Career
After his training under Gweneth Lloyd at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, David began his performing career with England"s Metropolitan Ballet. Here he met Celia Franca, who would become the founding Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada. He also shared the stage with Eric Bruhn, Sonia Arova and John Taras, performing Design With Strings, Dances from Galanta and other works in a tour of Scandinavia.
He returned to Canada in 1949 and after a brief musical theatre diversion in Vancouver and California, moved to Toronto to join Celia Franca during the formative years of Canada"s National Ballet.
A brilliant amateur cinematographer, his "in-camera" videos from the 1950s are a significant part of the Celia Franca Tour De Force double Digital Video Disc set. Adams also played a part in the birth of television in his native country, directing and performing in weekly productions for the fledgling Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canadian Broadcasting Company).
In 1977, David relocated to Edmonton, Alberta, where he turned his talents to choreography and teaching and the occasional performance. He joined the Alberta Ballet under Brydon Paige, alternating between the roles of choreographer, ballet master, technical director and principal dancer.
In 1980, David played a key role in the creation of both the dance and theatre programmes at Grant MacEwan College.
His 1994 version of Don Quixote is unique in its presentation of Quixote"s perspective, paralleling a psycho-drama to the dance story. Adams" phenomenal memory and experience, in combination with a delightful sense of humour, made him a very popular teacher for many years. He retired from active teaching in 1998 and began work on a range of historic, artistic and technical memoirs.
