The dancer and choreographer on reversing ageing, his twin daughters, and selling stolen mangoes

Born in Havana, Carlos Acosta trained at Cuba’s National Ballet School. He joined the Royal Ballet in 1998 and was a principal guest artist there from 2003-2016. In 2003, his show Tocororo: A Cuban Tale, based on his childhood, broke box office records. He celebrates 30 years in dance at the Royal Albert Hall from 2-5 October. He is married with three children, and lives in Somerset.

What is your earliest memory?

Going to the countryside with my mother, during a time we were struggling for food. We would exchange soap bars and old clothes for grain and beans. I must have been five or six.

What is your greatest fear?

Something bad happening to our daughters. Our twin girls, Maya and Luna, had TTTS [twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome] so, ever since, we have been very nervous.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I tend to live in the future instead of the present, and sometimes miss things in the moment.

Property aside, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?

A 1955 Jaguar XK120. It was not in very good condition and, little by little, I brought it back to its former splendour.

What would your super power be?

Reversing ageing, so I could be at the height of my fitness again, and dance for longer and without pain.

What do you owe your parents?

My career. My father was the one who came up with the idea of me becoming a ballet dancer – he almost imposed it on me. He wanted me to grow up in a different environment.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

Too many grey hairs appearing.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Leaving wet towels on the bed. It makes my wife very angry.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?

That I had a difficult colour for ballet. I was about 19.

What is top of your bucket list?

To see my many projects come to fruition: the work I am doing with my foundation to give a chance to talented dancers from underprivileged backgrounds; and my campaign with Norman Foster to rescue an old building in Havana.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

I love Poldark.

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What is the worst job you’ve done?

Selling stolen mangoes to pay for a cinema ticket, aged eight.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?

The time I told my father I hated him, causing him a lot of pain. He passed away six years ago, and my mother eight years ago.

When did you last cry, and why?

A few nights ago I was crying in my sleep, dreaming of my dead parents.

How do you relax?

Doing yoga on the grass outside my house in Somerset.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?

In 1989, in Cuba, about to board a plane for Milan, where I was going to school for a year. The visa didn’t arrive in time, so I couldn’t board. The plane crashed and people died.

What has been your closest brush with the law?

I once smuggled 14 boxes of Cuban cigars into the US.

How would you like to be remembered?

As someone who made a difference.

Tell us a secret

I’ve never been skiing because, after so many years in ballet, I can’t keep my legs in a straight line.