{"id":12253,"date":"2021-06-29T19:15:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T19:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=12253"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:23","slug":"michael-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/06\/29\/michael-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael King"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Michael King<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Indianapolis Ballet Theatre (1986-ca. 1992)<\/strong>
\nBallet Austin<\/strong>
\nButler Ballet: Guest (1989)<\/strong>
\nLafayette Ballet: Guest (1989, 1993)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"
Michael King, photo by Dick Spahr via The Indianapolis Star<\/em>, 1991.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Panama-native Michael King was born ca. 1968 and didn\u2019t start dancing until he was in high school; a friend persuaded him to attend an audition for a school play, and King discovered his love for dance. He is an alumnus of Southern California Ballet and went to United States International University in San Diego.<\/p>\n

King only trained for four years before joining a company, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre in 1986.<\/p>\n

King danced many lead roles including Oberon in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>; the Nutcracker Prince, Arabian, and Russian in The Nutcracker<\/em>; Romeo in Dace Dindonis\u2019 Romeo and Juliet<\/em>; the Prince and Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty<\/em>; the Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle<\/em>; and the Prince in Swan Lake<\/em>. He also was featured in Asaf Messerer\u2019s Melody<\/em> and Spring Waters<\/em>; David Brown\u2019s Spartacus<\/em>; Dace Dindonis\u2019 Variations Brilliantes<\/em>, Romanza<\/em>, and Metamorphose<\/em>; Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n\u2019s The Moor\u2019s Pavane<\/em>; and Aesop\u2019s Fables<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As a guest artist, King appeared with Edmonton Opera in Verdi\u2019s Aida<\/em> in 1989, with Butler Ballet in 1989, and with Lafayette Ballet as the Sugar Plum Fairy\u2019s Cavalier in The Nutcracker<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He was also a member of Ballet Austin.<\/p>\n

The dancer was often praised in the press: the Battle Creek Enquirer<\/em> said he was \u201cthe clear stand-out, delivering a performance of incredible precision and warmth\u201d in The Nutcracker<\/em>,\u00a0The Indianapolis News<\/em> said that King \u201cdanced with a sweetness and quiet rapture\u201d in 1990 as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and that he performed Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty<\/em> \u201cwith an appealing grace that brought down the house\u201d in 1991, and The Indianapolis Star<\/em> stated that his Prince in Sleeping Beauty <\/em>was \u201cadmirably danced\u201d in 1991.<\/p>\n

Hailed as a hard worker, King was recognized as a \u201ctall, elegant\u201d dancer with \u201cnatural talent.\u201d IBT\u2019s Artistic Director Dace Dindonis called King an asset, \u201cnot just as a dancer, but as a person too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Michael King with Annette Graber, photo for the Battle Creek Enquirer<\/em>, 1991.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Michelle Martin and Michael King (right), photo by Bruce Edwards via Edmonton Journal<\/em>, 1989.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Dancing With Michael King, Indianapolis Recorder<\/a>
\nAlumni Dancers, Southern California Ballet<\/a>
\nPowerful \u2018Pavane\u2019 keys IBT program, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nIndianapolis Ballet Theatre charms during debut on different stage, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nIt\u2019s more than 10 cents a dance, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nShakespeare\u2019s genius produced ballet theme before birth of ballet, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nWho they are and where they\u2019re from, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\n\u2018Nutcracker\u2019 full of flawless magic, Battle Creek Enquirer<\/a>
\nBirth of ballet a big step forward, Journal and Courier<\/a>
\nRomance reigns in \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nIBT\u2019s \u2018Sleeping Beauty\u2019 performance is no snoozer, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nBetrayed lover\u2019s spirit not strongly portrayed in \u2018Giselle\u2019, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nElaine Bauer featured dancer in ballet excerpt, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nDecidedly American flavor highlights ballet recital, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\n\u2018Beauty\u2019 blooms at the ballet, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nDance, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nMozart in a somber mood inspired Dindonis work, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nIBT\u2019s worldwide dance affair done with flair, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nProfessional ballet companies in region have few blacks among their members, The Courier-Journal<\/a>
\n\u2018Othello\u2019 becomes \u2018Moor\u2019s Pavane\u2019 for IBT, The Indianapolis Star<\/a>
\nNew dancers in Indy troupe, The Indianapolis News<\/a>
\nGood choreographers find sensitive dancer\u2019s treasures, Edmonton Journal<\/a>
\nAida to include \u2018steamy\u2019 dancing, Edmonton Journal<\/a>
\nThe freedom to dance, The Indianapolis Star<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael King Indianapolis Ballet Theatre (1986-ca. 1992) Ballet Austin Butler Ballet: Guest (1989) Lafayette Ballet: Guest (1989, 1993) Panama-native Michael King was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dancers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12253"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12258,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253\/revisions\/12258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}