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- "Listen up. Listen up hearts and flowers ... " David holds forth on one of his major themes, whether giving a class historical context or hammering in the performance aspect of an excercise.
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- DanceMaker
In the Alberta dance community, David worked with a range of students who would never be professional ballerinas. His favourite classes, he would often say, were not the professionals, but the evening adult classes at Grant Macewan College.
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- Ballet Master
Edmonton, early 1990s: the rising talent. With Cecchetti Dance Theatre Artistic Director Hanne Livingstone, David shared the helm for several groups of young aspirant dancers.
These included the Alberta Theatre Arts Centre (1990-1993; 1928 going on 93), Cecchetti Dance Theatre, Citie Ballet, Edmonton Dance Centre, West Edmonton Ballet Academy and Edmonton Festival Ballet. At one point in this period he took time out to choreographMatrix and Ophelia for George Brown College; Matrix has been performed many times and revived at least once.
David returned to Edmonton’s Festival Ballet to undertake three final seasons. In 1993 he worked on his last Sleeping Beauty(staging and choreography). This was followed in 1994 by Les Sylphides (staging and choreography) and Don Quixote (choreography). Finally there was Coppelia (staging and choreography) in 1995. Many of the dancers who worked under him during those years are just now going into professional careers.
What it comes back to; one of the “circles within circles” of David’s life is his refusal to let his love of ballet give him blinders to the world like many dancers (and other professionals), but in fact to let his love of everything around him infuse everything he does.
David on learning: “Dance is a tough subject to approach for the first time.
“If you are pushed, or ask for it at an early age, beware! By the time you are fifteen, you could have been taking dance lessons for twelve years. OH my God, twelve years, and where am I?
“The subject of when to start has been discussed, so these remarks should be taken by the late bloomer.
“See everything you can. Try them all. Which one suits your body type, your temperament. It will not be a case of which one can I learn fastest, for then you might as well go for something else.
“Having made a tentative choice, then go for it!
“Is this to be a lifes work, or a flash in the pan. Are you going to make it your livelihood?
“Examine all facets of the story.
“Find out from others if indeed you have any talent.
“Dancers retire early so I can go on to do something else. Retire early? NO! not now. There are a lot of older dancers out there, famous, and otherwise. “Is it a career? Yes, it can be.
“Will I be rich? Straight away I can tell you, NO!! But you can live comfortably.
“If you are greedy, chose again!
“Where do I start? That is the most difficult question of all. There are good schools, and there are rotten schools, and almost everything, in between. Try them. Do research, ask questions. Do not accept blindly, the first place you find. What are the other students like? Do they look like dancers?