Assistant dance professor Larry White passed away Sept. 3 fromcancer. He is survived by his brother, Paul, his sisters, JudyWatts and Carol Spackman, his aunt and uncle, Alice and MauriceKerkhove, his four cousins, nieces and nephews, grandnieces andgrandnephews.
A memorial service will be held at 8 p.m. tonight atDallas’ Holy Trinity Catholic Church. A celebration of hislife and work is being planned for a later date by the MeadowsSchool of the Arts.
Associate professor Nathan Montoya wrote, “Although wewill see no more new works from Larry, his generous heart and noblespirit live on with his students, friends, family, andcolleagues.”
White began his dance career with the Minnesota Dance Theater inMinneapolis in 1970. In 1980 he joined the Martha Graham DanceCompany in New York and performed as a principle dancer for thecompany from 1984 to 1987.
As a choreographer, teacher and performer of modern dance,White’s works were displayed around the world from Hong Kongto St. Petersburg, Russia. He created more than 60 pieces,including many for his own companies.
White shared his passion for dance by teaching at the MarthaGraham School of Contemporary Dance. He also taught in Minneapolis,Los Angeles, Florence, Stockholm, Manila and Beijing.
Among his talents, White succeeded in using the vocabulary ofmodern dance to present traditional dances of other cultures. Hisworks stemmed from research on West African tribal dances,traditions of Australia, Spain and Brazil.
In 1999 White became a faculty member for the Division of Dancein the Meadows School of the Arts. He was a board member for theDance Council and served as Program Chair for the 2002 Dance forThe Planet. He also continued his practice of yoga while pursuingnew interests in ceramics and Argentine tango.
White’s based his last work, Redención, on his lovefor tango and presented the program at the Meadows School of theArts last fall.
White’s family requests that, in lieu of flowers,contributions for student scholarships be made in his memory to theDivision of Dance at the Meadows School of the Arts.
Checks should be made out to SMU and sent to:
SMU Division of Dance
P.O. Box 750356
Dallas, TX 75275
