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Bound for glory: the late Fernando Bujones' account of the competition that made him a star.

Article Excerpt
Fernando Bujones was a spectacular bravura technician with superb partnering skills; his stage presence blended charm, courtesy, and an impish playfulness. Exceptionally clean and effortless in his approach, he influenced many of his peers, as well as students who saw in his ease a new kind of classicism. His breakthrough came at the Varna Competition in 1974, when he was the first American male to win the gold medal. He had been director of Orlando Ballet for five years at the time of his tragic death in November. In this excerpt from the autobiography he was working on, Bujones recalls the events leading up to his triumph.

Varna! A name that will always warm my heart. The memories of winning the gold medal at the 1974 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria together with the excitement of the chaotic, draining but emotionally rewarding artistic event known as "the Olympics of Dance," will eternally light my soul, as bright as the competition's own burning torch.

It all started in 1970, when I was 15 and still a student at the School of American Ballet. One day I was glancing through DANCE MAGAZINE when I spotted a familiar face. It was Jorge Esquivel, who later became Alicia Alonso's great partner, in the Don Quixote pas de deux at the Varna Ballet Competitions. It was the first time that I had seen or read anything about any of the boys with whom I had started my ballet training in Cuba.

When I went home that day, I told Zeida, who was my dance coach and like a sister to me, and my mom that I wanted to go to Varna. My competitive spirit received a cold shower! They explained to me that to compete at Varna, you needed a lot of money. Their small income was supplemented by the allowance the School of American Ballet gave my mom as part of my scholarship, which paid the rent for our apartment. My mother said that if we could ever put together the effort for me to go to Varna, we should wait until I could compete as a "senior." My body would be stronger, I would be more mature, and I could dance a more challenging repertoire. I did not like to hear what mom and Zeida had to say, but I agreed to wait. We decided that in four more years, the year I turned 19, would be the right time to go.

My mother thought that in the coming years I would eventually forget about the competition. But I didn't forget. I worked hard in every class, in every rehearsal,...

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