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Villella: dance and guys — 12 Comments

  1. He’s got the face of a warrior and a scholar. (I won’t even mention the mannerisms and voice of Al Pacino, that can’t be anything but good, right?)

    Neo, you were right. I watched the first minute or two and was fascinated.

    His oral delivery is tortured but it’s not bad for that and one gets this sense of a boiling energy and at some moments I expected him to burst into tears or flame or laughter or something, anything, because words just weren’t doing it. Most of all, what comes through, is humility.

    Minute eleven is very touching.

    “Dance showed me how to swim in time.”

    ” . . . dance gave me the freedom and knowledge to move . . .”

    Wow. Another way of expressing the theme of Neo’s sonnet, as well.

    Freedom for a few is found when love meets form.

  2. Great stuff. But i’m pretty sure that must be the Sugar Ray of the Robinson variety and not the Leonard.

  3. I saw him dance in the early 70’s in Norfolk,Va and met him several years ago at a performance in Miami. A real gentleman and to the untrained eye a great dancer. Neo what were your reservations about his technique?

  4. SteveH and KLSmith: of course! I knew that, sort of—after all, I remember both of them—but had a little brain glitch there.

    Corrected.

  5. I’ve never followed Villella’s career, but I seem to remember that he was on an episode of the Odd Couple TV show.

  6. Re: Sugar Ray. Athletes are athletes be they boxers, golfers, dancers. etc. LeBron would have been an amazing tight end in football. Tiger could have probably been…anything. Kind of cool when you see a clear example of that.

  7. He IS gorgeous! (But his wife is no slouch either, unfortunately for all of us with crushesj.

    I grew up on Miami Beach, and I remember when he was signed to be Director. It’s actually the Miami Beach Ballet but serves the Miami Arts community so often goes by moniker of Miami Ballet. I remember when they built the ballet’s building — right around corner from my high school and next to the Miami Beach Public Library. The building was designed such that people could view dancers rehearsing through windows designed for just that purpose.

    And it was thrilling to get Mr. Vallella to take the leadership of the troupe. Not sure what’s going on now. My Dad was at the Ballet on Fri. Nite. He NEVER in his life went to the ballet — until the whole new Center for the Arts in Miami was built in downtown Miami and it was a huge deal and many of his friends — heck most people who cared about the arts donated to get the thing done. And then when Miami (Beach) acquired its own corps de ballet, headed by Edward Vallella — who has done a wonderful job, it’s become a staple of the arts scene.

    I grew up with no arts, no museums, no nothing! I’ve always attributed a great deal of expansion in the arts to the influx of Cubans who supported the arts in a big way — Now Miami has its own Ballet, it has it’s own museums, it’s own symphony, and even Art Basel which is as huge art exibition and market — maybe the largest in the world except for the original Art Basel at of Switzerland. People come from all over the world to see artists and dealers, representatives, and personal buyers of art. Miami has turned into a happening place!

    My almost 90-yr. old father has season tickets and loves it — he went last Fri night and he has actually learned enough to give quite fair critiques for someone who had never seen a performance before some 8, maybe 10 yrs. ago. I’ll have to check with him and see if there isn’t more local gossip about this early Vallella retirement. I am shocked, and obviously many others are too. I’ll let Neo now if I hear anything and she can deside if it merits space on the blog for follow-up.

  8. stu: my reservations about his technique are things like feet and turnout. His feet were not as stretched as they should/could have been, nor was his turnout that good. He was of a type of dancer that is less flexible naturally and more strong, which in his case was part of his intense appeal (they tend to be very good jumpers, which Villella was, and quick as well). Some dancers, though, have it all (extreme strength and flexibility)—such as, for example, Barishnikov.

    But don’t get me wrong—I LOVED Villella.

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