Ballet legend from Bayside choreographs a must-see, magical skating ballet--premiering Oct. 24 at Chelsea Piers NYC

BALLET GREAT AND FORMER BAYSIDE RESIDENT EDWARD VILLELLA PRESENTS “REVERIES” – A BEAUTIFUL SKATING BALLET – PREMIERES THURS., OCT. 24 AT SKY RINK, PIER 61, CHELSEA PIERS, MANHATTAN.

By Tammy Scileppi

Born and raised in Bayside, Queens, former principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, Edward Villella, now 76, is still hailed as the greatest American-born male ballet dancer of all time. He was personally trained by dance and Broadway legends George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

In January 2013 Villella moved back home to the Big Apple, after spending almost 27 years as the Founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet.

In a recent phone interview from the Manhattan brownstone he shares with his wife, Villella said, “I spent twenty-five years in Florida and I did my job, and it was time to get back to culture land. I missed all the energy, vitality and excitement…and certainly the culture of New York.”   

He also talked about visiting his old nabe, where his childhood home still stands.  It was there, in the sandlots of Bayside, that a rough and tumble boy once played stick ball with his school buddies. 

“The neighborhood has changed considerably,” he noted.  And, like many folks who look back, recalling the good old days, he admitted to having more sentimental and romantic memories of it….”

On Thursday, October 24, 2013, Villella will have the world premiere of the first ice skating ballet he has choreographed in 36 years:  Reveries.

He describes Reveries (a commissioned work by the Ice Theatre of New York) – featuring 5 couples, and set to Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite #3 in G Major – as a "lush, romantic ballet about unattainable love."  

The company is made up of 14 international, world and Olympic competitors, who are primarily ice dancers, along with US Men's Champion Ryan Bradley. 

“I found ballet music...a theme that would provide a challenge for the skaters; I wanted to put a ballet flavor into it,” Villella explained, adding, “Most of us know skating as competition, and most ice skating doesn’t have full dance quality.” 

In Reveries Villella said he wanted to help create a dialogue between the two art forms, but when he was first approached about the project, he hesitated: “It’s all fine and interesting but it’s not my vocabulary…,” he recalled saying. Well, he was proven wrong, when he met and collaborated with Ice Theatre of New York’s Artistic Director, Douglas Webster.

“Our show ICE:DANCE is a new and exciting way to see ensemble ice dancing," Webster noted. “Its goal is to take the audience on a theatrical emotional journey….

“The work is expansive and celebrates the gift of ice and what it provides: flow, push, speed and glide in an effortless way.  It’s a fantastic fusion art form, with the power to make one feel deeply and be entertained at the same time – and that, I hope, will be a catalyst to the world of performance skating, finding a new and appreciative audience to the possibilities of this wonderful theatrical skating experience.”

Villella noted, “It was a wonderful revelation for me to understand the inside of ice skating, and to get to know the skaters. They’re wonderful human beings: hardworking, dedicated….”  He said he taught them basic ballet gestures and provided “internal understanding.”

Webster said, “Working with Edward Villella has been the highlight of my entire career. Delving into the mind of a legend in the world of ballet has been nothing less than magical.  

“Edward and I shared one common language that we both spoke about often: the language of the meaning of flow.  Both skating and ballet live in the world of seamless and effortless movement, and in Edward's Reveries, we sought to create the idea that we were weaving a tapestry of flowing movement: the numerous transitions in this piece are unlike any I’ve ever worked on. 

“We all shared a deep respect for our two worlds of skating and ballet…,” Webster noted.

The last time Villella choreographed an ice ballet was in 1977, for a Dorothy Hamill TV special. It was there that he met and fell in love with the woman who would soon become his wife, world champion figure skater Linda Carbonetto, who had represented Canada in the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble.

Where: Ice Theatre of New York, the Sky Rink, Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers, Suite 308, New York, NY

When: Thurs., Oct. 24, 7:00pm

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 212-929-5811, or visit www.icetheatre.org.