David McLain

In Memory of
David McLain - 1966 to 1994

David McLain
In Memoriam:
David McLain, Artistic Director of The Cincinnati Ballet and head of the dance division of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, died of cancer on December 15, 1984 in Cincinnati.
Mr. McLain transformed the Cincinnati Ballet into one of the leading regional professional companies, touring nationally in New York, Houston, and other major cities. Born in Brighton, Tennessee on December 29, 1931 and reared in Newport, Arkansas, he lived in Cincinnati since 1965. Mr. McLain received a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Arkansas and a master's degree in humanities from Wayne State University. His ballet studies included the American Ballet in New York, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo School and the Severo School in Detroit. Moving to New York in 1962, he worked as an assistant to Robert Joffrey at the Joffrey Ballet.

In Memory of
David McLain - 1966 to 1994
David McLain	In Memoriam: David McLain, Artistic Director of The Cincinnati Ballet and head of the dance division of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, died of cancer on December 15, 1984 in Cincinnati. Mr. McLain transformed the Cincinnati Ballet into one of the leading regional professional companies, touring nationally in New York, Houston, and other major cities. Born in Brighton, Tennessee on December 29, 1931 and reared in Newport, Arkansas, he lived in Cincinnati since 1965. Mr. McLain received a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Arkansas and a master's degree in humanities from Wayne State University. His ballet studies included the American Ballet in New York, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo School and the Severo School in Detroit. Moving to New York in 1962, he worked as an assistant to Robert Joffrey at the Joffrey Ballet.

Mr. McLain was appointed head of the dance division at the University of Cincinnati in 1965 and there, from a group of talented students, developed the beginnings of what later became the fully professional Cincinnati Ballet.

In the earlier years of The Company, he choreographed his most notable work Concerto to Poulenc's "Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani," which was filmed for the archives of the Dance Collection at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Library in New York; and "Winter Traces" to the music of Verdi. At Mr. McLain's invitation such wellknown dancers as James Truitte and Dame Alicia Markova joined his dance department along with the noted British journalist and dance historian P. W. Manchester. Former members of various Ballet Russe companies, including Roman Jasinski, Moscelyne Larkin, Nathalie Krassovska, Alexandra Danilova, and Frederic Franklin, the last of whom became the Choreographer- in-Residence for the Cincinnati Ballet are among those who served as guest teachers at the University while staging ballets for the Company.

Over the years, Mr. McLain has expanded the Company's repertory to include the classics, such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake (Act /1), Les Sylphides, Coppelia, and Giselle; selected ballets by George Balanchine, such as Concerto Barocco, Serenade, Donizetti Variations, Raymonda Variations, Scotch Symphony, and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. In 1984, The Company performed on the national Public Broadcasting Service television network in Ruth Page's Billy Sunday.

Mr. McLain received the University of Cincinnati A.B. Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Ohio Dance Award of the Association of Ohio Dance Companies and an Ohio Arts Council Award. He served on performing arts advisory panels of the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Arts Commission.

All of us associated with The Ballet feel fortunate to have known David McLain. His incredible artistry, his kindness, and his generosity will be sorely missed by the Company which he created and by all of his many friends in Cincinnati. His memory will endure and his legacy will be celebrated each time The Cincinnati Ballet takes the stage.

Before his death, Mr. McLain requested that memorials be made to either The Cincinnati Ballet Endowment Fund or The American Cancer Society.

David McLain

James Truitte, Frederic Franklin, and David McLain

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