No Way Home: A Cuban Dancer's Tale

This is not a book to be judged by its cover. Although No Way Home by Carlos Junior Acosta is his story about becoming a world-class ballet dancer, it is that story about the becoming that has pulled me from page to page as a Cuban boy, born into poverty, defied place, people and time to reach the heights, literally and professionally, he has achieved. So little is known by so many of us about the real struggles of people who live on the islands of the Caribbean. Little is known by so many of us about the racism in Cuba, about what life is really like when people struggle against so much. This is not an anti-Castro book either--and I am thankful for that because I live in Miami Beach and have heard more than enough about the evils of Fidel. Instead the reader is carried along as a young boy fights against his black father--a father of many children by many women. Junior wants to be the next Pele, the greatest soccer player. But his father insists otherwise: his son will become a ballet dancer. I loved how accepting the Cubans appeared to be of a boy taking ballet, something we do not experience in this country. Mr. Acosta has sprinkled in wonderful dialog, rich descriptions of his white mother, of his two half-sisters, of the places where Junior had to endure life. The book is divided into three sections: the boy and adolescent, the maturing young man, and the powerful ballet professional as an adult. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the real life in Cuba as well as the humanness of a man who could so easily have written awful things about his father but chose instead to rise to a high level of grace.

...this book will fascinate you. This is ultimately a tale about finding one's place in the world; a place that seemingly evades and, at times, can appear as unattainable as a mirage. Carlos Acosta's descriptions of his familial and economic hardships are honest and direct without being either exploitive or self-deprecating. He states things as they are, but the lyrical quality of his writing lends his ultra humble origins an unmistakable air of dignity and pride. Even as he conquered the highbrow world of ballet, the boy who grew up in poverty in the Havana suburb of Los Pinos, never left his side. "Yuli" as his family called him, is ever present. The restless and truant boy who loathed ballet and dreamt of soccer and break-dancing is very much entrenched in the man who is considered the greatest classical male dancer of his generation. From playing "eating mud" to being the first ever black principal dancer of London's Royal Ballet, we come to know an individual who has struggled his entire life to stay close to people and places that his art necessarily pushed further away from him. Again, if you couldn't care less about ballet, you'll find a little bit of yourself within its pages, as this book will undoubtedly speak to everyone. At its core, it's a humanistic a tale as they come. Funny, moving, haunting and honest, No Way Home: A Dancer's Journey from the Streets of Havana to the Stages of the World is a deeply rewarding experience that reminds us of the price we must pay for the choices we make.

I'm not interested in dancing or Cuba. To speak plainly, I didn't expect to enjoy this book. But enjoy it I did. From the cover, the book appears to be about the life of a fabulously talented dancer who begins his life is dank poverty in Cuba, and fight his way out of all that. Sounds like a well worn idea, right? But it's far more interesting than that. Carlos Acosta actually didn't want to be a ballet dancer, and tried to stop being a dancer several times. He almost succeeded. The book isn't really about dancing. You don't need to know anything about dancing to appreciate the soul of this man. Acosta could have had the same life and travels and written the same basic book even had he been a swimming star, a soccer star, film star, baseball star, a great break dancer or singer. The core question of the book would still have been the same: What use is ambition and earthly success if you lose your family and your sense of belonging in the world? Does having talent give you a responsibility to fulfill your potential? Acosta comes off as a very likeable guy, even as he describes himself doing rather unlikeable things, at times. He is poor but does not hate poverty. He has troubles in his family but still feels that he belongs with them. He has troubles with his country but wants to stay. He acknowledges that he's in the minority-- that lots of his countrymen want to escape. He paints no rosy picture of life in Cuba. He sees the problems, he just doesn't mind them. His family, teachers, and friends relentlessly push him to fulfill a destiny that they insist is his. At times he also becomes ambitious to dance well, but his thoughts always return to his family and the beloved dirty, terrible, dangerous neighborhood of his childhood. He travels far, but always finds a way to go back home. Perhaps the title should have been No Way to Stay Home. I like Acosta because he doesn't buy into the philosophy of ambition for ambition's sake. Yet to please the people he loves he must leave the people he loves and appear to love something else. How he comes to terms with this makes for a book I felt compelled to read in one sitting.

I am not a balletomane or even a big fan of memoirs, but I loved this book! The writing, the style, and the story pull the reader in to Acosta's world. This is a universal story, told brilliantly and with great attention to language and pace. A great story for all ages!

I bought "No Way Home" because I heard Julie Kavanagh (she wrote the recent Nureyev biography) call Acosta the most charismatic figure in contemporary ballet. I am glad I bought it. It's an eminently readable and moving memoir. I am a big memoir guy, but hardly a ballet aficionado. The themes in this book transcend ballet. Acosta addresses universal human issues in relating his personal history (race, the idea of home, familial relationships, ...) and he probes these issues honestly and with a keen eye for detail.