Born Today:
Dave Toole

Dancer Dave Toole (1964-2020) was born with a condition called sacral agenesis and he had his legs amputated at the age of 18 months. After working at the Post Office for almost a decade, Toole began studying dance at the Laban Centre in London. Toole joined the Candoco Dance Company in London, one of the first multi-ability dance companies, co-founded in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker (c.1952-), herself a quadriplegic. Toole is perhaps best known for performing in the 2012 Paralympics opening ceremonies and for dancing with DV8 Physical Theatre, directed by Lloyd Newson (1957-), and for appearing in their groundbreaking film, The Cost of Living (2004).

Also Born Today: Modern dance choreographer Dan Wagoner (1932-) performed with Martha Graham (1894-1991), Merce Cunningham (1919-2009), and Paul Taylor(1930-2018) before running his own company for 25 years. Dancer Thomas F. Dwyer (1934-2021) joined Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange in his 50s in 1988, after retiring from the Department of State in the area of telecommunications, and he performed with the modern dance company for more than 30 years. Postmodern dancer and teacher Nada Diachenko (1946-2022) performed with Erick Hawkins (1909-1994) in the 1970s and ran her own dance company before teaching at the University of Colorado. Ice dancer Paul Duchesnay (1961-) partnered his sister Isabelle Duchesnay (1963-) and won the silver medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics. Tami Stronach (1972-) starred in The Neverending Story (1984) as a youth and pursued a career as a modern dancer, performing with Neta Pulvermacher, Israeli dance artist, in 1996.