having retired from the classical stage, he set up his own cuban dance company, acosta danza, and iso director of the birmingham royal ballet. welcome. let's start in cuba, with yourfamily, your upbringing. a happy childhood? very happy, i must say, although in the �*80s in cuba, still, our family was on the... i would say it was poorer than most families, but still there was a big, big sense of community. it was a good time for cuba — anybody could participate, to everything that society offers. obviously education was free, there was a lot of community parties that brought the community together. i was a very restless, wild kid, and it was in the �*80s where the breakdancing movement started in cuba and everything, so i was into the breakdancing scene. obviously, later on in my family, my mother started to have some problems, and then i started to experience some problems with my father being injail and things like that, but i felt for the most part it was a very, very good time for cuba. an artistic family? you are the youngest of 11 kids. that's right, on my father's side. he was

having retired from the classical stage, he set up his own cuban dance company, acosta danza, and is