Ballet star Carlos Acosta admits O2 Arena challenges

Ballet star Carlos Acosta has admitted there will be challenges staging Romeo and Juliet at the O2.

Acosta bellieves the huge London arena is "not ideal", saying: "You lose the intimacy that Romeo and Juliet needs, you have to rely on cameras."

But the Cuban dancer, who plays Romeo, said it was something The Royal Ballet "needs to do".

"There is a new audience that we need to educate as to what ballet is, how wonderful it is," said the dancer.

"The company is looking good, casting is strong and the excitement is going to be there," Acosta told BBC Arts editor Will Gompertz.

The 38-year-old will perform in front of a nightly audience of up to 12,000 people at the arena.

In spite of "all the things that work against us in that particular venue, they will be able to appreciate what ballet is - colourful, special... and want to follow it more. That is what it is all about," he added.

It is hoped staging the production at the O2 will attract people who may not have thought about a night at the ballet before.

For its 2009/10 ballet season, just 22% of audiences at the Royal Opera House were under 36 years of age, while just over half lived within 10 miles of the central London venue.

"This is an attempt to attract new audiences, to educate the audience of the future," said Acosta, who grew up breakdancing on the streets of Havana.

"Hopefully there is a much younger crowd that [will] come to the O2, a diversified crowd.

"It is not about segregation... dance is for everybody."

In Cuba, he added, "they treat it [ballet] like you imagine the final of the World Cup... it's massive, it's on TV, it's everywhere and it's not a bit elitist."

Romeo and Juliet will be the first time the ballet company has performed in a UK arena.

Announcing the production last year, company director Dame Monica Mason said she was "thrilled" about the production being shown in such a huge venue as it would "introduce our work to so many new people".

Also featuring Tamara Rojo, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg dancing the principal roles, the ballet will run from 17-19 June.

Michael Jackson: FBI releases classified files on star

The FBI has released more than 300 pages of formerly classified documents relating to pop icon Michael Jackson.

They include information regarding the singer's 1993 and 2004 child molestation cases, as well as an extortion case where he was a victim.

Despite an application under the US Freedom of Information Act, just over half of the file will stay secret.

The pages do not provide any new information on Jackson's sudden death in June, aged 50.

One document reveals that in 2004, local police in Santa Maria requested FBI involvement believing the court proceedings against the pop star were a "soft target for terrorism" due to the global media coverage.

"No intelligence indicating a terrorist threat" existed, the FBI said, although the bureau did provide other technical and investigative assistance into the case.

In June 2005, Jackson was found not guilty of all charges at the end of the four-month trial.

Video analysed

The documents were released through a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press news agency and other media.

They show that the FBI assisted local authorities on several occasions from 1993 to 2005.

The FBI's legal office in London assisted local authorities with the child molestation probe in 1993 and in 1995 US customs officials asked the FBI to analyse a VHS videotape as part of a child pornography investigation.

The tape - "a multi-generation copy of poor quality" - was marked in part "Michael Jackson's Neverland Favourites, An All Boy Anthology", the FBI documents say.

In 1993 police in Los Angeles began investigating allegations of child abuse against Michael Jackson made by the father of 13-year old Jordie Chandler.

Jackson vehemently denied the claims and he was never charged. A civil case was settled out of court in early 1994 when he paid Jordie Chandler a reported $20m (£14m).