“17-Year-Old Classical Dancer Santino Buteler Santillán Prepares for Intensive Training in the United States”

Soon to travel to the United States to continue his professional training in classical dance, 17-year-old Santino Buteler Santillán studies, trains and rehearses intensively in Córdoba.

“I am preparing a lot, and with my work team we have incorporated a comprehensive training teacher to work on purely physical issues of classical dance”, he commented.

He also explained that apart from the work in the gym and the activity with the teacher, another important factor to enhance their performance is related to food. “I have to eat super early. I live with my uncle who helps me a lot, and together we organize ourselves more than anything with the question of meals, which must be well balanced”.

“I will travel alone because I will go to a university where they make available a dormitory in which one is alone. There is also a dining room with a buffet, and the best thing about this service is that I no longer have to think about preparing my food,” she added.

He also considered that although he will travel alone, he will feel to a certain extent accompanied because he has relatives in that far north country: “They have connected me with other people who study and make art in New York, so the expectation we have from here on forward is really very big”, he remarked.

On the other hand, he celebrated the speed with which he managed to process and obtain the visa to travel. “The truth is that I had no problems with the visa, thank God. I started the process on August 16, and on September 13, 2022 I was already in Buenos Aires doing the paperwork. I remember that the first turn that they had given us for the visa was just for 2024. But we were able to advance the turns and in mid-September I already had the visa approved, ”he celebrated.

“It’s a totally different world. I have to go, meet and see as much as I can. I do not rule out any possibility (about what may arise in terms of future activities), because it is a meeting attended by many people, teachers, workers from all sides. It may be that one is chosen by the professor of a company, the director of some project, of a school, and that there is some proposal. It’s New York! Over there they call it ‘the capital of the world’, and it must be for a reason. So we are going to be vigilant, ”he indicated.

He stressed that the main objective is to travel and improve, and stressed that the scholarship lasts a month, “in which the activities are super intensive.”

The beggining

Santino started dancing when he was 8 years old and ventured into classical dance at 14. “At 14 I got fully into classical, professionally. I joined a company, I trained intensely, I began to leave the province and participate in classes and congresses because it is a career”, he pointed out.

At this point, he referred to the festivities for the divers held by the students of the different schools, recalling that “in the year 2022 I danced in two choreographies, with two schools, mine and that of the boys from Quintana, who asked me to to help them because they needed a man”.

“I remember that from February to April 29 we rehearsed a lot, from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with the divers, and I went from rehearsing with my classmates in the Parque de los Niños to rehearsing with the other course at the Capital Sports Center,” he remarked.

He considered that it was a “very nice” stage, in which he served as a delegate of his course “and had to look for the dressmaker to make the clothes, the dj to make the hooks, talk to the organizers to see the dates and much more ”.

“It was a tremendous stress to organize all that, but although it was something small -because it was the choreography of the divers party-, the complexity and being able to carry it out allowed me to give a snapshot of what an address is like, organize a rehearsal , look for clothes, put together a wardrobe. It’s like directing a montage, but on a smaller scale, ”she stressed.

Gratitude

A few days after participating in his second scholarship abroad, Santino placed special emphasis on pointing to a moment in his beginnings in dance: “It is very important for me to highlight the support of my teacher, Marimí Basso, because I got into classical dance thanks to her. In 2019 she was the one who spoke to me to be part of the end-of-year production with The Nutcracker, to play the role of the soldier -who is the lead-, with my partner Belén Dalla Lasta. It is there when I realized that I really liked classical dance. I had always studied it, but in his study I discovered that it was what I really wanted to do. She was always helping me and pushing me in my career.”

He especially appreciated the family support, which was “fundamental because when I was younger I was ashamed to dance. And it was my aunt Mariana who kept repeating to me, go, go, go. And I cheered up. My mother, my aunt Lorena, my grandparents, all my family that was always there for me, continues to be there and always will be there.”

Finally, as a message for those who wish to venture into the world of dance, music and art in general, he suggested that they “follow your heart, think about how you feel every day. Today (with 17 years of age), I think that perhaps I will come to consider that this is not my thing, but the idea is to follow what the heart says. Perhaps one day one wants to be such a thing, another day something else, but the heart guides us. And we have to think about the future, if when we grow up we are going to be happy doing what we choose. It is leaning towards the senses, defending art and being passionate about what you do, having a vocation, personality. Intuition does not fail ”.

Text: Carlos Bulacio

Photos: Courtesy Santino Buteler