Task 1 - Carlos Acosta

Task 1: Carlos Acosta

http://www.carlosacosta.com/biography.php

Choosing Carlos Acosta for my subject was not difficult. He is a very prominent ballet dancer who has achieved great fame, and is very visible.  He has a lot to say to the world, not just as a performer, but also as a human being.  It became clear to me as I researched his body of work that he has much left to do and he is fearless about achieving what he wants to achieve.  I place him in a league of super-humans, for many reasons, which I hope to explain during this piece of work.

I came to my conclusion about him after watching interviews, reading his autobiography, a biography of his life, newspaper articles,  and watching his work on DVD in Tocororo, seeing him live in Premieres; in other words totally immersing myself in his world and his work.

Carlos Acosta has ambitions way beyond being the prince, although he describes on many occasions the joy that it brought to his father to see his son play the prince at the Royal Ballet for the first time, and if he achieves his goal of ‘representing the world as it is today on the stage’ (Acosta, 2013, SKY TV, Masterclass) he will have contributed to changing the world’s perception of ballet.  Although he says that he has personally never experienced racism, he says that he can only speak for himself, and ‘maybe he has been lucky’.  During the Frost Interview Acosta mentions being one of 3 (3.75%) black dancers out of 80 in the Royal Ballet Company and he feels that this has to change.  He is concerned that people’s perceptions of black ballet dancers are old perceptions that are being handed down without any substance.  This smacks to me of a positivist standpoint, supporting that there can only be one possible view of the aesthetic of ballet – that of white dancers.

More than just feeling this, he is doing something about it.  He intends to renovate the deserted and dejected product of the Cuban Revolution – a well-intended yet unfinished City of the Arts, started in 1961. It was the vision of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara which was left to rot and ruin when funds dried up due to a new regime in Cuba.  Carlos Acosta is a visionary, who, despite a background of poverty and poor education, (Acosta, 2007) can see what his status, talent and passion can bring to his homeland, and his world of dance.  If the state will not take on the challenge, Carlos Acosta will.  He is able to see that there is more than one way to achieve a goal, and is determined to find the solution, via whatever circuitous route is needed.

However, this project is not plain sailing and there have been objections to the potential ‘privatisation’ of the building, which is a site of National Heritage.  There are objectors in Cuba who would prefer to leave the building to ruin, and for Acosta to build somewhere else in the country.  Carlos Acosta will make it happen, either in Cuba, or elsewhere in the world and has been clear that he will have no qualms at redirecting his plans to another country as long as his dream is achieved.  (Rowan Moore, The Observer, Sunday 25 November 2012.) 

This potential child criminal, whose future could so easily have become that of an uneducated delinquent, (Acosta, 2007 & Willis 2010) has demonstrated to the world that he has the intelligence to see a problem and fix it; he has been to the Minister of Culture in Cuba to suggest that the City of Arts can be a functioning, creative reality.  When the Minister voiced that it would cost so much to achieve this dream, Carlos replied ‘So what, let’s do something about it’ (Acosta, 2013, SKY TV, Masterclass) More than this, he has created the Carlos Acosta Foundation in order to raise funds to do just that.  There is no doubt in my mind that he will achieve this goal and create a great future, not just for the arts in Cuba, but within the arts all over the world.  By demonstrating that one individual, a minority within an elitist art form, can take huge steps to raise the profile of black ballet dancers, Carlos Acosta shows us that there is more than one way to approach change.  He has not relied on Governments, the law, or the performing arts field to come around to a broader was of thinking, he has stepped up and spoken out, using high profile public arenas to great effect.

I have deliberated long and hard about how Carlos Acosta has achieved what he has achieved and how he has the guts to take on this project.  I can only relate to something which keeps rearing its head at this time. It is the ‘Law of Attraction’, feted and utilised by Rhonda Byrne; The Secret, 2006.  As I work on my teaching and research the uses of imagery, I keep coming to ‘positive imagery’ and the power of the mind.  Having brought this up with my students, they were very keen to discuss their belief in ‘The Secret’ and how this can affect them and their futures.  Whilst researching Carlos Acosta, ‘The Secret’ kept entering my mind.  I have had the fortune to work with several people recently who seem to know how to make it all work – they have harnessed the Law of Attraction and their lives are in harmony.  Unwittingly, over the last 14 months I have changed my life from a negative, downward spiral to a more successful and happier trajectory and put positivity at the forefront of all I do.  This seems to me to be how Carlos Acosta functions.  Rather than letting a serious injury affect his career, he went to his homeland to recover and spend valuable time with his family.  On returning to dance in Cuba when able to dance again, he accepted a low status within the company and learned much from other dancers with a higher position than him.  (Acosta, 2007; Willis 2011). Rather than allowing these events to destroy him, Carlos Acosta used potentially destructive events to a positive effect.

When interviewed, his poverty as a child is always raised, (The Frost Interview, 2012; SKY TV, Masterclass, 2013) yet he mentions that Communism at least ensured that they all had something to eat – even if it was only white rice and beans.  He told Michael Parkinson that ‘poverty was the best thing that happened to him’ and that because of being poor ‘he does not take things for granted.’ (Acosta, 2013, SKY TV, Masterclass)  He turns a potentially set ‘poor me’ scenario into a gift.  There is more than one way to view his past and Carlos Acosta has chosen to focus on the positive rather than the struggle.  This demonstrates a non-positivist standpoint.  He demonstrates great humanity and vision via his words and positive stance.  I am led to consider how, if he was negative and stuck within a positivist, fixed stance how his life may have played out.  I fear it could have been very different.

When the perceived cruelty of his father is mentioned, he states ‘That's the beauty of my life ... How can a truck driver have this will to get his son to become a ballet dancer when most fathers would like their son to become something else?’ (Acosta, 2012, The Frost Interview).  Pedro Acosta is Carlos’s hero, although he could not see this when a young boy.  He praises his father’s determination.  Carlos was going to be a ballet dancer – and between them they made it so.  It is clear that ballet has offered Carlos a life he would have never experienced, and in turn, Carlos has educated himself to use his experiences to benefit others.

Romona De Saa - founder of The Cuban National Ballet School was a great influence on Carlos and says of his father, Pedro ‘It is probable he would never had made it to where he has had it not been for his father.’  (De Saa, 2012, The Frost Interview) Pedro Acosta was incredibly strict with his youngest son and they clashed terribly at times.  Hindsight, maturity and reflection have enabled Carlos Acosta to realise what his father did for him although it was painful at times.  It is obvious that he is passionate about family, and speaks of questioning the point of dancing when he could not see or relate to his family as he developed as a rising star, experiencing life in a way that his impoverished family would never be able to understand.  Once again, he has taken a positive stance, built a home in Cuba and intends not only to go back to his homeland, but to take with him his knowledge, his passion, his skills, and share them not just with Cuba but with the world. 

You could look at Carlos Acosta’s life as a life of fortunate coincidences – his father illicitly sneaking into an ‘all white’ cinema and witnessing ballet, his associations with teachers and mentors who shaped, and saved his life, being seen by the right people at the right time etc.  However I see it differently.  I see a spirit that has had to encounter hardship, trauma, pain, but who has always used his experiences to develop, to learn and to progress to another level.  Carlos Acosta is a problem solver; he started to develop other strands to his ballet career by choreographing, writing and acting in preparation for retirement from ballet.  He acknowledged his longing for his homeland and his family, so he built a home in Cuba and intends to develop a wonderful facility there.   

He nourished his love for his homeland by creating Tocororo – aptly named after the National Bird of Cuba, (‘Air Acosta’ being a nickname attached to this great dancer with the gift of elevation!).  Tocororo is a loosely autobiographical dance piece, charting the progress of a young man in Cuba as he becomes a ballet dancer.  You can see from the integration of movements that Carlos Acosta created that he is entrenched in his culture – the Latin-American dances such as the Salsa, his childhood – the competitive breakdancing inspired by Michael Jackson, and the classical repertoire that he has mastered and performed all over the world.  You can also see the spirit of Cuba – the red Chevrolet on the stage was borrowed from a man on the street (Willis 73%) and although it caused havoc due to its weight and size, a way was found for the car to be hoisted onto the stage.

Carlos Acosta has also challenged himself to explore other dance forms such as contemporary dance.  Ballet, to him, ‘can feel square, steeped in tradition and you cannot get outside it, whereas contemporary dance is free.’  (Acosta, 2013, SKY TV, Masterclass) Watching Premieres at the London Coliseum in 2010 made me aware that Carlos Acosta has imagination and courage.  Many of the audience may have naively expected to see ‘Air Acosta’ performing virtuosic leaps and turns, yet this show, short and succinct was not about that.  It was an exploration of what else there was – using modern music, street clothes and everyday life and times as a stimulus for expressive contemporary dance, with a loose theme of a love affair.  I was captured by the bravery of this, and have a lasting image imprinted in my mind of the final position of the pas de deux with partner Zenaida Yanowsky whereby she was sitting on Acosta’s table top back, undulating gently.  Whilst Premiere received mixed reviews, I left the theatre admiring the courage of a world famous ballet dancer who was not afraid to risk take and buck tradition.

It is of interest to note that I document little of Carlos Acosta’s prolific classical career in this task.  His classical career has been well documented, and many are aware of his soaring solos and virtuosic turns.  I felt that his journey from boy to man, and the powerful crusader he has become since gaining the kudos and status needed in order to be heard were even more inspiring than his Don Quixote or Apollo performances.

I cannot possibly know for sure what philosophical stance drives Carlos Acosta to do what he does; I can only explore what his actions describe to me.  He appears to be a problem solver who can work out how to get around or under the wall if he cannot get over it.  As long as the end result is the same, he will find a way, which would describe a non-positivist stance.  He does not discuss religion; all I know is that his father was a follower of the Yoruban ‘Santiera’ faith, offering up scarce food as sacrifices to ensure that good would happen.

A proud man – who is ‘not here to make a fool of himself’, (Acosta, 2013, SKY TV, Masterclass), Acosta realises that the time will come when he must make way for emerging talent and relinquish being the prince.  What better way forward than ‘building bridges’ for his homeland to cross?

Bibliography

Books:

Acosta, C: No Way Home, Harper Press, 2007

Willis, M: The Reluctant Dancer, Arcadia Books, 2010 [2011 Kindle edition]

Television:

Masterclass, Parkinson Productions, Sky Arts, BskyB 2012

DVD:

Acosta, C: Tocororo – A Cuban Tale, Time Life Studio, October 2004

Online Interviews and Promotional Videos:

The Frost Interview - Carlos Acosta: From pauper to prince: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWmmH_I9XsI, Released on 15^th Dec 2012, viewed 2^nd March 2013

Carlos Acosta on creativity in Britain:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq-isXFFSnU&NR=1&feature=endscreen, Published on 3rd October 2011, viewed 2nd March 2013

Tocororo – A Cuban Tale 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flk_Af4TFSg – promotional video, viewed 2^nd March 2013

Newspaper Articles:

Monahan, M: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/8668458/Carlos-Acosta-London-Coliseum.html, July 2011, accessed 1^st March 2013

Nicoll, R: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/aug/01/carlos-acosta-premieres-coliseum-review, August 2010, accessed 1^st March 2013

Moore, R: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/nov/25/havana-ballet-school-carlos-acosta, November 2012, accessed 28^th February 2013

Online Articles:

Martínez, J, P: Carlos Acosta at the Dressing Room,

http://www.tempcubanow.cult.cu/pages/print.php?item=9098, accessed 2^nd March 2013

‘Delite, M’: missdelite.blogspot.com/2009/11/carlos-acosta.htm, accessed 2^nd March 2013

http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?itemid=2340, accessed 28th February 2013

Savage, M: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21010241, accessed 28th February 2013

http://carlosacostafoundation.org, accessed 28th February 2013

http://thesecret.tv/past-greats.html, accessed 3^rd March 2013