Amid a chorus of chuckles and groans, members of the Union hockey team on Tuesday did what few had ever been asked to do: point their toes and look graceful.
The occasion was a workshop by Edward Villella, former star of the New York City Ballet and founding artistic director of the Miami City Ballet. The 61-year-old ballet icon spoke while two of his company's dancers – Paige Fulleton and Arnold
Quintane — performed a series of movements to show that dance and athletics are
actually quite similar, with only a difference in execution.
Finally, it was the hockey players' turn on stage as they showed
the dancers some of their stretches and strength drills. Junior captain Mark Szucs
demonstrated a spinning drill to the applause of his teammates. Moments later Quintane did
a series of spinning leaps — in ballet style – that looked remarkably similar.
The dancer's version drew an even louder response.
Though ballet and sport use similar movements, there are more strictures
on the dancer, Villella explained. “Our job is to make the difficult look easy,”
he said. adding that dancers must project theatricality, period, style, human behavior,
manners, and relationships.
Villella was in town for his company's production of
“Supermegatroid” at Proctor's Theater. He also conducted a class for Union
dancers. Villella has had a long association with Union. He holds an honorary degree,
which he received in 1991, the year his son graduated from Union. He also visits yearly to
award the Edward Villella Fellowship to a Union dancer for an internship with the Miami
City Ballet, made possible with support from Charles Lothridge '44.