Ballet has always been more than just a job for Carlos Acosta. And as director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, he is trying to make it bigger than ever – even in the face of brutal cuts and the tragic death of its CEO

“Gone are the times when you used to just create for your own indulgence,” says Carlos Acosta. Now, when it comes to running a major ballet company, and keeping it afloat, “You have to learn from your audience.”

Acosta has always been a crowd-pleaser, ever since he took the top prize at the famous Prix de Lausanne competition in 1990, the auditorium erupting in cheers at the then 16-year-old Cuban’s Don Quixote solo. He went on to fire up adoring audiences around the world, settling at London’s Royal Ballet for 17 years, but making global guest appearances as one of the few genuine ballet superstars.

He’s talking to me from a very unstarry grey office in Birmingham. But even the unflattering rectangle of a video call can’t dampen his crinkle-eyed smile, and down-to-earth magnetism. He’s been running Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) for exactly five years, and just renewed his contract, so despite all his other projects (the Acosta Danza company in Havana and Acosta Dance Centre in Woolwich, south London, among them) he’s committed to the precarious business of helping ballet thrive in the Midlands. More precarious since Birmingham City Council announced it was slashing its arts budget entirely, hence the concern with a healthy box office as well as artistic integrity.

But that needn’t always mean playing it safe. Acosta has made it his business to make bold artistic choices, commissioning surprising new works and choreographers, and making headlines with the collision of heavy metal and pointe shoes that was Black Sabbath: The Ballet, which tours to the US this summer and has just announced another UK tour in 2026. He pushes his dancers to be crowdpleasers, too. “From day one I said: ‘This has to be a company of virtuosos,’” he says, looking for the kind of fireworks that make classical ballet a mainstream entertainment in his home country. “I want personalities, ‘Look at me!’ – that’s how I like it. I want dancers that are exceptional, and I think we are getting there.” He’s right that there is great talent in the company, although I’m sad they’ve lost the beautiful Eric Pinto Cata to Paris Opera Ballet.