Yonah Acosta

Principal Dancer

Yonah Acosta was born in Havana, Cuba, and started dancing at the age of 10 at the National Ballet School Cuba. After his diploma he got engaged at the National Ballet in Havana. In 2011 he joined the English National Ballet where he was promoted to principal dancer in 2014. He successfully participated in several international dance competitions (Silver Medal First Beijing Ballet Competiton 2007, Grand Prix International Ballett Competition Cuba 2007, Gold Medal Shanghai International Ballet Competition 2008, Winner Engelish National Ballet's Emerging Dancer and People’s Choice Award 2012, Mr. Virtuoso Award International Ballet Festival Dance Open 2011&2012) and was partner of Tamara Rojo and Alina Cojocaru amongst others. In the season 2017/18 he joined Bayerisches Staatsballett as a principal dancer.

(Information as of October 2024)

Previous roles and parts
James in La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni)
Albrecht in Giselle (Peter Wright after Coralli/Perrot/Petipa)
Basilio in Don Quixote (Ray Barra after Petipa)
Golden Idol in La Bayadère (Patrice Bart after Marius Petipa)
Benno in Swan Lake (Ray Barra after Ivanov/Petipa)
Abderakhman in Raymonda (Ray Barra after Marius Petipa)
Colas in La Fille mal gardée (Frederick Ashton)

Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (John Cranko)
Lensky in Onegin (John Cranko)
Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (John Cranko)
Günther in The Nutcracker (John Neumeier)
Philostrat/Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (John Neumeier)
Count Alexander in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Gaston in The Lady of the Camellias (John Neumeier)
Title role in Spartacus (Yuri Grigorovich)
Franz in Coppélia (Roland Petit)

Benjamin in Cinderella (Christopher Wheeldon)
Lewis Carroll/Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Christopher Wheeldon)
Belkin in The Blizzard (Andrey Kaydanovskiy)

Jewels (George Balanchine)
Kairos (Wayne McGregor), as part of the Portrait Wayne McGregor Triple Bill
Othello (Emil Faski), as part of the Heute ist morgen Triple Bill
Pictures at an Exhibition (Alexei Ratmansky), as part of the Passagen Triple Bill
Silent Screen (Sol León & Paul Lightfoot), as part of the Schmetterling Double Bill
Sunyata (Wayne McGregor), as part of the Portrait Wayne McGregor Triple Bill
Tchaikovsky Overtures (Alexei Ratmansky)