Now celebrating his 23rd season with DK, Artistic Director David Hochoy is truly an international ambassador. David Hochoy was born in Trinidad, West Indies. After receiving a B. Sc. at McGill University in Montreal, where he began studying for a career as a doctor, he continued his graduate work in theatre earning an M.A. in directing from Penn State. It was there, at age 20, David took his first dance class and discovered his true love of dance.
In New York, he studied at the Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham schools and danced with numerous national companies. In 1980, he was invited to join the Martha Graham Dance Company. Made a soloist in 1982 and rehearsal director in 1986, David toured the world with Graham until 1989. He has given master classes in Graham technique throughout the U.S. and Europe, and in 1990 was invited to Guangzhou, China, to teach the experimental troupe of the Guangdong Dance Academy for ten weeks.
David has been on the faculty of the Martha Graham School since 1982. In addition, he has taught at the American Dance Festival (ADF) held at Duke University, as well as ADF West in Salt Lake City and ADF Seoul in Korea. In 1991 he was invited to teach and choreograph at the Vienna International Dance Festival. He has given workshops in Quebec City, Tokyo, Oslo, Dublin and Rio de Janeiro.
David spent two years as a full-time faculty member at Texas Christian University. Since becoming DK’s Artistic Director in 1991, he has choreographed over 70 dances including Scheherazade, Carmina Burana, COLE!, The Planets, The Four Elements, El Salòn Mexico, Magical Mystery Tour, Rite of Spring and Les Noces. He has choreographed dances for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for its New Year’s Eve performances as well as their Discovery Series concerts. He also has choreographed numerous productions at the IRT, including A Christmas Carol, the Civic Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Edyvean Repertory Theatre, Salome for the Arizona Opera and Miss Evers’ Boys for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and for Santa Fe Stages.
David co-directed As You Like It at the Indiana Repertory Theatre with IRT’s Artistic Director Janet Allen. He also was Artistic Director of The Green Shows at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) for ten seasons. He has choreographed The Beat on the Ball State University Student Dance Company. In 2009 he re-set sections of Fascinatin’ Rhythm on Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz of the New York City Ballet and Sarah Lane of American Ballet Theatre for the inaugural gala performance of Indianapolis City Ballet. He is the founder and co-artistic director of Spotlight, an annual fund-raiser for the Indiana Aids Fund that has brought together the Indianapolis Performing Arts community since 1994.
David was a recipient of a prestigious Choo-San Goh Award for his choreography Rhapsody in Blue in 2006. He is a two-time recipient of a Master Fellowship in Choreography and an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission as well as a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. He has been awarded the Key to the City by the City/County Council, the Distinguished Hoosier Award by the Governor of Indiana, and was honored by the Center for Leadership Development for outstanding achievement in the arts. In 2004, he was voted one of Indiana’s 25 Keepers – men and women working to make a difference in Indiana – by the readers of Indy Men’s Magazine. In 2010, David traveled to Washington D.C. to serve as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. On April 2, 2011, Mayor Gregory A. Ballard declared that date as David Hochoy Day in honor of his 20 years as DK’s artistic director and in recognition of his service to the arts in Indianapolis. Last year he was honored with the 2012 Creativity Award by University High School. Most recently the Indiana Historical Society named him an Indiana Living Legend.