The Capitol Ballet and Keith Lee

With the death of Claire Haywood in 1980, Doris Jones contacted Keith Lee (who was performing at the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts in D.C.) to be a guest teacher at the school. Eventually, Jones asked Lee to revive the company as deputy artistic director. He accepted and gathered 15 dancers in two months. Some of these dancers included Hinton Battle, Charles Adams, and Sandra Fortune Green (who was found by Bernice Hammond and brought to Doris Jones and Claire Haywood). In November of that year, Lee resigned, although some sources said he was let go.

More about Keith Lee

Keith Lee, a native New Yorker, began studying song and dance at The Little Theatre in Brooklyn and later performed in The King and I at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. Ben Vereen sought out Lee’s talent and recommended that he take his training to the High School of the Performing Arts in Manhattan. As a dance prodigy, Lee started composing dances in 1968—his first work, Portrait of a Young Couple premiered at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, New York, New York. Lee excelled at the school, receiving Capezio Awards for distinction in both ballet and modern dance techniques. While attending the High School of Performing Arts, Lee also studied at Harkness House for Ballet Arts, sponsored by heiress Rebekah Harkness. Upon graduation in 1968 he joined American Ballet Theatre and became a soloist in 1971 at age 20. Lee choreographed a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, Times Past. Lee left the company in 1974. Thereafter, he formed a company of his own called the Keith Lee Ballet of Contemporary Art. He also directed and choreographed for the Capitol Ballet Company. His repertory is expanded by choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Agnes DeMille, Lar Lubovitch, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor.

Over the years, he taught at Shenandoah University in Winchester, served as artistic director at Capitol Ballet in Washington, D.C., and acted as ballet master at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Nanette Bearden’s Contemporary Chamber Dance Company, among others.

Sources:

Capitol Ballet, Ngoma Center for Dance
The Last Dance of Keith Lee, The News & Advance
Keith Lee, MoBBallet

 

 

Alisha Naidu