Youth America Grand Prix celebrates Julio Bocca on his 50th Birthday, as part of its Legends in Dance series, this Friday, 14 April. For Bocca, returning to New York has a strong, emotional impact.

I’m staying at a hotel across the road from the Lincoln Center, where the gala will take place. Yesterday, I went onto the hotel’s terrace with a glass of champagne, and looked down on it with tears in my eyes as I have so many memories of dancing here. I can only say thank you, as this city… this country… opened its arms to me when I was very young; an embrace that continued for twenty years! And now, again! To have something like this, now, here, ten years after I retired and just after my fiftieth birthday, right here in the Big Apple and at the Lincoln Center is just amazing. I’m feeling very excited and emotional.
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