Person

Campbell, Sylvester

• Briscoe, Sylvester

1938-1997

Sylvester Briscoe was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1938. By the age of eight, he was tap dancing on television. His family later moved to Washington, D.C., where he began his ballet training. In 1956, he joined The New York Negro Ballet. While on a European tour, Sylvester, now using the last name of Campbell, decided to stay in London. For the next few years, he performed for choreographer Jack Carter on BBC TV and in international productions. He danced for a British and a Swedish revue and continued to perform as a guest artist until 1960, when he joined the Het Nederlands Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet. When the company amalgamated with another to become Het National Ballet in 1963, Sylvester was promoted to principal dancer.
Sylvester returned to North America in 1972 to become a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He left Winnipeg in 1975 to become associate artistic director of the Capitol Ballet in Washington, D.C He continued, however, to make guest appearances with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, who performed Like a Song, choreographed by Sylvester, in 1979. He later served as principal dancer and choreographer with the Maryland Ballet and also taught classes and continued those roles after Maryland Ballet folded and was replaced by the Baltimore Ballet. He was the head of the dance department at the Baltimore School for the Arts for 15 years. Sylvester Campbell passed away on March 9, 1997 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (television performer)
Washington, D.C. (trained, Associate Artistic Director)
New York, New York (performed)
London, England (freelance artist)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (performed)
Winnipeg, Manitoba (performed)
Baltimore, Maryland (dancer, choreographer,teacher, Head of dance department)

Dancer
Associate Artistic Director
Teacher
Choreographer

RWB

Final

• English