‘It is emotional’: Carlos Acosta on his return to ROH

Former Royal Ballet principal Carlos Acosta returns to the Royal Opera House this summer in a blockbuster bill which sees him dancing the role of Othello for the first time. So writes Diane Parkes…

Carlos will be sharing the stage with dancers from his Cuban company Acosta Danza and Birmingham Royal Ballet in a programme including classics and contemporary dance this August. 

The performances feature Carlos in a range of pieces including The Moor’s Pavane, his own work Nutcracker in Havana, Christopher Bruce’s Rooster and the contemporary duet Nosotros. And performing them at Covent Garden means a great deal to the dancer. 

“The Royal Opera House was my home for 17 years and it’s always very special for me,” Carlos says. “It is an emotional experience to have the chance to return to that space which gave me so many wonderful memories. 

“Even when I go to the dressing rooms, just walking around those corridors as a dancer is very special and I am so grateful to experience how it feels to be a dancer in that space again.” 

Cuban-born Carlos, who reached international stardom with the Royal Ballet dancing in works such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Coppélia, Carmen, La Fille mal gardée, Song of the Earth and Apollo, retired from the Company in 2015. 

In the same year he founded Havana-based Acosta Danza and in 2020 he also took over as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

Carlos returned to the ROH for performances to celebrate his 50^th birthday three years ago and is looking forward to being back on its historic stage this summer taking the role of Shakespeare’s tragic hero Othello. 

“This opportunity is special for me because I’m going to be performing in José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane. This was a favourite work of Rudolf Nureyev and one that he incorporated in his tours around the world very frequently but I never had the chance to perform in it. 

“The Moor’s Pavane gives me the opportunity to interpret Othello for the very first time in my career. And I’m going to be joined by three dancers from BRB – Beatrice Parma as Desdemona, Miki Mizutani as Emilia and Max Maslen as Iago.” 

Set to music by Henry Purcell, Limón combined elements of the 16^th century court dance of the pavane with his signature choreography to create a work which became a modern classic after its 1949 premiere. 

“José Limón was a choreographer who developed his own technique, he was very prominent and important at the time,” Carlos explains. “He created a really striking piece of theatre with The Moor’s Pavane. 

“It’s very theatrical but tells the plot that is featured in Othello in a very minimalistic way. Limón really brings everything to the bare minimum and that is where the true magic lies. There are less distractions so all the focus is on the dance and the story.

“And for me as a dancer, I am trying to learn something new, trying to work my body in a new way and with a new language with this piece.” 

The programme features the Suite from Carlos’ hugely popular Nutcracker in Havana, which brings together the story and music of Tchaikovsky’s classic with Cuban dance and rhythm and has toured the UK to critical and audience acclaim. 

“I want to see how that production is onstage at the Royal Opera House,” he says. “It has this Cuban feel, so for example in the middle of the dance it breaks into a conga, and so it will be a bit of fun. 

“Beatrice Parma and Enrique Bejarano from BRB will be performing the main pas de deux in the second act and dancers from Acosta Danza are also performing in this work. I will be performing the Drosselmeyer character so I am looking forward to that.” 

Myths and Modern Masters also features Agrippina Vaganova’s Diana and Actaeon which will be performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist Yasiel Hodelín Bello and first soloist Katherine Ochoa. 

“This is the fireworks element for the audiences who like their classical dance,” Carlos says. “Diana and Actaeon was a regular in my repertoire and now we’ll see younger dancers taking it on. Yasiel and Katherine are amazing dancers so I know the audiences are going to enjoy that.” 

In terms of contemporary dance, the programme sees Carlos performing in Nosotros created by Cuban dancers and choreographers Raúl Reinoso, who was a founder member of Acosta Danza, and Beatriz Garcia. 

“Nosotros is an emotional piece, it is the conflict of a couple,” Carlos says. “Raúl and Beatriz created it on themselves and when I saw it I really liked it. For this presentation we will have the pianist and the cellist on stage.” 

The finale sees Carlos in Christopher Bruce’s Rooster set to hit songs by The Rolling Stones including Sympathy for the Devil, Ruby Tuesday, Paint it Black and Little Red Rooster. 

“This piece is great fun and it has never been performed at the Royal Opera House so it will be interesting to see how it looks in that space. It’s very challenging for me as it’s very fast-paced with a lot of energy and it is a really great way to finish the evening.” 

Carlos hopes the mix of modern and classical will appeal to a wide scope of audience. 

“I always like to move the audience with programming choices,” he says. “my curation of Myths and Modern Masters has meant that I have been able to invite guest dancers from BRB, and it also allows me to showcase Acosta Danza company members on the Royal Opera House stage, but I also needed to throw myself into the equation in a significant way.’ 

And for Carlos, who founded Acosta Danza to give young people in his home country of Cuba the chance to learn dance and perform it worldwide, sharing the stage with members of the two companies he directs makes for a memorable occasion. 

“It’s fantastic to be able to bring Acosta Danza and Birmingham Royal Ballet together. It is interesting to see dancers from both companies dancing and learning from each other, it’s very stimulating.

“Also I want to use my position to always cast a light on new choreographers and new talent, to give them that spotlight as a way of saying ‘you should come and watch this talent perform’. This programme is an ideal opportunity to do this.” 

Myths and Modern Masters will also be a chance to see how far Acosta Danza has come since its foundation just over a decade ago. 

“All of the Acosta Danza dancers have now come via the Academy I founded and so it is great to see them developing themselves as human beings as well as dancers. I still have memories of when they came to audition aged 15 and now you see these beautiful adults who have been on such a journey. 

“This is a show that is multi-layered. It is full of talent, with dancers and pieces some audience members may not have seen before. It has the wonderful Royal Ballet Sinfonia performing the music live. It has classical dance which appeals to some audiences and we have the Cuban element which I hope will speak to maybe a younger and a Latin world audience.” 

Featured Image: Carlos Acosta – Johan Perrson 2026

Carlos Acosta: Myths and Modern Masters plays the Royal Opera House in London on 5-9 August, see https://www.rbo.org.uk/ for more information and tickets.