Tango at the ballet

Jennifer K Mahal

“Something happens to dancers as they hit their 30s. They either

become artists or they diminish,” said Jane Harman, former director of

the American Ballet Theater (ABT). “And [Julio Bocca] is an artist.”

The 33-year-old brings his artistry and his company, Ballet Argentino,

to the Orange County Performing Arts Center as part of the Eclectic

Orange Festival this weekend for four performances. The company will

perform a mixture of classical and modern pieces, including a new tango

work by choreographer Anna Maria Stekelman, accompanied by live music.

Ten years ago, Bocca wanted to show the world that Argentina had more

to offer the world than soccer.

“I have worked very hard to make ballet popular,” Bocca said from a

hotel room in Charleston, N.C. “Why can’t ballet be popular like sports?”

The American Ballet Theater principal dancer founded Ballet Argentino

in part to give young dancers a chance to work in a company.

“It’s very hard in Argentina,” Bocca said. “There is only one major

company and if you get in, [because of the union] you’re in for life.”

Ballet Argentino consists of 14 dancers, ranging in age from 16 to 25,

from all over Argentina. Auditions are held every year. Bocca is proud

to say that some of his dancers have moved on to positions with the ABT

and the Royal Ballet.

“There is no doubt that he is a first-class director,” Harman said.

Harman, who is Bocca and Ballet Argentino’s agent, said that the

dancer has taken his skills, time and money and poured them into his

company, and it has paid off.

“I have rarely seen young men partner so well,” Harman said. “And the

quality of the girls’ pointe work ... not only are their feet lovely, but

they dance on very soft shoes.”

Although his mother is a dancer, Bocca said she never pushed him to

follow in her ballet slippers.

“This was always my decision,” he said.

At 8 years old, he asked to be sent to dance school in Buenos Aires at

the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon. While there, Bocca

danced with the Caracas Ballet Company. In 1983, he joined the Ballet del

Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro as a principal dancer.

Then, in 1985, he won the gold medal at the Fifth International Ballet

Competition in Moscow. A year later, at age 19, he joined the American

Ballet Theater as a principal dancer.

That’s where Harman first got to know him.

“He’s a dream. He’s a lovely man,” she said of the man known for his

beautiful partnering skills as well as his virtuoso dancing. “But the

thing that’s so remarkable is that he was always such a nice kid.”

The nice kid has become a nice man who spends most of his life on the

road.

“There is not a nasty bone in his body,” Harman said. “And he’s the

only dancer I’ve met that I can say that about, and I’ve known them all.”

Though he calls Buenos Aires home, Bocca spent only one month there

this year, enjoying family and friends.

Hopefully that will change for him next year.

“I just feel I want to enjoy more of the little details,” Bocca said,

“like having coffee in a cafe, going to the movies. I’ve been on the road

all my life.”

Bocca did spend five months in New York, where he has a second home.

Part of that time, he performed in “Fosse” on Broadway.

The dancer said he enjoys works that call for acting, such as “Don

Quixote,” which he has danced more than 1,000 times. The pas de deux from

“Quixote” is among the pieces that will be done at the Center.

Though he has been onstage most of his life, it is only recently that

Bocca has begun to settle into his talent.

“This year, I can say ‘Yes, I am an artist now,”’ he said. “It took me

all these years. I am one of the old ones now.”

At ABT, which Harman said has a “fetish” for athletic dancing, the

Argentine is one of the old ones at 33.

Bocca said he sees all of the young dancers, some of whom he inspired,

and thinks, “We work in the same company!”

But with age has come a sense of perfection. Now, Bocca said, he sees

it is better to do three pirouettes well than to do 10 and fall apart.

Part of this realization came to Bocca while he was doing “Variations

for Four” at ABT. Watching the other three dancers in this technically

demanding piece was a revelation.

“I said to myself, ‘What am I doing here,”’ Bocca said. “This is not

for me anymore.”

Secure in his talents as an artist, he asked to be taken out of the

piece.

“He does what he knows is interesting,” Harman said. “It’s not that he

can’t do all that stuff. He can and does.”

Bocca said his hope for the future is to still have money to pay the

company when he retires in seven or so years.

“I think he’s got a good number of years of dancing left in him,”

Harman said. “I don’t think there’s any indication that he should slow

down.”

Right now, Bocca is pleased that so far all of the reviews for his

company have been positive. And he does not plan to stop dancing.

“When I start to feel that I don’t enjoy being on stage anymore, I

will stop,” Bocca said. “For right now, I am enjoying it very much.”

FYI

* WHAT: Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino

* WHEN: 8 p.m. today, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

* WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* COST: $12 to $68

* CALL: (949) 553-2422