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The king of hearts: with adoring audiences and admiring partners, Carlos Acosta reigns from centerstage.

Article Excerpt
The London afternoon is darkand dank, but he swaggers into the cozy backstage room at the Royal Opera House as if strutting down the Malecon, Havana's famous seafront. His friendly manner and broad smile fill the room like Cuban sunshine. He's wearing a soft beige leather jacket and a back-to-front brown cap, under which his dark curls peek. "Hi Margaret," he greets in heavily accented English. "Nice to see ya again. How ya doin'?" My knees knock.

Carlos Acosta is one of today's most stunning dancers, admired the world over for his firecracker, yet refined technique, for his riveting acting, and his careful, confident partnering. Yet, away from the glamour of the stage, he remains "the boy next door," outgoing, caring, warm, and--above all-humble, despite being a national treasure in his own country and a matinee idol to many dance-goers. He is a beloved principal in The Royal Ballet and returns this month as a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre for its spring season. His life-story reads like a fairy tale: from pauper to prince, from ne'er-do-well to dance deity.

The youngest of 11 children, he grew up knowing poverty and hardship, break-dancing to a boom box, and petty thieving on the streets of a shantytown in Fidel Castro's politically isolated Cuba. The imprisonment of his truck-driving father for a traffic violation and the serious illness of his mother fostered the boy's lack of discipline and led him...

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