Daniel Blake began his Ballet training at age 10 with the Grand Rapids Ballet in Michigan. After attending many ballet schools across the country such as, Ballet Austin and Virginia School of the Arts, Daniel completed his training on a full scholarship with the Houston Ballet Academy. As soon as his career began he was dancing soloist and principal roles with the Hartford Ballet and the Kansas City Ballet. He was a principal dancer with the Minnesota Ballet for 5 years and has been cited as being an "amazing technician." The Duluth News Tribune pronounced him a "powerful dancer" and praised his "explosive leaps and turns." Daniel has had the privilege to appear in works by Ben Stevenson, George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Antony Tudor, Agnes DeMille, David Parsons, James Sewell, Barbara Bears, Peggy Lyman, David Berkey, Jean Grand Maitre and many others. Since retiring from full time professional dancing in 2008, Daniel has staged several full length ballets, choreographed dozens of works ranging from classical to contemporary. As ballet teacher for the last eighteen years, he has trained hundreds of ballet students successfully launching many of them on scholarship, to some of the most prestigious ballet schools in the country. Daniel has served as the director for Children's Dance Theatre's for two seasons, staging Sleeping Beauty and Hansel & Gretel. Daniel and his wife Julie are the owners of Ballet Blake and have been training students in Rochester since 2012.