At 36, how long can Carlos continue punishing his body? Another ten years perhaps? ‘No way! I think until 40, being careful. It’s something I think about every day. Darcey Bussell’s retirement made me think of my own day.’ He promises he will dance his classic roles one last time. ‘And after that, no more Corsaire, no Don Quixote, no more Swan Lakes. I have danced everything. Thank God that I did Spartacus. I feel fulfilled as a dancer. But I still have a few years…’ And then?

‘I want to have children, dogs, rabbits, I want to have everything. And I will go back to Cuba. It’s where I belong.’

The American Ballet Theater. has just wrapped up its surprisingly unglittery Fall repertory, and the New York City Ballet is busy putting the finishing touches on the Sugar Plum Fairies before mobs of little girls in ringlets invade Lincoln Center for the Nutcracker. Into the seeming dance void that is late October, three companies are quietly doing something totally different.

"Ballet doesn't always have to be a big, puffy, pink, glittery nightmare," said Christopher Wheeldon, the former choreographer of New York City Ballet, when he started his dance company Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company in 2007.

Artistic Director Rasta Thomas is a dazzling dancer who starred on Broadway in Twyla Tharp's "Movin' Out" and has performed with an impressive list of companies including American Ballet Theatre and Russia's Kirov Ballet. Thomas is one of those performers you just have to watch, especially when he reels off moves that seem impossible without ice skates or a trampoline. He led the Bad Boys through two fast-paced acts, one centered on a love story, the other a hyperkinetic jam session.

And so his role models, he says, were motor racers. "First, Shirley Muldowney: female racers at the time weren't accepted, but she became world champion three times. Everyone tried to stop her, yet she wanted to achieve that goal; she kept going and eventually she did. Then John Force: he started with absolutely nothing, but he's one of the biggest success stories in the sport. He wasn't handed it on a silver platter. That was a huge inspiration."

He's ambitious, then? "Ambition is a wonderful thing," he declares. "It's a driving force behind you and it's a powerful tool. It's important to keep striving and having dreams and goals." Growing up in Australia, everything was competitive, he adds. "There were always trophies to aim for in every field, and that competitiveness helps to set you up for all kinds of situations later."