World-famous Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta announced to an aghast audience in Brighton that the next ballet season will be his last. The 40-year-old is feeling the strain and he recognises the power in his muscles, while outstripping mere mortals, is no longer capable of taking the extreme pressure that prestigious ballet roles require.

He had come to the city to promote his debut novel, Pigsfoot.

“Writing is like choreography,” he said. “Both are about telling a story and about understanding structure.”

The novel as he described it sounds like a cross between Gabriel García Márquez and Charles Dickens – a complex family drama with the obligatory Latin sprinkling of magical realism.

His interviewer, Rachel Cooke from the Observer, was clearly in awe of the man, and this was to be a night of blandishments and gentle questions. I would have preferred a few tougher questions to try to understand what makes such a ferocious talent tick.

It takes a great deal of determination to propel yourself from a hardscrabble life in Cuba – “You could get killed just for being black” – to the top of the Royal Ballet.

We had a hint of the grit in the oyster when Acosta talks of the beatings he took at his father’s hands, but the theme was not explored. It felt like a missed opportunity.