Finding Home: The Life and Legacy of David Adams
Introduction:
On October 24, 2007, Canadian dance legend David Adams passed away peacefully at the Westview Health Centre in Stony Plain, Alberta.
In his final moments, our daughter Emily, my mother and I were by his side. Soon after David released his last breath, a sudden gust of wind created a flurry of autumn leaves, rising and dancing outside the window of the room where he lay. A photo of David and Lois Smith, his first love and Prima Ballerina with the National Ballet of Canada, hung above his bed. The photo was taken in the 1950’s, an informal shot of the two of them dancing a spectacular grand jete in front of Lake Ontario. These events became one in that sacred moment of David’s departure from this world. What a wonderful exit- a symbol of his amazing life and ultimate triumph as one of Canada’s earliest dance treasures!
David’s dance career began in 1938, at the age of 10, when he auditioned for and became one of the few male members of the Winnipeg Ballet Club. Within a short time, he would become a charter member of the Winnipeg Ballet Company. David’s first stage appearances, only one year later, were part of a Cavalcade of Welcome for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their visit to Winnipeg in 1939. In 1945, at the age of 17, David went on tour with the company – the first tour of Canada by a Canadian ballet company. It wasn’t long before he began to dance some lead roles, following in the footsteps of Paddy Stone, who departed from the company in 1946.
In April of that year, David received a scholarship to study with the Sadler’s Wells School in London England. On September 26, 1946, David departed from Canada, setting sail for England on The Aquitania. He was to stay at least one year studying the art of dance, with the possibility of accepting performance opportunities. At the ages of 18 and 19, David worked with many influential choreographers and danced in several productions with both the Sadler’s Wells Company and The Metropolitan Ballet. Some highlights were dancing with Russian ballerina Svetlana Beriosova and also with English dancer Celia Franca, with whom David would later reconnect during the formation of the National Ballet of Canada.
David returned to Canada in October of 1948 and soon began staging many of the classics for the Winnipeg Ballet Company, sharing the expertise he had gained while he was in England. In May of 1949, at the age of 20, David created the ballet Ballet Composite, his first piece of choreography. The performance of this new work received good reviews and became part of the company’s repertoire. Soon after the premiere of Ballet Composite, David was invited to perform with Theatre Under the Stars in Vancouver in their upcoming summer season. He accepted the offer.
It was during his time in Vancouver dancing “under the stars” that he met the first love of his life, Lois Smith. They danced together in Song of Norway, receiving several standing ovations. The success of the show resulted in an extended tour in Victoria. David and Lois attended and taught classes at Mara McBirney’s dance studio in Vancouver, danced in nightclubs, and eventually moved to California to dance with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company. They were married on May 13, 1950 at the LA Hall of Justice, enjoying a brief honeymoon on Catalina Island. Destiny would bring them back to Canada at the end of the performance season. Lois was pregnant with their daughter Janine, who was born in Winnipeg on April 25, 1951.
David and Lois soon became technically brilliant and popular ballet stars as premier principal dancers with the National Ballet of Canada. Throughout the 1950’s, the company toured across Canada, the United States and as far as Mexico City. In May of 1961, David decided to make a break with his life in Canada and the National Ballet Company. Seeking new opportunities abroad, he returned to England at the age of 33, without Lois. He joined London’s Festival Ballet, eventually dancing with the company full time in 1964. During this time, he danced many lead roles and toured several countries throughout Europe, Israel, and South America.
In 1969, not pleased with the direction of Festival Ballet, David left the company and began to look for other performing possibilities. He did some film work and performed in a pantomime at the Palladium in London with Tommy Steele. At the invitation of Kenneth MacMillan, David joined the Royal Ballet Company in 1971, to partner Lynn Seymour in the ballet Anastasia. He also danced several character roles, toured with the company all over the world, taught pas de deux classes, and directed a sub-company Ballet for All. In 1977, at the age of 47, he parted with the company over a major disagreement. Not long after, David was then offered the position of Ballet Master with the Alberta Ballet Company, which brought him back to Canada.
David joined the company for their 1977-78 Season in Edmonton, Alberta. While there, he influenced many young professional dancers through his excellent teaching and coaching expertise. He also educated many young people about the art of dance through his entertaining lecture demonstrations at various schools throughout the province.
In 1980, David accepted a teaching position with Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, initially with the Theatre Arts department and eventually full time with the dance department. I was one of his musical theatre students. We were married in November of 1980, at a small intimate ceremony in Edmonton. Our daughter Emily was born on February 12, 1985. David worked for the college until his retirement in 1996. He also did some teaching and choreography for a number of other schools and companies, including George Brown College in Toronto (working for Lois Smith), Toronto Dance Theatre, and several companies in Edmonton- notably, Ballet North, Festival Ballet, Alberta Theatre Arts Company, and Citie Ballet.
David’s amazing contributions to dance in Canada are best described in the eloquent words of one of his former students, Gunnar Blodgett. His tribute to David’s legacy was incorporated into the Citation for David’s Investiture Ceremony, read by Adrienne Clarkson (former Governor General of Canada), when he was awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada. This special event took place on the grounds of our acreage home on September second, 2005. Quoting David when he was interviewed that day: “I may forget a lot of things, but I shall always remember this!”
A Fascinating Parallel
Of all the roles David danced, one of his most convincing and memorable performances was his portrayal of the character Peer Gynt. David’s first performance of this dramatic and challenging role was in July of 1963, with the opening of the summer season of Festival Ballet at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England. In order to look the part of this Scandinavian hero, he bleached his hair blonde. The ballet Peer Gynt is based on the play by the same title, written by the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In it, the main character Peer Gynt spends his life seeking adventures in order to find himself. Throughout his journey, Peer’s outlandish behavior causes many undesirable outcomes. When he finally returns to his home village in Norway as an old man, he must face the reality of his life- something he has avoided all along.
In many respects, the story of Peer Gynt parallels David’s life. In his early childhood, he loved to wander and was fascinated with the mysteries of nature. As he matured, he developed a passion for music and film and was generally attracted to unconventional ways of thinking. This openness of mind likely led him to consider a career in dance as a young boy. David’s tendency towards nonconformism also led to some challenging encounters with various people, including directors of companies.
| David dancing the role of Peer Gynt |
A British critic from The Times (September 2, 1963) described David’s performance of Peer Gynt as “probably the best of its interpreters…as the moody young romantic of the first act, Mr. Adams presents a credible portrait, part rake, part dreamer, and all of it lustily danced with a handsome breadth of movement and a nice awareness of the right emphasis for each phrase. Middle age finds his Peer even more commanding, with a jaunty eye and a paunchy stroll, turning imperceptively to the delirium which grows to an excited climax in the mad-house before his eventual desolate disillusion. Not for the first time this summer, here is dancing which transcends and illuminates somewhat banal choreography.”
In another review from Dance and Dancers magazine (September 13, 1963), the dance critic stated that David’s performance, compared with those of two other dancers from the company, “succeeded in dominating the ballet even more than either of them, and actually gave some idea of Peer’s spiritual degradation. He was at his best in the Mad Scene, where, unlike the others, he suggested that Peer himself went mad, only coming to his senses at the shock of finding himself King of the Mad House.”
The above description could be seen as an uncanny foreshadowing of David’s condition in the last couple of years of his life, when he suffered from the debilitating effects of two strokes, resulting in dementia and a dramatic decrease in mobility. In a sense, he lost his former self, although many of his past memories rose to the surface of his consciousness. However, unlike Peer Gynt, who was forced to face the demons of his past at his final reckoning, David had time to create a new life for himself after he returned to Canada in 1978. It was during his mid-life that he gradually came to terms with some of the painful experiences of his past and finally settled into a permanent home he could call his own. The acreage he bought outside Stony Plain, Alberta became a source of serenity and comfort during the last phase of his life. Thus, a happy ending to an exciting, though somewhat tumultuous, life.
And now, for the first Act of David’s story as one of Canada’s great dance legends.
Act One – Childhood Adventures