SEASON TWO INTRO

05/17/22 • 1 min

DOWNTIME - interviews with dance artists & arts leaders, talking about dance & the arts

Previous Episode

Carlos Acosta

Born in Havana in 1973, Carlos Acosta trained at the National Ballet School of Havana in Cuba. After winning a succession of awards, including the Prix de Lausanne in 1990, he went on to dance professionally with the world’s most prestigious ballet companies, including The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Houston Ballet and Cuban National Ballet company. Carlos retired from classical ballet in 2016, after 28 years, having performed almost every classical role from Spartacus to Romeo.

He is the Artistic Director of his own company in Cuba- Acosta Danza, he runs the Carlos Acosta International Dance Foundation, has written a novel and an autobiography, of which the movie Yuli was made.

He received a CBE in 2014, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in 2018, and in 2019 the Critics’ Circle Annual Award for Outstanding Services to the Arts.

in January 2020 Carlos Acosta became Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and in February 2021 – he spoke to me.

Next Episode

JOSEPH TOONGA - UK

Joseph Toonga is from East London. He makes and performs dance productions that tell stories of the under-represented, relevant to the here and now which are embedded in the languages of contemporary dance and Hip Hop. Joseph is Artistic Director of Just Us Dance Theatre, has created work for Edge; National Youth Ballet of Germany; Richard Alston Dance Company and Junior Ballet Madrid. He is also co-founder of Artists 4 Artists and recently became The Royal Ballet’s first Emerging Choreographer.

Lou talked to Joseph in April 2022 about his commitment to finding, making and sharing space; his desire to create dance in numerous contexts in order to tell the real stories of the under-represented; and the challenges of forging a path in new contexts that don’t yet feel like home.
http://www.justusdancetheatre.com

DOWNTIME - interviews with dance artists & arts leaders, talking about dance & the arts - SEASON TWO INTRO

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the second season of Downtime – the podcast for talking to dance and theatre - artists and leaders about their practice, their processes and their work.

I’m dramaturg Lou Cope – you can find out about me and my organisation CoAD - The Centre of Applied Dramaturgy at www.thecoad.org

I’m happy to say that Season 1 of Downtime, all episodes still available, received a fantastic response, with listener