In soccer-mad Uruguay, boys should try ballet too, says Cavani

CANBERRA:

Edinson Cavani has swapped football boots for ballet shoes to help popularize classical dance for boys and smash stereotypes in his native Uruguay.

As the football world speculates on the 33-year-old's future, Cavani donned tights at the Uruguay National Ballet school in Montevideo recently to lend himself to efforts to get young boys in soccer-mad Uruguay to take up ballet.

"I don't share the view that every boy has to play only soccer," the long-haired striker told AFP.

"I believe that girls and boys have to be free to seek their happiness in what they are most passionate about, because that's the best way to be well-trained, growing day by day in a firm structure," said Cavani.

Paris Saint-Germain's all-time record scorer has ended his contract with the French champions and is a free agent, with clubs like Italy's Juventus and Atletico Madrid circling for his signature. 

Before heading back to Europe to find a new club, Cavani accepted an invitation from the National School for Artistic Training (ENFA) to take part in a campaign to increase the recruitment of young boys in Uruguay's national ballet school.

Trading his body-swerves and step-overs for pirouettes and "glissades," Cavani was put through his paces by professional dancers at the Sodre, Uruguay's National Ballet company, before recording a video message to kids.

"The experience was incredible, the dancers explained to me how to do the steps and when I saw them, I was left with a real sense of admiration! Because dance is something wonderful," he said.

The Uruguayan striker told AFP the link with ballet came via his wife Jocelyn Burgardt, who has a degree in cultural management.

"My life partner is passionate about dance. That's why when we were in Paris we went to see the ballet where we had a great time and really enjoyed it."

Tiny Uruguay has always punched above its weight on the world soccer stage, twice winning the World Cup. 

In large part, it's down to what they call "Garra Charrua" -- a fighting spirit rooted in the culture of the country's last indigenous people, the Charruas, and the silky skill of players like Cavani. 

But Cavani's message is that Uruguay's young men should not be afraid to embrace their graceful side too.

- Gender gap -

Of the 440 students attending ENFA's classes in ballet, contemporary dance, tango, folklore and lyrical art, less than a quarter are boys.

And the proportion drops drastically in dance: 148 girls to 12 boys, during a period when the Sodre has emerged as one of the most prestigious ballet companies in Latin America.

"The gender gap is not narrowing, not even in tango. And it hasn't changed in recent years," said Natalia Sobrera, executive director of ENFA.

Sobrera said that when boys do enroll, many drop out of classes early because of a lack of family support.

"Then there's all the peer pressure! There are a lot of boys who hide their ballet shoes in their backpacks -- sometimes even from their fathers, because they don't like them coming," she said.

So the campaign fronted by Cavani is aimed at families, as much as boys themselves. 

For little boys, there are no prejudices, "it's a physical experience, where you acquire habits of movement, like in soccer," said Sobrera.

With adults, however, there is work to do to rid them of preconceived notions about dance and gender, she said.

"Dance has nothing to do with the question of masculinity."