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Legacy Oral History Online Collection

Keith White

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Keith Merrill White (1951-1990) was born October 25, 1951 in Albany, Georgia and was the second of two boys. His father, Jack C. White, Sr. was a painting/decorator contractor and his mother, Juanita was, according to friends of Keith, a champion ballroom dancer. 

Keith attended Albany Junior College (Georgia) and then Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida from 1970-1973, specializing in Interior Design. He was awarded the schools highest award for a final project in resturant design. He studied ballet consistently throughout his early life with theachers in Albany, Georgia; Florida Ballet Arts in Sarasota, and in several New York Studios.

He began writing in 1975 for the 20th anniversary retrospective of the Joffrey Ballet. He continued to write for the Joffery, Playbill Magazine in New York, and became a dance auditor for the New York State Council for the Arts. Keith moved to San Francisco in 1981 and began working for the California Supreme Court. He soon began writing dance reviews for the weekly gay community newspaper, Bay Area Reporter. He contributed reviews, interviews and features for the Bay Area Reporter, The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle up until his death from AIDS-related causes on May 7, 1990.

Audio Clip and Transcript

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