Ballet superstar Carlos Acosta to present final classical ballet programme
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     After an unparalleled career spanning 26 years, internationally renowned ballet star Carlos Acosta will present his final classical ballet programme, "A Classical Farewell", to Hong Kong audiences in late June and early July before bidding farewell to the stage.

     Featuring highlights from his career as a dancer on the international stage, Acosta will perform excerpts from his favourite ballet repertoire alongside an outstanding cast of dancers from Cuba. The programme includes the pas de deux "Swan Lake", "La Sylphide", "Winter Dreams" and "Diana and Aceteon", as well as Michel Fokine's "Dying Swan", Ben Stevenson's "End of Time", Gustavo Mollajolli's "A Buenos Aires", Ben Van Cauwenbergh's "Je ne regrette rien" and "Les Bourgeois" and Jose Garcia's "Majisimo".

     Carlos Acosta was born in Havana and trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba, going on to dance with the English National Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba and the Houston Ballet. He has danced with the world's leading ballet companies and won acclaim for dancing many of the "danseur noble" roles in the repertory, such as Siegfried (Swan Lake), Albrecht (Giselle), The Prince (The Nutcracker), Des Grieux (Manon), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty) and Basilio (Don Quixote). Acosta has received many awards during his career, including an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2007 and a Prix Benois de la Danse in 2008. In 2014 he was made a CBE for his services to ballet.

     Carlos Acosta's "A Classical Farewell" is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and co-produced by Sadler's Wells and Valid Productions. It will be staged at 7.45pm on June 30, July 1 and 2 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Tickets priced at $160, $250, $340, $430 and $520 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/dance/program_1096.html.

Ends/Thursday, April 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:04

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