David Blake named inaugural academy director of Urdang at City

TORONTO:

When a guest at a hotel on Jamaica’s north coast predicted that young David Blake would become a star, little did his mother know that not only would he become a principal performer in the Disney musical, The Lion King, at the Lyceum Theatre in London, but also the academy director of a renowned performing arts academy in that city.

But, for David Blake, it is way more - it has been a full season of growing and blooming, finding his niche in the performing arts and making it work for him.

In May, the Jamaica-born Blake will become the inaugural academy director of Urdang at City, University of London, which offers exceptional dance and musical theatre training.

His interest in the performing arts was sparked early as he watched a neighbour perform in a Cathi Levy-led Little People and Teen Player’s Club production at The Little Theatre, in Kingston, Jamaica.

So inspired was he by the performances that a year later, still a very young boy, he took the bus from his home in Barbican to New Kingston where auditions were being held. He was the only one selected out of the 50 boys who auditioned.

“It was just the beginning of my life as an artiste and I felt so comfortable in the space. They asked me to do improvisation, they asked me to prepare a song and a poem, which I did in advance. And just being asked to express myself in that way was so empowering. I felt as if I was where I needed to be; it felt right.”

EXPOSED TO THEATRE

At 10 years old, he began classes with the Cathi Levy Players for the Performing Arts that offered singing, dancing, acting, miming and puppetry. “She exposed the kids to so much and the shows that she put on were semi-professional Broadway shows which exposed them to different aspects of theatre,” says Blake. He would spend eight years there.

A year later, he was invited to do a commercial — his first paid job — a Chiffon margarine advertisement in 1992 called ‘Chiffon Baby,’ featuring himself, Tami Chynn, Phillip Prescod and Renee Garrison.

The performing arts group went on tours to the Cayman Islands and Miami and, in 1995, members got the opportunity to perform with Father Ho Lung & Friends.

Blake would later go on tour with Father Ho Lung & Friends and also worked with Dance Xaymaca, a company run by Barbara McDaniel. It was while in a Dance Xaymaca production that Clive Thompson saw him dance and invited him to perform with the prestigious National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC).

He attended Mona High and Hydel High School before pursuing an associate degree at the Institute of Management and Production.

Blake was with the NDTC from 1999 to 2002, moving to the United States to complete an undergraduate degree at California State University. He would however return to perform in concert seasons in 2002 and 2003.

It was while planning to pursue a master’s degree in California that he received an email in 2006 that The Lion King would be in Jamaica. He returned, auditioned, and made the cut.

“When I moved to London, I immediately felt as if I was home. I even felt as if this was a place where I could really bloom and grow,” says Blake, describing his work with the musical as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Although he went in as a dancer, he also auditioned for principal roles and eventually gained an understudy role allowing him to cover singing and acting roles as well.

FOUNDED HIS COMPANY

Blake credits the experiences he had in Jamaica for moulding him into the artiste he wanted to become when he got to The Lion King.

Gaining a principal role in The Lion King meant he had more freedom than being in an ensemble, and so he started a master’s programme. Though difficult, he organised his daily work and study times and, after two years, gained a Master’s in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, University of London.

He has since founded his company, Blake Arts, after seeing the need for a modern dance programme to help dancers who were not getting beyond the first and second round of auditions for The Lion King.

He taught them the Martha Graham technique, they auditioned successfully and are now a part of the production. Blake Arts has trained, mentored and provided many dancers with performance experience, working with professional schools in the UK.

When the pandemic hit and The Lion King closed, Blake created three programmes in financial literacy, career management and mental health that were delivered by experts. After writing a module, he wrote a proposal to the Arts Council and got funding to develop them.

“During that time, I wanted the dancers to stay creative so I developed a piece,’Melanin Migration: Brothers In Arms’.

It explores the personal stories of six aspirational dancers who navigate a cultural space pre- and mid-COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, by finding a new way to look beyond their circumstances through the gift of dance.

It was nominated for Best Dance Film in 2021 by One Dance UK, and featured in the Miami Screen Dance Film Festival at the Perez Art Museum.

A documentary to complement the piece was scheduled for release in February.

PRESERVATION OF LEGACY

Blake was recently in Toronto attending the 33rd annual International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance where ‘Melanin Migration: Brothers In Arms’ was showcased on a night featuring the works of performance companies described as ground breakers.

The recipient of the Best Teacher for Performing Arts as a Subject by The Black British Theatre Awards in 2020, he was also movement director for Ernst & Young’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Film Project, and a BBC commissioned documentary film about the first female producer of BBC, Jamaican Una Marson, released in October 2022.

“It was very rewarding. Here was an opportunity to be a part of the preservation of the legacy of this person who was the first woman of colour and first Caribbean woman to work at the BBC,” says Blake who was invited by director Topher Campbell to be a part of that team.

Blooming and growing have not stopped for the new academy director, performing artiste, creative director and choreographer.

He has plans to pursue a PhD to deepen his creative progress and the development of his practice, so the work he does in the arts will have a lasting impact on generations to come.