Eloy Barragán needed money, so he went to the black market in Mexico City and bought a taxi sign.

Sunup, the 16-year-old’s focus was ballet. But once the street lanterns flickered on, it was time for business. Fatigue didn’t stop Barragán from raising enough funds for airfare to spend a summer dancing up north with the Boston Ballet School.

Only a year earlier, Barragán’s older sister, Edith, coerced him to attend a ballet class. Six months later, the once-reluctant Barragán discovered he was meant to devote himself to the performing art “100 percent, all the time.” Today, Barragán continues to seek the crown of his dance career as he prepares to help his native Mexico celebrate its 200th anniversary of independence and 100th anniversary of revolution.

“It’s probably the greatest honor I could hope to receive, as a choreographer, from my country,” the 46-year-old UI dance assistant professor said. Barragán recently left for Mexico to start coordinating with the Compañía Nacional de Danza for the September 2010 celebration.

“I call dance my lover,” the Mexico native said, placing has hands over his heart and leaning forward in his black dance sweat suit. “Lovers can be very jealous. If you don’t give your lover enough attention, she will kick you out.”

That lover allows Barragán to reach out to Latino communities.

“I want the presence of Latino choreographers to be known to the whole world,” Barragán said. “If we don’t see Mexico as a part of the global history of dance, then something is missing.”

Barragán is clearly aware of his roots. The successful professor feels forever indebted to those in Mexico who supported his growth in dance.

“I want to bring arts education to the Latino community,” wherever that community may be, Barragán said.

During his time with Eugene Ballet Company and Ballet Idaho, Barragán created a bilingual program for the Latino community to promote its participation in classical dance, an art form typically viewed as dominantly white or European.

“He brought a unique cultural aspect to the company,” said Toni Pimble, Barragán’s employer and mentor in Idaho. “I remember one of the first pieces he choreographed for us … it incorporated and really showcased his Mexican heritage.” The 10-minute ballet, “Danza Danzon,” used the music of famous Mexican Arturo Marquez.

Barragán is a firm believer in the ability of dance to shape a student’s life beyond pliés and arabesques in the studio. Last year, he took the members of the UI’s Dancers in Company — of which he is the director — for a weeklong exchange with the Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Mexico.

“Eloy is really good at finding opportunities for us,” said senior Kendall Rutherford, member of Dancers in Company.

At the same time, Barragán works to advance his own career so that he may extend his outreach.

In 2008, he ventured with wife Sarah Barragán to cofound and codirect Iowa City’s new City Ballet of Iowa. For the Barragáns, dance is a chance for students to be exposed to world cultures and develop useful disciplines important for living in the real world.

“I believe every teacher is good,” he said, studying his office wall ornaments and pressing his fingertips together while formulating his thoughts. “But for us, we want to mentor [our students], and not just in dance.”