Dance Magazine Award for Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta

September 23, 2020

The great Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta (Havana, 1973), one of the most important figures of the Cuban school of ballet and male dance of our time, has just been awarded the Annual Prize of "Dance Magazine" (United States), one of the most important recognitions granted to transcendental figures of dance on a worldwide scale.

Upon receiving the "Dance Magazine 2020", Carlos Acosta becomes the third Cuban (previously deserved by Alicia Alonso, in 1958, and José Manuel Carreño, in 2004) to obtain this prize.

Along with Carlos, the Americans Debbie Allen, Camille A. Brown, choreographer Alonzo King and Canadian Laurieann Gibson were awarded.

The "Dance Magazine 2020" awards have been determined "after deep reflections on racial equity inspired by the Black Lives Matter social movement", as stated by the selection committee through an editorial note.

Carlos Acosta is National Dance Prize winner in Cuba in 2011. He became recipient of the Benois Prize, the Oscar of Dance, in 2008. He was awarded in 2014 with the National Dance Prize in the United Kingdom, and in 2018 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, a distinction granted by the Royal Academy of Dance of the United Kingdom that recognizes this Cuban dancer among the most influential personalities of current dance.

He was principal dancer of the National Ballet of Cuba and has also danced with other prestigious companies such as the English National Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and The Royal Ballet of London.

His company Acosta Dance is one of the most recognized in the current panorama of dance in Cuba. He currently directs the Royal Ballet of Birmingham, England. He was recently appointed member of the Board of Governors of The Royal Ballet School.