(47) Part I: Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer & Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director

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This week we present our first episode recorded on our Conversations on Dance New York Tour sponsored by DanceWear Corner.  Today we start with the first of three installments with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer & Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director.  Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970.  Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others (tune into Episode Two to hear him speak more in depth on these specific ballets.)  Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.”  After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.)  Today we talk about his start in ballet, his time at the New York Maritime Academy, how he came back to ballet, and his early years in the company.