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Before Augustyn and Kain, before Kain and Nureyev, before so many celebrated partnerships, there was Adams and Smith. The Canadian community bought into the arrangement. What made David a star, beyond his own vitality and stage presence, was that he executed the lifts that only very few men in the world could do; one arm lifts over his head, lifts from the floor, straight-armed lifts that required exquisite timing and phenominal strength. No matter the hurts or illness that this discipline visits upon the performers, David could dazzle with injury-defying, spectacular partnering that was second only to the very best. Beyond this, he could teach most of these lifts to the young men and women who came to the National Ballet to learn and perform. His capacity not only for demonstration and instruction, but for calm and effective analysis and correction endeared him to several generations of dancers from 1950 to today. Sometimes this talent caused him more grief than pleasure, as Franca remembers when Melissa Hayden danced with the National Ballet in 1963: "She refused to dance with [principal] Earl Kraul, so David Adams had to partner her throughout. He said he would never go through that again (and I told him I wouldn't ask him to do it); Miss Hayden would become very nervous with the classics, forget the choreography and blame David for the mistakes. David is one of the strongest and most reliable partners anyone could wish for, but she never knew where she was going on stage."
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