Carlos Acosta’s Vision for Birmingham Royal Ballet Is Big and Bold

Unlike the sprawling steel-and-glass buildings that often house American ballet companies, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s studios fill a red-brick warehouse down a narrow street next to the company’s home theater, the Hippodrome.

There artists create world-class ballet for audiences who might not otherwise see it; the city has historically been known more for manufacturing and heavy metal music than for ballet. The company’s evolution in Birmingham, located in the geographic center of England (less than a three-hour . . .