Figure 1.--.

Argentines as many Latin Americans have looked down on ballet dancers. Embued withe machismo, a strident male ethic, Argentines did not think ballet dancers were very manly. Few Argentine boys in that atmosphere desired to pursue ballet. There appears to have been a sea change in the late 1990s thanks largely to a graceful Argentine dancer, Julio Bocca. His success has generated a surge of male enrollment in Argentine ballet schools.

Julio Bocca

Julio's mother was a ballet teacher. She gave him his first lessons when he was 4 years old. Julio recalls, "I was just a little kid who enjoyed the nusic and getting into the costumes. It was liked getting dressed to go to some great party. It was just like, like, cool!" He never knew his father. Julio's mother's father was a night watchman in a Buenos Aires facory. He helped raise him and encouraged him to respect classical ballet.

Buenos Aires has a rich tradition of classical arts. This tradition has been inspired by the Italian and other European immigrants whose descdents largely populate modern Argentina. The center of Buenos Aires' fines arts tradition is the Teatro Colon. Instructors there noticed Julio's talent and accepted him as a pupil at age 10. He remembers it being very difficult being a boy pursuing ballet in Argentina. A tough military Government ruled Argentina from 1976-83. Julio recalls being stopped and questioned by rough soldiers on his way home after practicing at the Colon. The military was especially suspious of young men. He recalls, "I couldn't tell them the truth, that I was coming back from my classes wher I was studying to be a ballet dancer. I never would have made it home."

Julio won the 1985 gold medal at Moscow'd prestigious International Ballet Competition. He danced Don Quiote and thrilled Moscovites. Julio was chosen, at the age of 19, by Mikhail Baryshnikov to become a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater (ABT). He still dances durng the summer for the ABT, but now has manu other outlets. He made his Hollywood screen debut in the 1999 film, Tango which was widely popular in Argentina. He began performing in February 2000 in Fosse, a new Broadway play based on the work of cheoreographer Bob Fosse. He has formed an Argentine, Ballet Argentino, dance company which has toured America and Europe.

Impact

When the military dictatorship fell in 1983, Argentina negan a widespreas social cultural and social reawakening. When Bocca won the Moscow Gold Medal in 1985, he was embraced as a national hero. Critics both in Argentina and other countries fell in love with the diminuative dancer who at 5 feet 6 inches is shorter than the average male dancer. Most critiques agree that he makes up for his lack of height by technique and stage presence.

Argentine observers report that Bocca has substantially broadened the appeal of ballet with non-traditional audiences that had never shown any interest in classical dance. Bocca has taken Argentina's melancholy tango and fused it with the spirit od classical ballet. Bocca has in large part succeeded in taking the snobery out of classical ballert and made it appealing to the average Argentine--including the easily bored youth of the modern digital age. He has performed free concerts in Buenos Aires in front of audiences exceeding 100,000 enthusiasts. His performances sometimes mix classical pieves like Giselle and then transition to works of rock groups like Pink Floyd. His Ballet Argentino, as a result, has been enormously successful in Argentina. He has promoted himself far beyound the world of classical dance in spreads in Playboy and in rather outrageous ads for Dannon yogurt. Argentine girls now swoon over him.

Argentine Dance Classes

Argentine ballet classes used to have virtually all girl dancers. Argentine dance studios now report that 15 percent of the students in some classes are male. This would have been unheard of only a few years ago. I'm not sure, however, what age the male dancers are.