Between theaters, singing, glitter, shell huts, tours and an accelerated passage through the prestigious Bim Bam Bum, the Blue Ballet became famous at such glorious levels that its members managed to ignite bohemian life in Paris.
BLUE BALLET
“Ballet of the Bim Bam Bum company”.
The simultaneous jumps, pirouettes and movements of all the dancers on stage were part of the minimum requirements with which they presented themselves to the public on stage.
Hugo Ramos Tapia, Extract from "Bohemias, cabarets y trasnochadas: los clubes nocturnos de Santiago centro (c. 1950 – 1960)"
Archives of the golden age of the Blue Ballet
In 1966 the group "Blue Ballet" was formed, a notable dance group,
unique in the history of Chilean local shows.
In Santiago (1966) La Carlina, owner of the Boîte Cabaret Bossanova, decides to give Candy and other artists a space on stage, creating the first drag show in Chile. They become a sensation; everyone wants to see them.
It is here that Candy meets the members of the Blue Ballet Solange, Alexandra, Gigi, Caprice and Monique.
In 1967, convinced by the showman Tino Ortiz, king of Arica's bohemia, the six of them leave La Carlina and the Bossanova to perform at the Manhattan in Arica. There they meet their first choreographer, designer, and mentor Fredy Tukas.
The Blue Ballet is a success in Arica, they have a contract for a month, they stay for almost a year. In Antofagasta the same story: sensation. The Café Checo in Valparaíso is the port where they stop for several months until in 1968, after defeating a moralistic boycott by the mayor and some show businessmen, led by La Carlina, they debute at Bim Bam Bum, the famous magazine company which is presented at the Opera Theatre.
In this period, they already have more than 16 works ready to perform, with their costumes and elements. Paco Mairena, choreographer from Bim Bam Bum, becomes their guardian and adoptive father. Paco writes “An American in Paris” for them, a work that makes them have multiple and demanding roles, each one of them taking their cross-dressing to the maximum. The work is a success with the public and specialized critics.
Under his tutelage they form a notable dance group, unique in the history of the national stage, at a time when it seemed impossible for a homosexual show to be popular. It is precisely the seriousness with which they work and rehearse what makes this possible and the public rewards them with their applause and assistance. The consecration is undeniable. His recreations of La Quintrala, Cleopatra or Pavlova, the Geishas, leave the public speechless. So also, the strip tease numbers where they end up naked covered only by a stole.
In May 1973, in search of new opportunities, the six embark together from Arica with Tino Ortiz on the ship "Verdi" to Genoa. After a few presentations, understanding this new scenario, Tino returns to Chile and the girls decide to separate, it is more practical in terms of work, they spread out across Europe, getting together a couple of times to perform in Germany.
“There is an untold story. In the 1960s, the Blue Ballet dance ensemble performed in mining cities such as Antofagasta and Calama, as well as in the well-known Bim Bam Bum variety theater in Santiago. There was a French trans, Candy Dubois, who would leave many seeds here in Chile.”
In the 60´s and 70´s newspapers police raids and public gay demonstrations were news, like the one that took place in the Plaza de Armas in Santiago, in April 1973 which was picked up by the press as "Queenies want more". Within the Santiago underground, a movement of awareness had been generated that believed we had rights.”
Claudia Ancapan.
Inés Giménez Delgado "Decolonizing science: stories of trans feminism in the southern cone
An untold story: From the Blue Ballet to the military repression" 2015
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