Miami City Ballet Founder to be Featured in Pre-Show Talk
October 20, 2005
Renowned Miami City Ballet founding artistic director Edward Villella will be the featured speaker at a pre-performance talk on Oct. 25, Susan Thomae-Morphew, director of The University of Texas at Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center, announced.
The pre-performance talk will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the UT Tyler Braithwaite Recital Hall. Villella will discuss his career in ballet.
Currently celebrating its 20 th anniversary, Miami City Ballet will perform at 7:30 p.m. that night. The performance is a Braithwaite Performing Arts Program jointly presented by the UT Tyler Cowan Center and East Texas Symphony Orchestra.
Villella is recognized as one of America’s most notable male dancers. He was awarded the 1997 National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. That same year the Kennedy Center honoree was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
Villella danced for President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration and for Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was producer/director for the PBS series “Dance in America” for one and a half years.
“ Edward Villella is a true American legend. I grew up watching him on television and idolizing him along with Russia’s Rudolf Nureyev. He was ‘our Nureyev.’ I have seen his company, Miami City Ballet, and have waited impatiently to book them for the Cowan Center audience,” says Thomae-Morphew.
The performance repertorie includes Donizetti Variations by George Balanchine, Nine Sinatra Songs by Twyla Tharp and Stravinsky Violin Concerto by George Balanchine.
A graduate of the New York Maritime Academy, Villella obtained a bachelor’s degree in marine transportation, lettered in baseball and was a championship boxer.
He was invited to join the New York City Ballet, where he was quickly promoted to soloist and then principal dancer. Villella was the first American male dancer to perform with the Royal Danish Ballet and the only American ever to be asked to dance an encore at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
After accepting the role of founding artistic director of Miami City Ballet in 1985, Villella achieved worldwide acclaim for the company in a decade.
Mr. Villella has a son and two daughters and married a former Olympic figure skater and Founder/Director of Miami City Ballet School.
The Miami City Ballet is an international company featuring dancers from several countries including Germany, China, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Mexico, France and Brazil.
For ticket information, contact the UT Tyler Cowan Center box office, 903.566.7424.
Box office hours are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6:30 p.m. performance night.
