Edward Villella had to punch a few people on his way to the New York City Ballet.

Growing up in a first-generation Italian family in a working-class Queens neighborhood, Villella played baseball and became a champion welterweight boxer. But he also wanted to pursue dancing, an art other boys in the neighborhood didn't appreciate in 1945.

"I started punching people out when I was about 10," he says.

But Villella persevered to become perhaps the most influential American male ballet dancer of the 20th century. George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins choreographed their breakthrough modern dances for his athletic abilities.

Now Villella is the artistic director of the Miami City Ballet, which 10 years after its founding is considered one of the foremost companies in the country. So their appearance next week at Southeast Missouri State University is quite a coup for the school's dance program and director Dr. Marc Strauss.

Villella will teach a master class from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Parker Dance Studio. Fifty students of varying ages have registered for the class.

Villella also will give a free lecture titled "Dance Is a Contact Sport" from 9:30-10:45 a.m. Oct. 22 in Kent Library Little Theatre.

He will narrate as members of the Miami City Ballet will perform from 5:30-7 p.m. Oct. 22 in Academic Auditorium.

The program includes the George Gershwin-inspired "Who Cares?," with choreography by Balanchine, Paul Taylor's "Company B" with music by the Andrews Sisters, and "Big Band Supermegatroid."

Miami City Ballet choreographer Jimmy Gamonet de Los Heros choreographed the last using music from the Big Band era.

Villella was the principal male dancer for the New York City Ballet form 1956 to 1975. He changed things in the world of dance. "When I was starting out, the American male classical dancer was not viewed as anything other than overly sensitive, overly poetic," he said.

Villella brought, athleticism, speed and strength to the stage, and his dancers spend six to eight hours a day in physical activity.

Positive energy, joy and athletic attack are the hallmarks of his dancing style, Villella said.

A recent recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, Villella said his training as a fighter is apparent in the style of dancing he teaches. He is interested in "controlled abandon."

"I want to see people move and reflect music, for people to move with a sense of abandon," he said. "I don't want to see gesture coming at you. It's like a fighter telegraphing a punch."

The Miami City Ballet will be seen by audiences in Cape Girardeau and also in Warren County thanks to the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Program for Leading Dance Centers. The program provided a $400,000 four-year grant to Dance St. Louis help make dance more accessible to people's everyday lives.

"The whole point is to bring internationally-renowned American dance companies into places like Cape Girardeau," said Sally Brayley Bliss, executive director of Dance St. Louis.

"To my knowledge it has never been done like this before."

Bliss is a former dance partner of Villella's and remains friends with the dancer. But she said their friendship had nothing to do with bringing the Miami City Ballet to Missouri.

"It just makes it sweeter," she said.

After parts of the company perform in Cape Girardeau and Warren County, the 45 members will regroup for shows Oct. 23-24 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis.

Brayley Bliss says Villella's programming of jazzy swing dance makes this a perfect introduction to rural audiences.

"Many people who never get a chance to see dance or even symphony, opera, or theater by major companies, it's because they're afraid of it," she said. "They think it's something only for the elite.

"That's completely a misconception. Dance is for everyone. It should be in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Warren County."

But getting boys into the dance studio is still difficult, Villella acknowledges. "It's a national problem. There is a group of people who do not respect the awarenesses and sensitivities of poets and painters. Artists of all stripe are basically considered odd."

Exposure to the arts and to artists can change that thinking "when they see the dimension of the work involved and the great dancers of the day doing incredible physical and dynamic feats," Villella said.