Arts & Culture on the Pacific Rim : A SPECIAL REPORT : In Colombia, He Had to Hide His Dancing

The number from “A Chorus Line” about the boy who became a dancer from following his sister to her dance classes is a familiar story to Colombian-born Ricardo Bustamante, now a prominent soloist with American Ballet Theatre. When Bustamante was 6, his older sister was acting as his baby-sitter and took him along to her class.

“I got caught up in the environment, the music and the movement,” the 26-year-old Bustamante recalled recently. His enthusiasm and drive have not left him on his journey from Medellin, the Colombian city of his youth, to San Francisco, where he became a leading member of the San Francisco Ballet, to American Ballet Theatre.

Just being a ballet student in Medellin was a challenge. During his early years of study Bustamante was the lone male in a class full of girls. “It wasn’t a good thing for a boy to be doing,” Bustamante explained. “It was something that I really had to hide from everybody.”

“When I graduated to a higher level, there were older male dancers in the classes, but nobody I could really look up to.” He found models to emulate by seeking out ballet videotapes, watching the performances of Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bustamante’s future boss.

Bustamante did have a supportive environment at home: He comes from a family that is involved in many artistic pursuits. “I have many cousins who are musicians and singers, and my sisters are fashion designers and graphic artists,” Bustamante said. His father is a painter, and his father’s father made handcrafted wooden furniture. On his mother’s side, his grandfather was a pianist and opera singer, and there are three uncles who are opera singers.

Even with this background, Bustamante did encounter some initial reservations from his father: “He didn’t think he wanted his boy to do ballet, especially when he knew what I’d have to go through for so many years, keeping it to myself.”

But Bustamante never doubted his choice. He took classes for eight years, at first just an hour once a week, but eventually more often. True to the “Chorus Line” number, his sister abandoned ballet after two years. His only teacher was Kiriel Pikieris, a former Ballet Russe dancer whose son Yannis, a medalist at several competitions, is now a leading member of the Miami City Ballet.

When Bustamante was 16, his teacher suggested it was time to go elsewhere to pursue further training. He sampled classes in various Colombian cities, and was offered a scholarship to study in Cuba, with Alicia Alonso’s company.

However, an even greater opportunity knocked. San Francisco Ballet’s 1979 South American tour brought the company to Colombia, and the eager young student, thrilled to have his first exposure to live professional performances, introduced himself to artistic director Michael Smuin. He took company class and accepted without hesitation when offered the chance to come to America and become a scholarship student at the San Francisco Ballet School in 1980.

“It was culture shock,” he acknowledged with a laugh, “especially to see how intensive and organized the school was. I felt helpless for a minute, but at the same time I was very eager, because there was a whole environment that I definitely wanted to belong to.”

Six months of diligent discipline paid off, and Bustamante joined the company. By 1983, he was a principal dancer. His repertory included such plums as the title role in Balanchine’s “Prodigal Son” and Oberon in his “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and parts created on him by Smuin and others. Even before the Smuin era drew to a close, however, Bustamante sensed he needed to move on--to New York.

In 1984, he had taken class with ABT during its annual San Francisco season, and had been offered a contract. He finished out the 1984-85 San Francisco Ballet season, the final one under Smuin, and joined ABT in the fall of 1985.

“It wasn’t an easy transition; I had a lot to sacrifice. I had a very comfortable principal position and had built up a reputation in San Francisco. But I was ready to go through the whole process again, and it brought wonderful things into my life.”

ABT gave Bustamante a corps de ballet contract and offered no promises. “I went though a year and a half earning my place and paying my dues,” he stated. A knee injury interrupted his progress for five months, but he soon was back on track, and in 1987 became a soloist.

He has amassed an impressive repertory that includes leading roles in Antony Tudor’s “Pillar of Fire” and “Dark Elegies,” a major part in Karole Armitage’s “The Mollino Room,” the male lead in “Paquita” and the matador Espada in “Don Quixote.”

The current season showcases him in four important roles that he has not previously danced in Los Angeles. The plum is Siegfried in Baryshnikov’s new “Swan Lake,” with Leslie Browne as his Odette/Odile.

Bustamante also has clearly caught Twyla Tharp’s eye. The new artistic associate has cast him in two of her new works. He joins Cynthia Gregory, Cynthia Harvey and Guillaume Graffin--three ABT principals--in “Quartet,” a compact, technically demanding work, set to a Terry Riley score, whose 15 minutes’ duration Bustamante describes as “a triathlon.” He is also featured in a more dramatic Tharp work, “Everlast” and will perform Romeo to Alessandra Ferri’s Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan’s Shakespearean ballet.

Abstract and more dramatic ballets hold equal appeal for Bustamante, although he will admit to one preference. “I am just as much in love with the classics as I’ve ever been,” he said. “I feel lucky to have such a diverse repertory. Every role I do brings a different insight and brings out a different side of me. And that’s why I like ballet so much--it allows you to express different feelings, different aspects of life.”