Our DANNY (flblue09) 9/15/2015

[bluepride]

Dan Levins RIP 9/15/2015

The phone rang at 0140 this morning and I knew. It was expected. Gene called and told me I was the first person he called. Dan went peacefully and Gene was able to be with him for six hours to hold his hand and say goodbye. The severe lung infection and the residual effects of his lung cancer took their toll and now he is at peace. Another brave warrior and fighter is gone. Without seeming to be engaging in yet another cliche, he was one of the most tremendous people I've ever had the honor of meeting and befriending. We go back to the very early 90's. Gene and I go back to the mid 80's. Both ground breakers and heroes for so many reasons. Gene, for all his "so-called" disabilities is one of the strongest people I've ever known. Danny was his partner, caretaker, husband, you name it and towards the end, the roles seem to have reversed. As much as we were hoping that things would get better, it wasn't to be. But Danny's pain and suffering are over. Gene's family will have to step up in a big way and I have every confidence that they will. It really hurts losing friends this way. It just never seems to stop. Danny had such a great past. He was an actor, dancer and for a time, a Police Officer in Florida. Not going to sugarcoat it....he got his share of abuse from some dickheads during his tenure back then. But he also had friends who had his back and remained friends to this day. In recent years he taught dance while still caring for Gene. It's funny...the things you think of....I always would talk to him about his role in the movie, "Grease". Dan didn't have any lines, being primarily a dancer in the film. But he was all over that movie. He stole every scene that he was in. Next time they show it on TV, which they do on a regular basis....look for him. You can't miss him! He was also in "The Turning Point" which to this day, I still haven't seen. But I will. What a great thing he did for us here by dedicating himself to the thread, "This Day In Gay History". Among his many other contributions here. A loyal, steadfast and true friend. He and Frank (burner) are probably hanging out together right now laughing at me for going on and on and babbling. They're guffawing shamelessly. The only solace, aside from his suffering ending, that I take right now is that his last words to me two Sundays ago were, "Love you". Rest In Peace, Dan. You surely deserve it. Gene will be strong and will prevail. For you.

[bluepride]

So yesterday we said goodbye to our good friend and Blue Pride member Danny. A well attended and loving sendoff to a truly remarkable man. Gene was strong throughout the day. And I was glad to hear him say that next week he will continue his therapy to help to one day enable him to walk again. He has a hard road ahead of him but I think he will be fine. If it wasn't for Danny, he would not be alive today. Danny got him out of a nursing home where he had been for years. A neglectful, awful place. And they made a home together and a life together. Danny had such a varied life with so many different experiences. As I've mentioned before....an actor, dancer, POLICE OFFICER, teacher among other things. He always gave me good advice and great counsel when I needed it.

It was very emotional watching some of his students standing at his casket and weeping. He was so loved. And the love and respect he was shown by his family, Gene's family and from all of his friends was so heartwarming to see. After the high mass we took him to his final resting place. I held my own although I came close to breaking down more than once. It's so hard to let go of someone you love. By the time I got home I was exhausted and totally spent. But I know that he is in good hands and that so many people love him.

I told Gene that I plan to once again, for maybe the 100th time, watch the movie Grease within the next few days. Seeing Dan on the screen, you can't help but smile. And right now I need some smiles. I also did little research as to the other couple of movies that he was in. And as luck would have it, The Turning Point, with Anne Bancroft, is currently streaming on Netflix. So that is in my immediate plans as well. And in December, the movie, The Goodbye Girl, will be on Turner Classic Movies. Dan was so modest that he did he never told me about the movies besides Grease! If you get the chance, check them out! But he was so much more than his acting and dancing careers.

If you've ever watched the TV show, The First 48, in its earliest seasons they concentrated on the Miami-Dade Police Department. That is where Dan worked years ago. And I used to follow the show religiously. He gave me such a kick when he told me that he knew some of the main "characters" from that show. Although it was a reality show and they were not really " characters". But he remembered them and told me that they were good guys. OK, I know I'm babbling again!

So I don't say goodbye to Dan, I say so long for now. His influence will be felt for many years to come and his love for Gene endures.

[bluepride]

A nice article written about Dan.

Daniel Levins, Dancer in Classical Ballet and Films, Dies at 61

Daniel Levins, a dancer sometimes known professionally as Daniel Levans, who gained notice as a teenager in Eliot Feld’s acclaimed American Ballet Company and as a principal dancer at American Ballet Theater in the 1970s, died on Sept. 15 in Brooklyn. He was 61.

His husband, Eugene Gabriel-Thomas Walsh, said the cause was a bacterial lung infection.

Highly trained in classical ballet by two New York City Ballet alumni, Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis, as well as by Russian and Italian teachers, Mr. Levins also danced for a season with City Ballet before he turned to acting in films, choreographing for ballet companies and Off Broadway productions, and earning a nationwide reputation as a master teacher.

He taught at Mr. Feld’s school, Ballet Tech, for 23 years until this past June.

Moviegoers saw him in a memorable if small role in “The Turning Point,” the 1977 film with Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine as two former ballerinas and old friends who chose different paths, one (Ms. MacLaine) to raise a family, the other to become a star of the ballet world. That film also introduced Mikhail Baryshnikov to the general public.

Mr. Levins (credited as Levans) did a comic turn as an arrogant young choreographer for a dance company closely resembling Ballet Theater, barking out a well-known George Balanchine dictum to dancers to forget feelings and “just do the steps.”

In the 1978 film version of the Broadway musical “Grease,” Mr. Levins’s energetic virtuosity as the boy in green in the dance finale arguably stole the show from John Travolta and the movie’s other stars.

Daniel John Patrick Levins was born on Oct. 7, 1953, in Freeport, N.Y., on Long Island, and spent his early years in upstate New York, in Ticonderoga. Of Irish descent, he began taking lessons in Irish dance and tap at 5. When he was 12 his family moved to New York City, where he studied modern dance and ballet at the High School of Performing Arts.

In 1969, when Mr. Levins was 15, Mr. Feld asked him to join the American Ballet Company, Mr. Feld’s first troupe. He became part of its creative ferment.

Later, Mr. Thomas, who was the company teacher, and Ms. Fallis, his wife, formed a student ballet company (which included their son, the actor Richard Thomas, then appearing as John-Boy on the CBS series “The Waltons”), with Mr. Levins as choreographer.

Mr. Levins joined Ballet Theater in 1971 and became a principal. He danced solo classical parts in “Swan Lake” and “Giselle” — the company then had only a few full-length 19th-century classics in its repertoire — as well as the title role in Balanchine’s “Apollo.”

He especially excelled in the title role of Eugene Loring’s “Billy the Kid” and dramatically tinged ballets by Antony Tudor and Mr. Feld. His natural comic touch was seen in Agnes de Mille’s “Three Virgins and a Devil.”

Mr. Levins joined New York City Ballet in 1975 but left after a year, reportedly because of a chronic knee injury. He then choreographed works for Ballet Theater and other companies, including Miami City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and taught for many years. He lived in Brooklyn.

In addition to Mr. Walsh, Mr. Levins is survived by a sister, Donna Mae Perchase.

Correction: September 25, 2015
An earlier version of the headline with this obituary misstated Mr. Levins’s age. He was 61, not 62. (As correctly noted in the obituary, he was born on Oct. 7, 1953.)

READ ARTICLE HERE: Daniel Levins, Dancer in Classical Ballet and Films, Dies at 61


I'm  kind of disappointed that they never mention that he was a Police Officer but then, it's an anti-cop newspaper.   Last week I did get to watch The Turning 
Point on Netflix.  He had a rather important featured role. It was nice hearing his "younger man" voice.  I'm not really into anything even remotely related to ballet. But if that was his interest, great for him. He was good at it.  The only exposure I ever had to it was when I was in college working for the stage crew.  We had a few ballet performances pass through our stage.  The only other exposure was when I used to see Rudolf Nureyev at The Spike ( a real old fashioned "leather bar") back in the day. The Turning Point is definitely a definitive "chick flick".  I could actually feel whatever testosterone I had left in my body, slowly ooze away. And I think I felt myself growing lady parts.  But I was glad to see Dan in it.