Julio Bocca, Former Star Dancer, to Run Argentina’s National Ballet

Julio Bocca, the most famous Argentine dancer in recent memory, will be the next artistic director of Argentina’s national ballet company, starting in February, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires announced Tuesday.

As a star of American Ballet Theater, Bocca was known for his ardor and for his explosive onstage chemistry with the ballerina Alessandra Ferri. When he retired from ballet in 2007, the expectation was that he might one day direct Argentina’s national ballet troupe, based at the grand and venerable Teatro Colón. Now that has become a reality.

The Colón, where Bocca was trained and began his professional career, has long suffered from work inefficiencies, rivalries and labor unrest.

“What I want,” Bocca said in a video call from Buenos Aires, “is for this company to find its place among the best in the world. I want what happens inside the Teatro Colón to be as celebrated as the theater itself.”

Bocca, 57, will be the linchpin of a new leadership team at the Teatro Colón, including new directors for the opera and symphony orchestra, led by the Uruguayan Gerardo Grieco, an experienced manager, who recently became the theater’s general director. Bocca and Grieco worked together at the Ballet Nacional Sodre in Montevideo, Uruguay, where Bocca was the director from 2010-17.

Bocca twice turned down offers from the Colón. He was interested, he said, but “each time, when I gave my conditions, I was told that they were simply impossible to meet.”