Dance Magazine, from the US, on 23 September recognized the solid international career of top Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta with its annual award being given to him and other black dancers.
Dance Magazine has celebrated the living legends of dance since 1954, and its selection committee said that it made the current decision in light of deep reflections on racial equity inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.
The honorees for 2020 are Carlos Acosta, from Cuba; Debbie Allen, Camille A. Brown, Alonzo King, from the US; and Laurieann Gibson, from Canada.
In addition to founding and directing the Acosta Danza company and academy in his native Cuba, Acosta became in parallel director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet in early 2020. This is one of the Britain’s most relevant classical ballet companies, Dance Magazine points out.
Also in 2020 Acosta joined the Board of Directors of the Royal Ballet School in the UK, a country where he holds several awards such as the Critics’ Circle award for Services to the Arts and the title Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Acosta was a star ballet dancer for many years at London’s Royal Ballet and has danced as a guest in most of the world’s great theatres and companies such as the Paris Opera ballet company in France, the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia, the American Ballet Theatre and the Houston Ballet in the United States, amongst others.
With this new award, Acosta becomes the third Cuban dancer to receive such a prestigious prize. Alicia Alonso received it in 1958 and Jose Manuel Carreño in 2004.
Cuba 50 
You must be logged in to post a comment.