Carlos Acosta: On Before

Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Thursday, July 9, to Saturday, July 11

“I KNEW this day would come, that I would have to step down. I want people to think of me in how I would do, than actually have somebody say to me ‘you should just step down’.”

For more than 25 years Cuban-born dancer Carlos Acosta has been at the forefront of classical dance, and has been principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet since 2003.

But he admits the injuries are mounting, making him look away from classical to contemporary dance.

“I still want to keep on dancing and being on stage while I feel I have so much to say,” he says the night before he travels to the US with the Royal Ballet.

“It’s a case of finding the right vocabulary – and the classical repertoire is not an option. I have been preparing myself - whenever I had a chance to take on more contemporary works as an exercise for what was yet to come, for the idea of reinventing myself as a contemporary dancer.

“The movement is more free – it is not set in stone. In that freedom anything goes. Although it’s a relatively new world I’m looking forward to embracing it.”

On Before is his first true step into contemporary dance. Featuring special guest Royal Ballet principal dancer Zenaida Yanowsky, it sees Acosta perform famous contemporary works, such as Russell Maliphant’s Two, as well as collaborate with Cuban choreographers George Cespedes of Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, and Miguel Altunaga of Ballet Rambert.

The return to his Cuban roots, which is underlined by his own choreographed work to the music of island legend Omar Puente, relates to a big upheaval in his personal life – the death of his mother.

“The way my career has unfolded there is not a lot of my Cuban roots in my work,” he says.

“I owe so much to my mother. When she died it happened so suddenly. I had landed in Cuba but didn’t make it to her in time. I would have said so many things before I actually said goodbye, so this is all about that.”

On Before has a narrative thread running throughout, something Acosta wanted to bring emotion into his take on contemporary dance. As well as dance the show features a guest appearance by Brighton's own community choir The Jam Tarts.

“I wanted a show with a sense of continuity, not just something where someone dances, the audience applauds and somebody else comes on,” he says.

The over-arching story follows the doomed relationship between a man and woman, played by Acosta and Yanowsky.

“It works best in a tight space,” he says. “Everything is concentrated onto the two figures.

“The way Zenaida does contemporary dance is as brilliant as classical. She’s very flexible and beautiful, but also very expressive. I needed a star and she’s the one for this repertoire.”

Acosta deliberately didn't add narration or further explanation to the story.

“You sort of find the story yourself,” he says. “It could have a different meaning for you or somebody else. It’s not classical storytelling, we follow two characters, sometimes they are in different spaces, sometimes they are fighting or making up.”

Following his successful autobiography in 2007 Acosta penned his first novel Pig’s Foot in 2013. He says the experiences were very different.

“Writing a book you have to explain every single thing,” he says. “With this I have come up with something more open to interpretations and different meaning to different people.”

He sees his explorations in writing and choreography as part of his necessity to grow as an artist.

“I am somebody who is very adventurous,” he says. “I knew I had to try many things and allow myself the freedom to fail, but always go forward.

“There is no such thing as failure – everything in life is a growing experience.”

He sees his Cuban roots as being a major part of this – having famously been enrolled into dance training at a state-funded school by his truck driver father to teach him discipline and receive a free lunch every day.

“I had nothing, but everything was up there to grasp,” he says. “I grew up with nothing to lose. From that place I guess everything is easy because you just have to go for it. Even if you lose you will never be lower than where you were.”

His next plan is to give some of this back to young would-be dancers in Cuba and London.

“I want to create an academy in Cuba and the UK for talent all over the world, especially disadvantaged countries,” he says.

“I want to create the opportunity to start in an academy for free and leave that as a legacy to the world - to spot what talent is out there and try to make it easy for them, so they don’t see money as an issue, just become themselves as artists. Everybody should have the right to become anything they want, if they want to do it and if they’re willing to work for it. Right now you have to pay for your dreams – and I don’t think that’s right.”

Starts 7.30pm, tickets from £27. Call 01273 709709.