Conversations on Dance

As part of our New York Tour, we went to the apartment of Georgina Pazcoguin, Soloist with the New York City Ballet.  Georgina grew up in a large family in Pennsylvania.  In 2001 she attended the School of American Ballet for the year, became an Apprentice in 2002, and a corps member the following year.  In 2013 she was promoted to soloist.  Georgina has spent time performing on Broadway while continuing her ballet career: appearing in the 2016 “Cats” revival, “On the Town,” “A Chorus Line,” among others.  This extra-curricular element to her career isn’t the only thing that sets her apart.  She has said that though she loves being called a ballerina, she sees herself as the complete antithesis of the stereotypical ballerina.  So she says, “think of me as the rogue ballerina.” As we sat with Gina in her apartment, we created a video of our interview.  She sits across from us doing exercises for her knee that she recently dislocated, with her crutches in the background.  To watch our interview, visit Conversations on Dance’s YouTube Channel.  Today we talk with the Rogue Ballerina about what it was like to dance in New York in the aftermath of 911, what challenges she came up against in her first years in the company, how she created a niche for herself, and how she works to break out of it.

Welcome to our third and final installment with Edward Villella, founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet and former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet.  Today Edward talks at length about the founding of Miami City Ballet, what he learned from Balanchine about being an Artistic Director, and how he kept his dancers in mind every step of the way.  Join us at the very end of this episode for his lightening round, where he reveals what ballet he would want to dance if he could come back to the stage tomorrow.

If you missed any of our previous episodes withe Edward, please tune into episode 47 and 50 for parts 1 and 2.

 

Welcome to our third and final installment with Edward Villella, founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet and former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet.  Today Edward talks at length about the founding of Miami City Ballet, what he learned from Balanchine about being an Artistic Director, and how he kept his dancers in mind every step of the way.  Join us at the very end of this episode for his lightening round, where he reveals what ballet he would want to dance if he could come back to the stage tomorrow.

If you missed any of our previous episodes withe Edward, please tune into episode 47 and 50 for parts 1 and 2.

 

Welcome to our second installment with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer and founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet.  Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970.  Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others, which we discuss today.  Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.”  After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.)  Today Edward talks about working with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins and he tells us how he saw it as an important role to share ballet with the American Public, and how he still does.

To catch up on our first installment with Edward, tune into episode 47.

Welcome to our second installment with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer and founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet.  Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970.  Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others, which we discuss today.  Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.”  After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.)  Today Edward talks about working with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins and he tells us how he saw it as an important role to share ballet with the American Public, and how he still does.

To catch up on our first installment with Edward, tune into episode 47.

This week we are pleased to welcome Jennifer Homans, Founder & Director of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University.  Jennifer is well known in the dance world for being the author of Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.  Before publishing Apollo’s Angels in 2010, she studied at the School of American Ballet and danced professionally, most notably with Pacific Northwest Ballet.  As her career came to a close she decided to complete a higher education, graduating from Columbia University with a BA, and holds a Ph.D. in Modern European History from New York University.  For this interview, we met her in the beautiful Center for Ballet and the Arts offices at NYU as part of our New York Tour.  We talk with Jennifer today about her personal journey in the dance world, how ballet became her scholarly pursuit, Apollo’s Angels, and if she in fact still believes that ballet MAY be a dying art form.  To learn more about the Center for Ballet and the Arts, please visit balletcenter.nyu.edu or find them on social media.  Fellowship applications open August 1, and public programming resumes in the Fall.

This week we are pleased to welcome Jennifer Homans, Founder & Director of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University.  Jennifer is well known in the dance world for being the author of Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.  Before publishing Apollo’s Angels in 2010, she studied at the School of American Ballet and danced professionally, most notably with Pacific Northwest Ballet.  As her career came to a close she decided to complete a higher education, graduating from Columbia University with a BA, and holds a Ph.D. in Modern European History from New York University.  For this interview, we met her in the beautiful Center for Ballet and the Arts offices at NYU as part of our New York Tour.  We talk with Jennifer today about her personal journey in the dance world, how ballet became her scholarly pursuit, Apollo’s Angels, and if she in fact still believes that ballet MAY be a dying art form.  To learn more about the Center for Ballet and the Arts, please visit balletcenter.nyu.edu or find them on social media.  Fellowship applications open August 1, and public programming resumes in the Fall.

This week we are joined by filmmaker, Ezra Hurwitz.  Following a seven year career with Miami City Ballet, Ezra retired from the stage to study film and business strategy at Columbia University.  Since beginning his work as a dance filmmaker following his time at Columbia, he has created viral videos for numerous clients including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Kennedy Center, and most recently the New York Times.  Ezra’s work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, and the Huffington Post to name a few.  Be sure to follow our social media accounts this week as we share some of Ezra’s amazing work.  Today we talk with Ezra about his decision to leave ballet, his time at Columbia, how he got his start in film, and what’s next for him.

This week we are joined by filmmaker, Ezra Hurwitz.  Following a seven year career with Miami City Ballet, Ezra retired from the stage to study film and business strategy at Columbia University.  Since beginning his work as a dance filmmaker following his time at Columbia, he has created viral videos for numerous clients including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Kennedy Center, and most recently the New York Times.  Ezra’s work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, and the Huffington Post to name a few.  Be sure to follow our social media accounts this week as we share some of Ezra’s amazing work.  Today we talk with Ezra about his decision to leave ballet, his time at Columbia, how he got his start in film, and what’s next for him.

This week we present our first episode recorded on our Conversations on Dance New York Tour sponsored by DanceWear Corner.  Today we start with the first of three installments with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer & Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director.  Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970.  Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others (tune into Episode Two to hear him speak more in depth on these specific ballets.)  Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.”  After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.)  Today we talk about his start in ballet, his time at the New York Maritime Academy, how he came back to ballet, and his early years in the company.