Blakeley White-McGuire born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

, is a dancer, choreographer,

répétiteur A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare. Opera In opera, a is the perso ...

, and educator. She is a Principal Guest Artist and former Principal Dancer of

Martha Graham Dance Company The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in 1926, is known for being the oldest American dance company. Founded by Martha Graham as a contemporary dance company, it continued to perform pieces, revive classics, and train dancers even after Graham's ...

. Described by Gia Kourlas of the ''New York Times'' as having a "powerful technique and dramatic instinct with an appealing modern spunk", White-McGuire has received widespread critical acclaim as a Graham dancer.

Early life and career

Raised in southern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, in her youth White-McGuire participated in community dance programs studying ballet, jazz, and tap, and giving performances at seasonal outdoor festivals and Mardi Gras balls. After receiving a brochure from her mother about summer training programs, she came to New York City in 1993 and decided to stay. Upon completing the Professional Trainee Program at the

Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarters to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the ...

in 1996 - where she studied with

Pearl Lang Pearl Lang (May 29, 1921 – February 24, 2009) was an American dancer, choreographer and teacher renowned as an interpreter and propagator of the choreography style of Martha Graham, and also for her own longtime dance company, the Pearl Lang ...

and Linda Hodes - she began her dance career by performing with Richard Move. She spent the next six years performing with choreographers including Jacqulyn Buglisi,

Martha Clarke Martha Clarke (born June 3, 1944) is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' (1984, re-im ...

, Seán Curran, Pascal Rioult, and the Ballet at

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

. Joining the

in 2002, White-McGuire swiftly attained

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

status. During her time with the company she performed all of the major Graham roles - including the Empress in '' Every Soul is a Circus'', The Bride in '' Appalachian Spring'', The Woman in Red in ''

Diversion of Angels ''Diversion of Angels'', initially titled ''Wilderness Stair'', is a Martha Graham ballet performed to an original score by Norman Dello Joio. The premiere on August 13, 1948, at the Palmer Auditorium in New London, Connecticut, included a set des ...

'', Ariadne in '' Errand Into The Maze'', the title role in ''Phaedra'', The Chosen One in Graham's ''The Rite of Spring'', The Soloist in ''Satyric Festival Song'', '' Deep Song'', ''Sketches from Chronicle'', The Frontier Woman in '' Frontier'',

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

in ''

Cave of The Heart ''Cave of the Heart'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Martha Graham to music (''Medea'' suite) by Samuel Barber.Martha Graham Dance Company Repertory http://marthagraham.org/press-presenters2/repertory It was first performed on May 10, 1946, w ...

'', and Jocasta in

Night Journey The Israʾ and Miʿraj ( ar, الإسراء والمعراج, ') are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632) took during a single night around the year 621 (1 BH – 0 BH). With ...

- in the repertoire, had original work set on her by

Larry Keigwin Larry Keigwin an American choreographer and the artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY. Life and career Keigwin was raised in Wading River on Long Island with three brothers, one of them his twin. Though his brothers were “very jocky,” ...

, Luca Veggetti,

Nacho Duato Juan Ignacio Duato Bárcia, also known as Nacho Duato (born 8 January 1957) is a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer. Since 2014, Duato is artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet. Career Nacho Duato studied at the Rambert S ...

, Richard Move, Robert Wilson, Bulayarang Pagarlava, and

Anne Bogart Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the Artistic Directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia Uni ...

SITI Company The Saratoga International Theater Institute (also known as SITI) was an ensemble-based theater company based in New York City and Saratoga Springs, New York. SITI was founded in 1992 by American director Anne Bogart and Japanese director Ta ...

, and led the company on numerous tours across the country and abroad. Some of her honours from this time include winning the ''Premio Positano Leonide Massine'' prize for Contemporary Dance Performance from the Italian government, inspiring and dancing as the model for doodler Mike Dutton's and animator Ryan Woodward's

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

honouring Martha Graham's 117th birthday, recreating Graham's lost solo ''Imperial Gesture'' and leading role in ''Notes for a Voyage'', receiving the ''Italian International Career Achievement Award'' from Antonio Fini, and being selected as one of the best performers of 2011, 2012, and 2013 by Wendy Perron for ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Point ...

''. After fifteen years of performing, White-McGuire left the Graham Company in 2017 to pursue other projects. Since then, she has staged ''

'' on

Paul Taylor Dance Company Paul Taylor Dance Company, is a modern dance company, formed by dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor (1930—2018). The modern dance company is based in New York, New York and was founded in 1954. Taylor originally performed in the companies of ...

and ''Sketches from'' ''Chronicle'' on Royal Ballet of Flanders, performed in Jacqulyn Buglisi's revival of ''Bare To the Wall'', performed in Marta Renzi's feature film ''Her Magnum Opus'', presented her research on ''Imperial Gesture'' with former Graham dancer Kim Jones at The Arts In Society Conference, and joined the faculty of

Laguardia High School of Performing Arts Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square n ...

as the master teacher of

Graham Technique Graham technique is a modern dance movement style and pedagogy created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). Graham technique has been called the "cornerstone" of American modern dance, and has been taught worldwi ...

. As a choreographer, White-McGuire has had her work presented by

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for a Summer dance festival. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives a ...

, The Museum of Arts and Design, The Graham Company, Downtown Dance Festival, Dancers Responding to Aids, Cape Dance Festival, New Ballet Ensemble, University of Louisiana, Baton Rouge Ballet Theater, The Watermill Center, Roxbury Arts Group, RAW, and The Moving Beauty Series at Williamsburg Movement and Arts Center. McGuire holds her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

and has served on the faculties of The Ailey School,

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

The Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

, New Ballet Ensemble & School, and since 2001 has been a faculty member of The Graham School.

Personal life

White-McGuire lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. She is a member of Dance Films Association.

References

External links

Blakeley White-McGuire

Blakeley White-McGuire at NYLive Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:White-McGuire, Blakeley 1974 births 21st-century American dancers 21st-century American educators 20th-century American educators American women choreographers American choreographers Modern dancers American female dancers Living people Goddard College alumni 20th-century American women educators 21st-century American women educators