when he thinks where he will be in a few years, Belén Riverol He sighs deep and smiles. He returns to the days of his adolescence walking the streets of Morón, in the West Buenos Aires, where he learned to dance before learning to dream in English. And, in the present time, it looks like a woman who left everything to prove that dreams can take shape beyond desire, even in the Mecca of the show, Los Angeles.
It also looks a little further. “My greatest wish is to be in a Super Bowl”he says and feels that he has everything to achieve it. Three years ago, as in an epiphany he had the strong desire to leave his career as a lawyer and devote himself to dance.
The days of isolation during the Coronavirus pandemic filled their minds with thoughts, but also of strategies and conclusions that today, they realize, were successful. “While I waited for the answer to my visa’s order, every day I was running. I stopped in the church, I prayed, I returned to my house, I went to the gym and every night I meditated and saw myself in Los Angeles. That was my only thought, my only subject and my routine, ”he tells Infobae.
Bethlehem is 27 years old and lives in the city to which he arrived pushed by the conviction that his place is in the universe of entertainment and not in an office. The sitting hours, sometimes depressing, were very contrary to their restless spirit.
He says that in Buenos Aires he studied law, he received, and worked in legal studies, but he did, “For having a plan B”. His plan A was always another: dance. And do it at the highest level. “If I was going to pursue a vocation, I wanted to see how high I could arrive. In dance, the top is in Hollywood”, He summarizes and demonstrates the confidence he always had in his talent.
Despite that security, for years he let himself be overcome and that idea until it seemed distant, almost unattainable. But the pandemic that paralyzed the world changed everything. “The forced confinement gave me time to stop, think and reconfigure my way ”remember. It was when, as a bettor who feels the blow of luck, who made a bold decision: to leave his job, his professional career and his country to settle in the United States.
“I found a program to work as a babysitter that allows me to be here two years. In my free time (work from 9.00 to 17.00) I can train. It is amazing because I trained with dancers and local choreographers that I followed through the networks Because Los Angeles dancers are our aspiration for the dancers of Argentina, ”he admits about the days when his dream began to come true.
After pauses, he acknowledges: “I always thought that coming to Los Angeles was a dream for another life. I thought: I need money, papers, contacts. But with the pandemic I encouraged. I felt that if I did not try, I was going to stay with doubt all my life.”
They say that if a person wishes something with all his might, the universe puts everything in his favor. That feels Bethlehem that happened to him. In 2022 he definitely moved to Los Angeles.
There, his first goal was to train, learn from the best, and then return to Argentina. But his talent caught the attention of local choreographers. The scholarships, contacts and opportunities that said he had not mistaken were arrived. “They started seeing me, they started calling me, they scholarship me. There I thought: Maybe yes, maybe I can stay.”he says and relives with a knot in his throat his own emotion.
But to continue there, I needed to have the permission known as “Talent visa”. “It is a permit reserved for people with extraordinary skills in art, sport or science, which must demonstrate that their work represents a benefit for the United States. It is one of the most difficult to obtain. The majority of artists hired lawyers to assemble the files,” he explains.
Bethlehem, determined to save the 10 thousand dollars that the procedure costs, did it alone. He applied his legal knowledge and studied the American immigration law from end to end. “I read the whole law every night, as if it were an exam. I didn’t want anything to escape,”admit. “I had to prove that I could be a cultural contribution to this country”add.
Her desire made her led her to be the protagonist of some journalistic notes that then served to add them to the letters of recommendation, a history that they asked, and with everything in hand – and crossing the fingers – presented the request.
“I waited three months! I can’t explain what I felt at the time of receiving the news. I wanted to record my reaction to have that moment of memory, for a lifetime. It’s something that I never want to forget“, Says excitedly.
When his visa was approved he cried a lot and is moved to remember it. “I couldn’t believe that something so impossible would have become real. I started crying like never before, “he says with a laugh.” I said: if I achieved this alone, without paying a lawyer, then I can do anything. “Confident in his talent, he started the adventure.
That visa achieved allows you to live and work as an artist for three years. Currently, Bethlehem moves in an environment that years ago seemed unattainable. He was part of video clips, shows and flashmobs, worked with emerging artists, danced in events with figures such as Bad Bunny y Mariah Careyand integrates El Staff de La Bresh in its presentations in the United States. It is also part of the class circuit with recognized choreographers, some of which worked with Demi Lovato, Beyoncé y 50 Cent. “A few days ago I went to see Beyoncé. His dancers are my teachers. It is crazy to think that I am next to people that I used to see as gods, untouchable, ”says happy.
“Knowing that I opened a door that seemed closed is beautiful”
His next objective, says Belén, is to achieve an agency that represents it and allows him to access closed auditions, one of the usual mechanisms in the American entertainment industry. “Here the big artists do not do open auditions. The producers call the agencies and ask for their top 50 of dancers. Without agency, many doors do not open, ”he explains.
Although his biggest dream is to dance in the Super Bowl, he also yearns to be part of the Coachella Valley y Represent Argentina in Lollapalooza as part of an international star team. “I want the boys in Argentina to see me dance next to their idols and say: ‘She is Argentina like me!’ That would be a dream fulfilled”, Admits excited.
Its history today inspires other Argentine dancers who follow their process closely. Many write to know how he succeeded. “When they saw that they approved the visa, many told me that I had inspired them. And that was as strong as obtaining the visa itself. Knowing that I opened a door that seemed closed is beautiful”, He trusts.
Belén knows that he can be where he wants to be, but also that nothing is guaranteed. “I am getting closer to fulfilling my dreams, but to continue fighting for them, I need the immigration situation to accompany me.”
When you see again in a few years, repeat: “I do not visualize me with a plan B. I visualize me here, fighting for my dreams. ”In his voice there is no hesitation: there is a decision, the same one he had when he left Morón to go to look for his place, not in law, but in dance. Letting his legs and his body dancing.
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