Carlos Acosta’s new Carmen is his swansong production with the Royal Ballet, after 17 years as a principal dancer with the company. He retires next year at 43 to concentrate on contemporary dance projects and his many other interests: writing, acting, producing and choreography. Born in Havana, he hopes to spend more time in Cuba, with plans to establish a new dance centre there.The Royal Ballet’s intention in inviting Acosta to create a one-act dance version of Bizet’s opera, Carmen, after staging the three-act Don Quixote in 2013, was to bring a fresh Hispanic vision to a repertoire that needs to be distinctive. Accounts of Carmen abound in dance companies. Acosta promised to make his version unique, combining genres of music and movement, putting the Royal Opera Choru