Donald Himes (1930Donald Himes (1930–2011), by Amy Bowring, at The Dance Current; published January 7, 2011; retrieved July 21, 2025 in Galt, OntarioMr. Dressup composer Donald Himes dies at 80, at CBC Arts; published January 6, 2011; retrieved July 21, 2025 — January 3, 2011) Dance man worked with Mr. Dressup: Popular Toronto teacher, dancer and choreographer Donald Himes has died at age 80., by Michael Crabb; in the Toronto Star; published January 10, 2011; retrieved July 21, 2025 was a Canadian dancer, choreographer, educator, and composer best known for his work on the children's program Mr. Dressup, whose theme song he wrote.
Education In 1952, Himes studied Dalcroze eurhythmics at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, during which time he also taught piano. In 1954, he received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to attend the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva.Donald Himes Memorial Scholarship, at Dalcroze Canada; retrieved July 21, 2025 He also attended the Martha Graham School "in the mid-1960s".
Career Himes taught at a variety of institutions throughout Ontario, including the National Ballet School; he also taught at New York State University. His students included David Earle. He worked with Patricia Beatty as an accompanist, and when Beatty, Earle, and Peter Randazzo co-founded Toronto Dance Theatre in 1968, he participated both as a performer and choreographer; as well, he co-composed the music for Toronto Dance Theatre's premiere (a joint venture with Ann Southam), and when the Theatre established a school in 1970, served as its first principal. In 1972, he adapted Jean de Brunhoff's Babar the Elephant stories into a ballet, Babar the Little Elephant,Noticeboard, in Dance in Canada / Danse au Canada, no. 15 (Spring 1978); p. 38; also p. 19 which he choreographed and narrated;Babar the dleightfully sophisticated Pooh, by Stephen Godfrey, in The Globe and Mail; March 21, 1978; p. 21 the ballet went on tour and was performed in France.
In 1964, Himes joined the cast of Butternut Square on CBC Television, where he portrayed "the Music Man". Statement by the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, on the Passing of Donald Himes, by James Moore; at Canada.ca; published January 6, 2011; retrieved July 21, 2025 In this role, he worked with Ernie Coombs and Fred Rogers; when Butternut Square ended in 1967, he followed Coombs to Mr. Dressup, where he not only composed the theme song, but performed it live on air.
Himes retired from Mr. Dressup in 1996, but remained active as a performer, appearing in Holly Small's ballet Souls in 2001, and in David Earle's ballet Court in 2003.
He was a practitioner of the Feldenkrais method of movement therapy.
Personal life Himes was gay.The sweet radicalism of Mr. Dressup, the Canadian Mister Rogers, by S. Bear Bergman, in Xtra Magazine; published October 10, 2023; retrieved July 21, 2025
In December 2010, he underwent hip replacement surgery, but subsequently died of heart failure.
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