Uh

Speaker 324:41

I stand up next to a mountain. And I chop it down with the edge of my hand.

Speaker 324:52

Uh pick up all the pieces and make an island.

Speaker 324:56

Raise a little sign.

Presenter25:06

Jimi Hendrix and Voodoo Charl. Am I right in thinking you're working on a ballet about him?

Carlos Acosta25:10

That's right. It's by Christopher Bruce. Correlative by Christopher Bruce.

Carlos Acosta25:15

And that's gonna happen somewhere in May. And so we that's here, is it?

Presenter25:18

That's here, is it, Covent Garden?

Carlos Acosta25:19

Going garden, that's right. Make sure you see it.

Presenter25:20

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter25:21

And that and that's you, is it? You're Jimmy?

Carlos Acosta25:24

Yeah, yeah, supposed to be, yes.

Presenter25:25

And y I mean, how can you describe movement? But but it's a very modern kind of movement, I presume.

Carlos Acosta25:32

You know, we live in an era, you only a classical ballet dancer, you're doing the classics. You you have to be able to do everything. We do everything in the royal ballet. That's a good thing.

Presenter25:41

But it must be a great release when you're suddenly doing something modern like this. Of course. Really all of that kind of rhythm that you feel in your soul. I mean, I can see you sitting here moving. You that that's that's dying to get out, huh?

Carlos Acosta25:44

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta25:52

That's right. Dying to get out, huh? See, I'm gonna jump right now in a minute.

Presenter25:57

Yeah.

Presenter25:58

Let's talk about the piece you created yourself, Tokororo, which uh i i that's the name of the Cuban national bad, yeah.

Carlos Acosta26:04

That's right. That's right.

Presenter26:05

But very much based on your story. It's a kind of metaphor of your life, isn't it?

Carlos Acosta26:09

Yes, yes. I mean, I use those uh experiences. It's a journey of of a boy and what he had to face. And then eventually he comes to a crossroads where h he had to make a choice. Would I go back? Would I carry on forward and maybe become somebody else? You know.

Presenter26:29

What does he do, the boy in your dance then?

Carlos Acosta26:30

He keeps going and he refused to go back and uh he had to learn how to dance like them, their own language of dance. And so that's the decision he makes.

Presenter26:40

Because he's in a place where he doesn't know the language.

Carlos Acosta26:43

That's right. That's right. If you apply it on a larger scale, you know, it's about everything. You have a new job.

Carlos Acosta26:50

You know, sometimes, uh, you know, you have problems with your boss and eventually the obstacles, you overcome them and you become a better man at the end.

Presenter26:59

And you premiered it in Havana, and Fidel Castro turned up.

Carlos Acosta27:04

A game, yeah, that's right.

Presenter27:05

And you introduced him to your dad?

Carlos Acosta27:07

That's it, that's it.

Presenter27:08

What did they say to each other?

Carlos Acosta27:10

Well, my very because Fidel knew already about my story and uh

Carlos Acosta27:16

So he said, Well, you know, your son

Carlos Acosta27:19

You boy think that uh bali was for women and all this and and then my father said, you know, I told him that the son of the tiger has stripes and so I'm a tiger. He he had to have me a tiger something something funny like that.

Presenter27:36

But it was a good moment, huh?

Carlos Acosta27:37

It was a good movie.

Carlos Acosta27:38

Oh, it was just great because he adores Fidel, you know, he adores Fidel. And so he's

Presenter27:44

So his once delinquent son introduced him to his hero, did he?

Carlos Acosta27:46

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta27:48

Is is the the what he planted? You know, what you plant is what you collect. So

Presenter27:54

Record number seven.

Carlos Acosta27:56

Number seven, it's this is from the soundtrack Togororo, the only correla file created so far.

Carlos Acosta28:03

And this is a track by Miguel Nunez, and so I hope you enjoy Sonad Oriental.

Carlos Acosta28:11

Abit

Speaker 328:11

Kere Yahoo Bamilo Guama. Kere Yao Bamilo Guama.

Speaker 328:17

Okay, oh, wait, no, waa ma. Okay le

Speaker 328:22

Yeah.

Speaker 328:24

I'm not sure if I can do it.

Speaker 328:31

Okere yao bantilo.

Presenter28:38

Sonata Oriental. On this Sonata Oriental.

Speaker 328:41

Oh.

Carlos Acosta28:42

The intact

Presenter28:43

Sonata Oriental by Miguel Nunez from the soundtrack of Doc Arora, the dance show written and choreographed by my castaway, Carlos Acosta.

Speaker 328:45

Okay.

Presenter28:53

You've been suggesting for some time now, Collis, that the kind of world of ballet is perhaps a bit confining for you and maybe doing this show and you choreographed it and you produced it and so on has given you more ambition. What what more do you want to do?

Carlos Acosta29:06

Right.

Carlos Acosta29:08

I figure that I have ten more years and I I don't see myself doing

Carlos Acosta29:12

It's one lake every year.

Carlos Acosta29:15

And so I I really want to do more while I can, while

Presenter29:18

But more than dance, I mean, do you want do you want to do other things?

Carlos Acosta29:21

Yeah, hopefully, why not? Yes, of course. I would like to act. I'm not an actor, but uh I would like to try that. Uh I'm writing uh a book as well based on my memoirs. What about singing? I think I know my limitations a little bit. I think uh I wouldn't do so good in singing. But anyway, I try, I had drive, I I go on and see, maybe.

Presenter29:42

But you're free to go where you want. You can come and go from Cuba as you wish.

Carlos Acosta29:46

That's right, yeah, I I come and go, no problem. I go back whenever I can, whenever I have a week off, I just take a plane and go and visit my

Carlos Acosta29:55

my country and everything. And eventually, you know, when I retire, I I will go back, I will move completely. I would die there for sure.

Presenter30:02

May you go back home?

Carlos Acosta30:03

Yeah, of course.

Presenter30:04

But what do you want to give back to them?

Carlos Acosta30:06

I would like to help. I would like to, you know, do something for the art form that had given me so much.

Carlos Acosta30:13

And uh,

Presenter30:13

Like what? What could you do? What could you take there that that that they don't have maybe?

Carlos Acosta30:17

I don't know, maybe I could create my own group, I would take rehearsals, I will talk to youngsters about the things I had learned in the past.

Carlos Acosta30:25

There is a lot to do, you know, be able to be the link to f great productions like a million pounds production, you know, that's one of my dreams, because those people deserve so much.

Carlos Acosta30:37

I would like the me to be that link, so

Carlos Acosta30:40

There's a lot to do.

Presenter30:42

But you

Presenter30:43

came to the crossroads, as you were describing earlier, like the boy in your show, and you went on and you've overcome the obstacles and you're leading the life that you want to live and you can go back and do that eventually. But is there part of you

Presenter30:58

You know, you mentioned so often home sickness and being sad and so on. I wonder if there's part of you that kind of half wishes you'd never gone to that crossroads and were still back there.

Carlos Acosta31:08

No, no, no. I think my choice was the best choice. I had this longing, it's normal.

Carlos Acosta31:14

I think I can get over it. I had to get over it. Eventually, I would have my family.

Carlos Acosta31:19

But my choice, it was the right choice. And so I had to live with the side effects. And that's what I do. And one of them is that longing of have my family but hey,

Carlos Acosta31:29

Happiness is not complete, you know. In order to gain something you lose other things.

Presenter31:34

Mm.

Carlos Acosta31:34

And uh

Carlos Acosta31:36

Eventually I will have my family.

Presenter31:38

Well you'll get married and have your own family.

Carlos Acosta31:40

My family, I would play football with my kids, baseball, I do the whole thing. I hopefully, you know, maybe the football player, you know, like I used to be. Who knows?

Presenter31:49

Maybe they'd be delinquents, eh?

Carlos Acosta31:51

No, hopefully no, but why? Why are you saying that?

Carlos Acosta31:56

No, no, no, no, no. Anyway, even if they are the link when I'd be right there to support them.

Presenter32:01

Last record.

Carlos Acosta32:02

So here is Polo Montañez, A Bunch of Stars, un Monton de Estrella. I have to have this definitely in my island. I need to have this track. It's my favorite track, and I will be dancing in the island with it.

Speaker 332:17

Yo no se porquera a son camtrarlia ella. Si del día vorcer la con las cuerzas del nico razón.

Speaker 332:28

Tola villa, no law.

Speaker 332:31

Almost presente, como amora en es la camcción.

Speaker 332:38

In contable, son las pieces que estradado. Yo din.

Presenter32:43

Polo Mantanez and Un Monton de Astrelias, a bunch of stars you say, traditional Cuban music to end on.

Speaker 332:43

Uh

Carlos Acosta32:48

Nice.

Presenter32:50

Now if you could only take one of those eight records, which one would you take?

Carlos Acosta32:54

I think I will take Bacalao Compan, number five.

Presenter32:57

This is the codfish with bread. Why why are you why are you gonna take that?

Carlos Acosta33:00

Why

Carlos Acosta33:02

Well, you know, in that m that music it combines rock elements, the folkloric elements are there.

Carlos Acosta33:10

and the the salsa creating a fusion and a new movement.

Carlos Acosta33:15

It's a music that is not salsa, it's a one step further, combining the drum set, which is a rock and roll element.

Speaker 333:22

Wow.

Presenter33:22

Yeah.

Carlos Acosta33:22

And I think that track combines all these elements that uh make m who I am, really.

Presenter33:29

Now what about your book? We give you the Bible. We give you Shakespeare.

Presenter33:34

Complete works, but you can take one book that you could choose.

Carlos Acosta33:37

That would be Dirty Theology from Havana. That's from Pedro Juan Gutierre, a Cuban writer. He writes about all the city and the streets that I still uh go and if I would be desert, you know, castaway in an island I would like.

Carlos Acosta33:53

to have that. And remember the schools, the streets where I used to uh buy the bread, my mathematic t-shirt, everyone.

Presenter34:01

And a luxury. What would you like?

Carlos Acosta34:04

But the luxury would be a case of Havana clum rum.

Carlos Acosta34:09

Well, I figure, you know, it's just to forget and be happy and I just remember who I was once and I just have a nice bottle of rum and perform probably for the monkeys, the animals on the island, and just b entertain them, you know.

Presenter34:25

Carla Sacosta, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Carlos Acosta34:28

Give me five.

Presenter34:29

Yeah. Thank you, Steve.

Carlos Acosta34:30

Yeah.

Presenter34:30

Hehehehe

Speaker 334:30

Hehehehe

Speaker 234:41

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For more podcasts please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.