Michael Blake holds an MFA in dance from Purchase College, and has a 2010 Bessie Award for his work with Paradigm Dance Project. He began his dance career in the Murray Louis Dance Company, 1982–84. He joined José Limón Dance Company, 1986, dancing principal roles until 1991 and danced with Donald Byrd/The Group 1991–98. He performed in a national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, toured with Cab Calloway in Cab Calloway’s Cotton Club Review, and appeared in the films The Tales of Cri Cri, Unsettled Dreams, and the documentary, Hanya Holm (Portrait of a Dance Pioneer). He was Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet School’s Jazz and Contemporary Trainee Program, 2011–17. He was a teaching artist at Mark Morris Dance Group, and was on the dance faculties of Hunter College, Purchase College, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College and Ithaca College.
