| LC control no. | n 97853112 |
|---|---|
| Descriptive conventions | rda |
| Personal name heading | Ninja, Willi |
| Variant(s) | Leake, William R. |
| Located | New York (N.Y.) |
| Birth date | 1961-04-12 |
| Death date | 2006-09-02 |
| Place of birth | Long Island (N.Y.) |
| Place of death | New York (N.Y.) |
| Affiliation | Bayside High School (New York, N.Y.) America's Next Top Model (Television program) |
| Profession or occupation | Choreographers Dancers |
| Special note | Data contributed by the Dance Heritage Coalition for the New York Public Library Dance Collection. |
| Found in | *MGZIC 9-3355 Everybody dance now [videorecording] 1991. New York times WWW site, Sept. 6, 2006 (Willi Ninja; b. William R. Leake, Apr. 12, 1961, Queens; d. there Saturday [Sept. 2, 2006], aged 45; known as the Grandfather of Vogue, a dance form that he helped move from the New York club scene of the 1980s to the concert stage) African American National Biography, accessed March 17, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Ninja, Willi; William Roscoe Leake; choreographer / dance director, dancer; born 12 April 1961 in New Hyde Park, Long Island, New York, United States; famous for Paris Is Burning film (1990); Grand Jury Prize from Sundance Film Festival (1991); graduated from Bayside High School (1980); formed own ball troupe, The House of Ninja; recorded music video Deep in Vogue (1988); taught vogue in Japan (1989); was introduced by McClaren to fashion houses in Europe: Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld and hired as runway coach; launched the House of Latex with Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York, annual benefit ball raising funds for AIDS prevention work; formed modeling agency EON (Elements of Ninja), and television show America's Next Top Model (2004); died 02 September 2006 in New York, New York, United States from AIDS-related heart attack) |
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