Edward Villella founded Miami City Ballet in 1986 and led it to become one of the country’s top ten ballet companies before his departure in 2012. Through his longtime association as a star of the New York City Ballet and the originator of many roles in the ballets of George Balanchine, Villella acquired many masterworks from the Balanchine canon such as Rubies. One of the founding members of the company was Yanis Pikieris, the Venezuelan soloist seen here who had previously danced at the Pillow in 1981 with his wife and partner, Marielena Mencia. Balanchine’s original conception for Square Dance in 1957 included onstage fiddlers and a traditional square dance caller who called out rhymed directions to the dancers. He revised the dance in 1976, eliminating the caller and relegating the musicians back to the pit, while adding this male solo. Since 2012, Miami City Ballet has been under the leadership of Lourdes Lopez.
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