Dancer Julio Bocca, a Basilio transformed into quixote

Julio Bocca, recipient of the “A Life for Dance” Lifetime Achievement Award from the 30th Miami International Ballet Festival. (Photo by Carlos Villamayor, courtesy of Julio Bocca’s archive).

One of the achievements that distinguishes the International Ballet Festival of Miami (IBFM) is the presentation of the “A Life for Dance” award since 1998.

This year, the 30th recipient in its history will be the extraordinary Argentine ballet dancer Julio Bocca (Munro, Buenos Aires, 1967). The award will be presented at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 16 at the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater.

A “lifetime achievement award” like this seems to be a distinction tailor-made for someone like Bocca: a child prodigy who began studying ballet at the age of 4 and a teenager who debuted as a professional dancer at 14.

A young man who, at 18, won the Gold Medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition, where he rose to fame performing Basilio in the famous pas de deux from the ballet “Don Quixote.” A role destined to be associated with his career from then on.

The same Bocca, a year later, joined the American Ballet Theater (ABT) as a principal dancer, where he remained until 2006. There, he enjoyed a contract that allowed him to perform with other companies and explore different forms of expression and something he took full advantage of.

Restless and tireless, Bocca founded his own dance company (Ballet Argentino) in 1990. In 1998, he appeared in the film “Tango,” and in 2000, he made his Broadway debut in “Fosse.”

After retiring as a performer (with a successful farewell tour of 11 countries and an open-air concert in December 2007 in front of more than 300,000 people), Bocca served as artistic director of the National Ballet of Uruguay from 2010 to 2018.

In February of this year, he was appointed artistic director of the Ballet Estable of the prestigious Colón Theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Julio Bocca, then a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, in the role of Basilio, the male lead in the ballet “Don Quixote.” (Photo by Jack Mitchell, courtesy of Julio Bocca’s archive).

When we learned of his acknowledgement by the IBFM, we immediately contacted him. We were especially interested in knowing who Julio Bocca is in 2025, what he does, and how he feels about today’s ballet.

Our WhatsApp chat with a partially gray-haired Basilio, whose years of experience have made him a quixote of incredible humanity, lasted nearly 40 memorable minutes  — much like each one of his performances.

“In 2025, Julio Bocca is a former dancer directing a ballet company in one of the most beautiful theaters in the world,” he says, “who continues to fight for dance, who continues to fight for quality and for the excellence of this marvelous art form. I am somebody who continues to work to ensure that ballet remains popular and that everyone can see ballet, that everyone has the choice to do so,” he declares.

But that’s not all, because Bocca continues to be many things at once. “I intend to be someone who continues to give young people the opportunity to study this beautiful career and achieve their dream as a professional.” And concludes: “Someone who also tries to live, to enjoy, to go out with friends.”

Bocca believes that ballet has undergone significant changes and acknowledges the presence of today’s incredible talents, “but I feel like they’re not curious, because everything has become easy and simple.”

He confesses that his most significant challenges as a teacher and coach are not in the technical aspects of performance but in the areas of style and acting, due to what he calls “obstacles that now make even the smallest things very difficult”—with some rehearsal protocols in place, establishing limitations on what you can and can’t say, and how you do it.

“Don’t forget that we come from a generation where the teacher would say something, and you would do it. There was no discussion or anything; if you needed to find something else, you would go to a book, read about the history, watch movies, try to chat, see, and discover.”

He talks about what frustrates him today.

“Now you can’t just say something and expect them to do it,” he strives to explain. “Now it’s about trying to do it through conversation, trying to interact. And you can’t say ‘it’s not right’ either. Everything always has to be right.”

Bocca admits that isn’t right.

“I’ve been wrong, I’ve danced badly, I’ve done a step wrong that needs to be corrected, but I always thought it was okay for the teacher to tell you, ‘Today you weren’t good, you have to work on this and that.’ Well, that’s my opinion.”

Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri in “Manon.” (Photo by Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy of Julio Bocca’s archive)

He also maintains that everything depends on the dancer’s true intentions regarding their career. “In my case, it was always wanting to dance, and that was it.”

About national ballet schools, Bocca believes it’s terrific that some countries have them and continue to defend them, but he also believes that everything is much more “mixed” now.

“Nowadays, all over the world, dancers have to be 100% good at contemporary and 100% good at classical. All the major companies do the same amount of contemporary and classical.” From his perspective, the labor demand has led to a change in the maintenance of these schools, and he believes it was previously more demanding and exclusive.

Bocca shares some ideas about what he hopes for young dancers’ futures: “I want all the magnificent Argentine dancers who exist everywhere in the world, in other companies, to be here and for people to have to come to [Buenos Aires] to see him or her. I’d like them to be invited to dance far away from home, but I’d also like them to come back. For them to have all kinds of opportunities here and not to have to go to other companies around the world.”

But he also acknowledges that his life, performing everywhere, “has been and continues to be a privileged life” and that having the love and respect of people everywhere “is something magical, because those are the hardest things to achieve.”

Speaking about the award he will receive Saturday, Bocca maintains that “personally, recognition is always something very special, and above all, being able to enjoy it while still alive.”

And receiving it in the United States has special meaning, too.

“The fact that this award is being presented in the United States, where I worked for 20 years, is a wonderful thing,” he points out, “because it means continuing to maintain that connection.”

Julio Bocca (center) with artists from the Colón Theater, after the premiere of “Don Quixote” on July 24. (Photo courtesy of Juan Bruzza)

When we ask him to mention three significant moments in his career, he initially hesitates. Still, he highlights “having started working at ABT and becoming a principal dancer at 19, without having to go through the corps de ballet or as a soloist.”

As well as having had the opportunity to dance with “all the top-notch ballerinas you can imagine.” His face lights up as he recalls his last performance in New York with Carla [Fracci], and his “Romeo and Juliet” in London with [Natalia] Makarova, and he treasures what he describes as a very “special connection” with Alessandra Ferri.

“Also, making ballet popular in Argentina, because I’ve even danced in soccer stadiums,” he proclaims with the kind of satisfaction that only comes from feeling that you have already achieved a life goal.

Finally, for her many followers in Miami—he fondly recalls performing often here during his period with ABT— Bocca has a message that is both a challenge and an invitation:

“I want to thank them, because they have always treated me very well, the times I have gone to dance in Miami. I have many friends there, and I hope they continue to support dance, because we need that. To newcomers, I would like to ask them to take a risk and consider going to see a ballet performance, so they can discover how beautiful our art form is.”

WHAT: 30th International Ballet Festival Miami (IBFM) Grand Classical Galas

WHEN 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16 and 5 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 17

WHERE: Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach.

COST: $54.50, $66.50, $77.50, $87.50.

INFORMATION: (786) 747-1877 and internationalballetfestival.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.