{"id":22776,"date":"2013-07-19T09:29:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T13:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=22776"},"modified":"2013-07-19T09:29:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T13:29:50","slug":"david-blackburn-a-performer-and-teacher-is-remembered-at-uc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2013\/07\/david-blackburn-a-performer-and-teacher-is-remembered-at-uc\/","title":{"rendered":"David Blackburn: A Performer and Teacher is Remembered at UC"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: \u00a0Suzanne Maggard<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Blackburn

Blackburn in Serenade with Alyce Taylor (standing), and Colleen Giesting<\/p><\/div>\n

On June 15, 2013, David Blackburn passed away and the Cincinnati dance community lost a beloved teacher and friend.\u00a0 Blackburn served as a professor of dance at the University of Cincinnati\u2019s College-Conservatory of Music for over 30 years and played a vital role in the history of the Cincinnati Ballet as a dancer and then as Assistant Artistic Director.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

David Blackburn grew up in the small town of Dundee, Michigan, but did not always know that he wanted to be a dancer.\u00a0 An outgoing young man, he was the senior class president and the drum major for the marching band at his high school.\u00a0 He enrolled at the University of Michigan anticipating a career as a musician, but during a trip to New York City, he was inspired to change his course in life and become a dancer.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter, he moved to Detroit where he began studying ballet with Sandy Severo.\u00a0 His first teacher was Severo\u2019s assistant David McLain, who would become Blackburn\u2019s long-time partner both professionally and personally.<\/p>\n

\"David

David Blackburn, 1968<\/p><\/div>\n

Blackburn came to Cincinnati via the Dayton Civic Ballet.\u00a0 In fact, while a dancer with the Dayton Civic Ballet, he stepped in as a guest dancer in the first performance of the Cincinnati Civic Ballet on March 15, 1964 at the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Wilson Auditorium.\u00a0 When David McLain was offered the position as Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Ballet and head of the Dance Department at CCM, he asked Blackburn to join him in Cincinnati, and so in 1966, Blackburn became a full-time member of the Cincinnati Ballet Company.\u00a0 Shortly after that he enrolled in the College-Conservatory of Music\u2019s Master of Fine Art in Dance program.\u00a0 He was among the first graduates of the program in 1968, and he began teaching at CCM the following academic year.\u00a0 (Blackburn had completed a B.A. in Speech and Theatre from Wayne State University while he was in Michigan.)<\/p>\n

\"David

Blackburn at a rehearsal of Salome<\/p><\/div>\n

Blackburn was known for his teaching skills and his ability to work with children in CCM\u2019s Preparatory Department. \u00a0\u00a0He was a mentor and teacher for countless students including actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her brother Toby, both of whom attended classes in the CCM Preparatory Department.\u00a0 In 1984, Blackburn became the Assistant Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Ballet, but became estranged from the ballet after the death of David McLain that same year.\u00a0 Blackburn continued to teach at CCM until the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, Blackburn donated material related to ballet and to both his and McLain\u2019s careers to the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Archives and Rare Books Library.\u00a0 These two collections are available for research.\u00a0 The first collection, the David McLain and David Blackburn Dance Collection, contains a variety of photographs, scrapbooks, notes, music scores, and clippings from McLain and Blackburn\u2019s years with the Cincinnati Ballet, the Dayton Civic Ballet, and CCM.\u00a0\u00a0 A finding aid for the collection is available online through the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository<\/a>.\u00a0 The second collection, the David McLain and David Blackburn Program Collection, contains programs and playbills from various ballet performances in the United States and abroad.\u00a0 The finding aid for this collection is also available through the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository<\/a>.\u00a0 Even more material related to Blackburn and McLain is located in the Cincinnati Ballet records<\/a> which are also available at the Archives and Rare Books Library.<\/p>\n

A recent obituary written by Janet Light for Dance Magazine<\/i> draws on both the Archives and Rare Books Library\u2019s collection and her own memories of David Blackburn.\u00a0 It is available online in Dance Magazine\u2019s In Memoriam section<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A public memorial honoring David Blackburn will take place on Saturday July 20 in CCM\u2019s Patricia Corbett Theatre.\u00a0 More information on this event and Blackburn\u2019s life can be found through the following online sources:<\/p>\n

Lyman, David.\u00a0 \u201cSarah Jessica Parker in Cincinnati next week: \u00a0She’s arranged memorial service for long-ago mentor David Blackburn,\u201d Cincinnati Enquirer, July 12, 2013, http:\/\/news.cincinnati.com\/article\/20130712\/ENT07\/307120177\/Sarah-Jessica-Parker-Cincinnati-next-week?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CArts%20&%20Theater<\/a><\/p>\n

Lyman, David, \u201cCincy Ballet\u2019s Blackburn was a mentor to Sarah Jessica Parker, others,\u201d Cincinnati Enquirer, \u00a0June 16, 2013 http:\/\/cincinnati.com\/blogs\/arts\/2013\/06\/16\/cincy-ballets-blackburn-was-mentor-to-sarah-jessica-parker-others\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Video showing David Blackburn teaching: \u201cLaura Robinson reporting for Kids World, circa 1976-1977,\u201d http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XwjOJ_JAvEs<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: \u00a0Suzanne Maggard On June 15, 2013, David Blackburn passed away and the Cincinnati dance community lost a beloved teacher and friend.\u00a0 Blackburn served as a professor of dance at the University of Cincinnati\u2019s College-Conservatory of Music for over 30 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[364,53,58],"class_list":["post-22776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-cincinnati-ballet","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-urban-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}