The Quotable Edward Villella

Leaving Northwestern University’s Thorne Auditorium Tuesday night, two older women couldn’t have been happier to hear dance superstar and Miami City Ballet founder Edward Villella muse on art in the flesh. “What a man,” one said twice. “What. A. Man.”

The Bayside, Queens native and unlikely hero of this genteel art form—he lettered in baseball and was a championship boxer while at the New York Maritime Academy—delivered his poetic autobiography for 40 minutes and took questions for another 20. Some choice words from the spry 74-year-old:

• On his first visit to ballet class in Queens with his sister: “It was me, 40 giggling girls and their mothers.”

• The response of School of American Ballet admissions to his mother asking whether she could enroll her son, too: “‘A son? A boy?’ they said. ‘Can he walk?’”

• About being in the studio with George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky in collaboration: “It was exhilarating. And terrifying.” 

• On partnering another dancer: “It’s a wonderful feeling, looking after a woman on stage.” 

• “Dance showed me how to swim through time,” he said.

• On his responsibility as a guardian of Balanchine’s legacy: “I was given great ballets, and it’s incumbent upon me to serve them in return.”

• About the effects on the body of a dance career: “I’ve had nine broken toes, stress fractures in both legs, have a bad back, a knee that’s been operated on and is no longer operable, and three hip operations. This is an incredible art form.”

• A correction he received as a student: “‘You have to turn everything out! Even your face!’’

• On leadership: “As the artistic director and CEO [of Miami City Ballet], I refer to myself as ‘The Adult.’”

• On fund-raising: “Miami City Ballet doesn’t have an endowment, which means [Sighs] that I have to raise in the neighborhood of seven million dollars a year.”

• On Patricia McBride, his dancing partner of many years, including on The Ed Sullivan Show: “She was the easiest to dance with, I have to say. Truly amazing.” 

• On the late Melissa Hayden, another New York City Ballet star and dance partner of Villella’s: “Millie was like, ‘[Growls] Here I come!’” 

• “[Ballet] training is far more sophisticated today.”

• “In 1957, I hadn’t even heard of sports medicine.”

• When asked whether Miami City Ballet would follow up on its astounding 2009 Chicago debut: “We would love to come to Chicago again, but one needs to be invited to do those sorts of things.”

• “If George Balanchine saw you struggling with something, he’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll make something else.’ Working with a genius like Balanchine is like going to a master tailor: You’ll always look good. And that’s our job, to look good for you guys.”

• Of the two central duets in Stravinsky Violin Concerto, performed last month by the Joffrey Ballet: “The first one is about Stravinsky divorcing his first wife, and the the other is him feeling her pain.”

• When asked whether he’s choreographed any dance himself: “Yes, a few things.…But if you’re a choreographer, then that’s what you should do.”