Streaming file 1, October 13, 2021 (approximately one hour and 53 minutes). Edward Villella speaks with Robert Greskovic about his family and childhood in Bayside, Queens (New York, N.Y.) including the date of his birth (January 1, 1936) and his parents Mildred and Joseph Villella; participating in the recitals organized by Jean Kresa, a voice teacher; attending ballet classes with his sister Carol at the Anne Garrison School of Dance; how, at his mother's initiative, he and Carol came to take class at SAB (School of American Ballet); more about his parents; his impressions of SAB including his first sighting of George Balanchine; reminiscences of Felia Doubrovska, Anatole Oboukhoff, and Pierre Vladimirov; the High School of Performing Arts where he first met his lifelong friend Arthur Mitchell; leaving SAB to his father's delight when Carol quit; how he came to attend the New York State Maritime College, at age 16; his time at the College including his training at sea; his return to SAB while still at the College, including Lincoln Kirstein's financial help; while still at the Maritime College, being attacked and seriously beaten by a group of "paratroopers" in Bayside; joining the New York City Ballet; soon being cast in substantial understudy roles including how this may have contributed to the departure of some of the other male dancers; dancing in Balanchine's ballets as an education in itself; Stanley Williams and his class including as compared to Balanchine's class; being cast by Jerome Robbins in his Afternoon of a faun, including how fortunate he felt to have Allegra Kent as a partner; an anecdote about Robbins' comments to him after a performance; performing in Gene Kelly's television production Dancing: a man's game, including Balanchine's disapproving remark; an anecdote about how his father, who had strongly objected to Villella's becoming a ballet dancer, became an ardent fan; being cast in the title role in Balanchine's The prodigal son with Diana Adams as the Siren; learning the role with relatively limited guidance from Balanchine; an anecdote about why Balanchine chose him; his impressions of Adams; (briefly) his role as the Prince of Lorraine in Balanchine's "lost" ballet Figure in the carpet; his involvement with Arthur, Sybil Christopher's discotheque; an anecdote about dancing an encore of his solo in Balanchine's Donizetti variations while on tour in the (former) Soviet Union in 1962; an anecdote about Balanchine and Villella's costume; the "lost" Balanchine ballet Electronics (1961) including the costumes and reasons Balanchine dropped it from the repertory; 1962 as the year in which he married his first wife, Janet Greschler, and danced in the musical comedy Brigadoon at [New York] City Center; creating his own solos for Brigadoon with the initially reluctant acquiescence of Agnes de Mille; Balanchine's ballet A midsummer night's dream in which he was cast as Oberon; Balanchine's teaching him the steps for his variation only days before the premiere and Kirstein's telling Williams that he was afraid Villella would ruin the ballet; Williams' instructing him in the mime for the role; Balanchine's rare words of praise to Villella the morning following the premiere; (very briefly) his role as Satan in Balanchine's Noah and the flood; Balanchine's Bugaku, which he made on him and Kent in 1964; how he felt about dancing this ballet; Balanchine's Tarantella (1964), which Balanchine made on him and Patricia McBride; the extraordinary stamina required to perform this work including an anecdote about a dancer he coached in the role; Balanchine's teaching him the role of Harlequin for his Harlequinade (1965) including the mime parts; Balanchine's love of wordplay; an anecdote about Balanchine introducing him as a mafioso at a shoe store in Italy.
Streaming file 2, October 14, 2021 (approximately one hour and 45 minutes). Edward Villella speaks with Robert Greskovic about the reasons Balanchine was not happy with the music (electronic tape by Remi Gassmann in collaboration with Oskar Sala) for the 1961 ballet Electronics and subsequently scotched the ballet; his memories of Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg in which he danced with Allegra Kent including why he thought Kent was an ideal partner; Balanchine's coaching him on his partnering in The prodigal son; Villella's Narkissos (1966) in which he danced the lead with Patricia McBride as Echo; the challenges of choreographing this work; the "idea man" William D. Roberts; (briefly) Balanchine's ballet Jewels, in particular the Rubies section; his and McBride's rapport; Balanchine's Glinkiana, which Villella staged on the Miami [City] Ballet; having to design a repertory that would be appropriate for the audiences in each of Miami City Ballet's main four venues; Jerome Robbins' Dances at a gathering including how it originated with Balanchine's encouraging Robbins to expand on a pas de deux Robbins had created for him and McBride; an anecdote about the stage hands and the spot where Villella touches the floor in this work; working with Robbins including an anecdote about Robbins rehearsing a female understudy for his role; an anecdote about a contentious exchange between Robbins and Jacques D'Amboise; Balanchine's Theme and variations, which he first danced with Violette Verdy and ten years later Gelsey Kirkland; Verdy as a partner; D'Amboise's style of partnering compared to his; Kirkland as a partner including an anecdote about their dancing together in The nutcracker; reminiscences of Igor Youskevitch and Erik Bruhn, both of whom he admired; his sense that Bruhn was not completely comfortable with Balanchine and his ballets; Jean Babilée, whom he admired but whose style he did not wish to emulate; the context of Balanchine's remark that Villella should only work with [Igor] Stravinsky, [Jean] Cocteau, and [Pablo] Picasso; his pantomimic-acting role in Robbins' Watermill (1972) including Robbins' response to the audience's reception of this work; the challenges presented by his physicality and how he addressed them; Balanchine's Symphony in three movements including the pas de deux with Sara (Sally) Leland, which Balanchine told him was "Balinese"; more on Watermill; Balanchine's [and Robbins'] Pulcinella including his impressions of Balanchine's performance as a beggar; Balanchine as Don Quixote [in his ballet Don Quixote]; (briefly) reminiscences of Eugene Berman; his very limited recollection of Balanchine's Shéhérazade; his performance at a White House reception presided over by President Gerald Ford; 1975 as his last full year with New York City Ballet; (briefly) in 1976 choreographing a television special on CBS in 1976 entitled Harlequin; between 1979 and 1983 taking on various engagements including artistic director with the Eglevsky Ballet and the Oklahoma City Ballet; reasons this was a difficult period for him, in particular his fraught relationship with his former wife and limited access to their son Rodney; André Eglevsky including some of his roles with New York City Ballet; an anecdote about a disagreement with Eglevsky; his belief that by performing throughout the United States he showed the public an image of male ballet dancers with which they could be comfortable; in 1982 producing and directing the television program entitled Dancing Bournonville [Bournonville Dances] for [Great Performances:] Dance in America, including the pleasure of working with Stanley Williams; Peter Martins, in particular their less than warm relationship; reasons he did not work on any further programs with Dance in America; working with Arlene Croce on the script and their continuing friendship; his feeling that he was very fortunate to have worked with a genius like Balanchine.
Streaming file 3, October 15, 2021 (approximately one hour and 36 minutes). Edward Villella speaks with Robert Greskovic about meeting his second wife Linda Carbonetto in connection with choreographing a Canadian television special for Dorothy Hamill; reminiscences of Balanchine's final days; soon after Balanchine's death, discussing the future of New York City Ballet with Peter Martins and Stanley Williams; an anecdote about his conversation with Lincoln Kirstein regarding Yanis Pikieris and [Marielena] Mencia; his friend Kent Kresa including an anecdote about his advice to Villella regarding Villella's accent; his experience as resident artist at West Point [United States Military Academy West Point]; the enormous influence of Williams and Balanchine on him as teachers; anecdotes about his experiences as a teacher at La Scala [Teatro alla Scala] and at the Paris Opera [Opéra de Paris Ballet]; some of the ballet teachers whose classes he sampled in his exploration of teaching techniques; how he interprets Balanchine's words "the floor upon which we dance is the music"; what he meant when he told Arlene Croce "dancing is about freedom and not discipline" [in her two-part profile of Villella in The New Yorker, November 1988]; possible reasons he was not asked to participate in the 1984 documentary about Balanchine [originally broadcast on the PBS television program American masters]; Balanchine as a person including his view of female dancers' marrying; an anecdote about a conversation with Kirstein when Kirstein was in the hospital; (briefly) his relationship with Jerome Robbins; an anecdote about a prank he played on Jacques D'Amboise; his approach to teaching the role of the Prodigal Son [brief interruption]; his approach to teaching the role of Oberon; his performing of the role of Oberon in essentially the same manner with different partners; his character-based approach to Bugaku, specifically his "sense of samurai"; teaching his role in Rubies including his emphasis that the dancer familiarize himself with the music and understand this work's playfulness and wit; Kirstein's remark to him that he had to "make his own comment" on the occasion of his first performance of Balanchine's Agon; his founding of the Miami City Ballet including his realization that the company would have to perform in several cities if it were to survive financially; Toby [Lerner] Ansin and her role in the founding of the company; how Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Naples became the primary Florida venues for the new company.
Streaming file 4, October 20, 2021 (approximately one hour and 45 minutes). Edward Villella speaks with Robert Greskovic about finding venues and developing support for Miami City Ballet; in the company's second year (1987-1988) starting to tour including how this raised the company's profile and attracted donors; his vision of the company as modeled on New York City Ballet but with a repertory that included 19th century ballets; developing the company's repertory based on the principle that "slower is faster"; his daughter Crista Villella; the role of his wife, Linda, in creating the school (Miami City Ballet School); Linda's friendship with Kay Mazzo including how this led to the creation of a summer program with free tuition for SAB students; Linda's recruiting of Brazilian and Mexican dancers; finding dancers for the company in its first year including Yanis Pikieris and Marielena Mencia; the repertory in the first year including Balanchine's Allegro brillante and Tchaikovsky pas de deux and Dick [Richard] Tanner's new work El amor brujo; Jimmy Gamonet de Los Heros, who left the Oklahoma City Ballet to become resident choreographer for the company; reasons Gamonet left the company [after 15 years] including presenters' insistence on Balanchine works; the attempted intimidation he faced from some members of the expatriate Cuban community in Miami in regard to his artistic choices; he names some of the choreographers whose works he staged on the company including Danny [Daniel] Levins, José Limón, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Lew Christensen, August Bournonville, and Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and choreographers whose work he commissioned including Gamonet, Twyla Tharp, and Liam Scarlett; he speaks about how he first came to commission Scarlett to create a work for the company; eventually adding Balanchine's The nutcracker and Jewels to the repertory; finding the children to perform in The nutcracker; its cost as the reason he never staged Balanchine's A midsummer night's dream; the company's response to the AIDS crisis; funding, in particular dealing with donors who wanted greater control as the price of their support; the creation by board members of an additional board as a means of exerting greater control over the company; the pressure to add Romeo and Juliet to the repertory, including why, even with the costs of the initial production covered, this would have strained the finances of the company; the company's very successful performances at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, France including an anecdote about a donor's confusing of Balanchine's Square dance with his Western symphony; the circumstances of his departure from the company in 2012 including his original plan to retire at age 79 with Jennifer Kronenberg as his replacement; his good relationship with most of his dancers; his coaching of New York City Ballet dancers in some of his former roles including why he finds this so rewarding; his continuing connections with his classmates from the New York State Maritime College including the recent 64th reunion; his having confronted people who have written untruths about him; his intention to write a book about the company; his current involvement in a lawsuit [brought by Toby Lerner Ansin in 2018]; more about the circumstances of his departure from the company; moving back to New York City where he and his wife now live; more on his plan to write a book.