david poole did not begin his dance training until the age of eighteen, quite late for a dancer with professional aspirations. he trained under cecily robinson and dulcie howes at the university of cape town ballet school in the early 1940s and soon began performing in the cape town ballet club, of which howes was the director and one of the principal choreographers. he appeared to notable effect in her ballets "pliaska" (1944), set to music of liadov, and "fête galante" (1945), to music by prokofiev. he also danced in early works by the young john cranko, including "the soldier's tale" (1944), set to the stravinsky score, and "tritsch-tratsch" (1945), a jolly work set to the high-spirited polka of the same name by johann strauss ii.