Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special, the

Kennedy Center Honors The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...

, and the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons ...

Education

Villella enrolled in the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

at age ten, and then the

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was ...

, but then interrupted his dance studies to complete his college education. He attended the New York Maritime Academy, where he lettered in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and was a championship boxer. He graduated with a marine science degree in 1957, and rejoined the School of American Ballet.

Career

Villella became a member of the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company ...

in 1957, rising to soloist in 1958 and principal dancer in 1960, last dancing there in 1979. Among his most noteworthy performances were Oberon in

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

's ballet ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

'' (with music by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

), ''

Tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

'', '' Rubies'' in the Balanchine ballet ''

Jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

'', and ''

Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father) is one of the parables of Jesus Christ in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. Jesus shares the parable wit ...

''. Villella was the first American male dancer to appear with the Royal Danish Ballet, and the only American ever asked to dance an encore at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He danced at the inaugural for President John F. Kennedy, and performed for Presidents

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

, Nixon, and Ford. He won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1975 for his CBS television production of Balanchine's ''

Harlequinade ''Harlequinade'' is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th cent ...

''. He danced in two television versions of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaik ...

'' (in different roles), in a ballet film version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', and in a 1966 TV production of ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song "Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a m ...

'', in which he played the tragic suitor Harry Beaton. During the 1960s he and his dancing partner Patricia McBride, who starred together in a 1965

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

version of ''The Nutcracker'', appeared often on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

''. In 1973, Villella appeared as himself in an episode of '' The Odd Couple'' titled "Last Tango in Newark" during which he said (much to Felix's dismay) that he always wanted to be a professional football player and that he took up ballet to meet girls; his son, Roddy, also appeared. In 1983, Villella guest-starred on the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

''.

Directorships

After retirement as a performer, Villella was the artistic coordinator of the

Eglevsky Ballet Eglevsky can refer to: * André Eglevsky André Eglevsky (21 December 19174 December 1977) was a Russian-born ballet dancer and teacher who studied in France and, from 1932, danced with Colonel W. de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo for sev ...

from 1979 to 1984 and the director of Ballet Oklahoma (now

Oklahoma City Ballet The Oklahoma City Ballet is a professional dance company and school located in Oklahoma City. The company began under the artistic direction of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov in the Science and Arts F ...

) from 1983 to 1985. He has also been artistic advisor to

New Jersey Ballet The New Jersey Ballet is a ballet company based in Livingston, New Jersey in the United States, founded in 1958 by native New Jerseyan Carolyn Clark and her fellow dancer, George Tomal. History Carolyn Clark's mother established New Jersey Sc ...

since 1972 and currently is a special artist at New Jersey School of Ballet. He was named founding artistic director of Miami City Ballet in 1985 and served in that role until 2012.

Awards and honors

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

Golden Plate Award, 1971 * Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special for "

" from ''The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People'', 1975 * Kennedy Center Honoree, 1997 *

, 1997 * Named the Dorothy F. Schmidt artist-in-residence at

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-c ...

, 2000 *

Florida Artists Hall of Fame Florida Artists Hall of Fame recognizes artists who have made significant contributions to art in Florida. It was established by the Florida Legislature in 1986. There is a Florida Artists Hall of Fame Wall on the Plaza Level in the rotunda of the ...

, 2007 * National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, 2009

Personal life

Villella and his wife

Linda Carbonetto Linda Carbonetto, married names: Engel, Villella (born April 12, 1949) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. She is the 1969 Canadian national champion and competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics. She was born in New York City and raised i ...

, a former Olympic figure skater, married in April 1981. They have two daughters named Lauren and Crista. Villella also has a son, Roddy, with his first wife, former

dancer Janet Greschler, to whom he was married from 1962 to November 1980.

References

External links

* ''Miami City Ballet''
Kennedy Center biography of Edward Villella
*
Edward Villella performs in ''Reflections In Space'' on archive.org

Edward Villella performs in ''Brigadoon'' on archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villella, Edward Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni American male ballet dancers American choreographers United States National Medal of Arts recipients American people of Italian descent Kennedy Center honorees People from Bayside, Queens Emmy Award winners 1936 births Living people New York City Ballet principal dancers School of American Ballet alumni