June 28, 2025 • 22 mins
Before he revolutionized music video choreography, Michael Peters was a restless kid from Brooklyn, bouncing between gigs, trying to fit into the mold — and ultimately creating his own.
From disco stages and Broadway flops to pop culture milestones (Michael Jackson and beyond!), this episode traces the full arc of his artistic evolution.
And in the outro, I’ll share a glimpse behind the scenes: a taste of how each episode is deeply researched, fact-checked, and built from the ground up to preserve and credit the legacy of these dance giants.
Watch on YouTube to get the full Michael Peters experience!
Check out my Return to Dance docuseries!
Support my Instagram — where I post daily dance inspo, insights and fun! @backtogreat
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
He transformed music videos into cinematic dance, and in doing so helped rewrite the rules
(00:08):
of choreography forever.
Welcome to the rest of the story, where every week I bring you the dance legends behind
the movement.
I'm your host Miller Daurey, and this is my podcast, Hey, Dancer.
If you're loving this series, my podcast, The Content in General, it goes a long way
when you subscribe, follow, leave a review on Spotify or Apple, rate, comment like all
(00:34):
the things.
It just really helps my podcast reach new people, so thank you in advance and make sure
you hang out until the outro because I'll give a little window as to the work and prep
entailed to make these episodes as truthful and vetted as possible.
Okay, now let's get into it.
(00:54):
He was born in 1948 and raised in the low income housing projects of the Williamsburg
section of Brooklyn.
His mother, Rebecca, was white and of German Jewish descent.
His father, John, was black and worked in a factory.
The story goes his parents lived together for eight years, got married, then divorced
(01:14):
a year later.
From an early age, this child was energetic, expressive, and constantly moving.
He was placed in a gifted program by the fourth grade, thanks to his high IQ, but school
never interested him.
He once said, quote, "I didn't want to do schoolwork.
I just had so much energy and I got bored so easily.
(01:36):
Still do."
End quote.
He spent four years at the high school of performing arts in Manhattan, a prestigious institution
known for producing some of the top performers in the country, but he didn't graduate.
I didn't have the grades he later admitted.
Dance became an outlet and he finally found his solace when he began studying at the Bernice
(01:59):
Johnson Cultural Arts Center in Queens, New York, commuting by subway and bus.
The studio was known for producing major black dance talent, including future stars like
Ben Verine and Lester Wilson, whom he also took class from, by the way.
There under Johnson's guidance, he found what he needed.
(02:19):
Both encouragement and discipline.
She told him once, quote, "It's out there for you.
Just go and get it."
End quote.
And he tried, a path full of pain your dues and just barely getting by.
One night it finally happened.
Broadway.
In 1969, he landed a role in a new musical called Billy.
(02:42):
He played a character named Roper.
It was his Broadway debut and his only confirmed credit as a dancer on the Great White Way.
But the show opened and closed on the same night.
One performance.
Just like that, it was over.
Whatever promise it held disappeared by curtain call.
(03:03):
And the grind resumed.
He danced in Lester Wilson's company, Double Exposure in Germany.
And later, he danced in Lola Falanas' European Nightclub Act, a glamorous but grueling
tour that gave him steady work and visibility.
At the time, it felt like just another gig.
But years later, that chapter would resurface in an unexpected way.
(03:27):
After Europe, he joined the Alvin-Aly Dance Company, but it didn't last.
Just six months in, it was clear he didn't quite fit the mold.
Ailey would later say he was "a terrific dancer quick, fast, kind of explosive," end
quote, and also quote, "volatile, strong-willed, and restless."
(03:48):
Already, he had that spark of creativity."
Still restless, still searching, he bounced between gigs, dancing, assisting, doing whatever
it took to stay in the room.
Over time, that grind turned into opportunity.
He began staging live acts.
First for Donna Summer, creating movement for her hit disco number, Love to Love You Baby
(04:12):
in 1975, a sold-tree performance that marked his first big breakthrough as a choreographer.
He followed that with work for Debbie Reynolds, tailoring choreography to her classic show-based
sensibility.
Through these gigs, he learned how to shape movement around the artist, around the moment,
around the spotlight.
(04:33):
Then came his first big shot as a Broadway choreographer, Common Uptown, a 1979 musical
starring Gregory Hines, an all-black adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
The show had style, spectacle, and major names behind it, but it opened to lukewarm reviews
(04:53):
and shuttered after just six weeks.
He fell into a total depression.
But his choreography hadn't gone unnoticed.
Then the audience one night was Michael Bennett, the legendary creator of a chorus line.
He'd been intrigued by the work, sensed something in the movement, a spark, so Bennett reached
(05:15):
out.
Brought him into the fold, along with producer and choreographer Bob Aivian, and they began
building something new.
The three of them would spend the next year and a half shaping it, rehearsing, reworking,
obsessing, that show, Dreamgirls.
Yup, he co-choreographed it with Bennett and together, they won the Tony Award for Best
(05:38):
Choreography.
The production was a smash.
Six Tony's sold out houses and choreography that moved like it meant something.
It was theatrical, polished, and unrelenting.
It made producers take note.
It made dancers push harder, and it finally gave him the credit he'd long been chasing.
(05:59):
Bennett eventually handed him off to commercial director Bob Joraldi, who had just started
dabbling in a new medium.
Music videos.
Joraldi was set to direct "Beat It" from Michael Jackson, and brought him into choreograph,
but Jackson didn't need convincing.
See years earlier during that tour with Lola Falana, Jackson had been a visitor at rehearsals.
(06:25):
He watched asked questions like, "How do you do that move?"
They stayed in touch over the years here and there, and when the time came, Jackson remembered
and welcomed him in.
His street-informed style was the perfect match, the grit, the rhythm, the edge.
And he wasn't just the choreographer.
(06:45):
Jackson personally asked him to play the gang leader in white.
Then came Thriller.
The stakes were already sky high.
The song and album had been out for nearly a year, and anticipation for the video was intense.
For the audition, dancers weren't just expected to move well.
(07:06):
They had to become the character.
Zombies haunted, strange.
It was about commitment, not just technique.
He pulled from his network.
Some dancers he'd known since high school, but they still had to audition.
Jackson wanted to see if they could not only dance, but transform.
In rehearsal footage, he can be seen breaking things down with surgical precision.
(07:30):
Every flick, every drop, every slouch, it had to read, it had to land.
But he wasn't drilling counts.
He was drilling intention.
As he once said, "When you dance by the numbers, you extract all emotion.
You sterilize the movement.
You remove the dance from its inspiration, which is the music.
(07:52):
What I love is the capability of a body to be free in the sense of street or social dancing."
And at the same time, do something that is technically hard and tremendously disciplined."
He choreographed two the music, not on top of it.
Every drum riff, every guitar lick was a signal.
Hersel's lasted just one week.
(08:23):
Michael Jackson was not the only music icon who trusted him.
He worked repeatedly with Lionel Ritchie, choreographing hit videos like "Running With
the Night" and "Dancing on the Sealing" and appearing alongside Ritchie on screen.
(08:44):
Pat Benatar called him "a translator" turning natural movement into choreographic gold.
He staged her breakout video "Love is a Battlefield."
He didn't just choreograph for these music legends.
He coached them, empowered them.
He choreographed "Diana Rosses" July 1983 Central Park Concert and danced alone on stage
(09:07):
with her during numbers like "Maniac."
This was the peak of his MTV reign when choreographers were becoming stars in their own right.
He directed episodes of "Fame," a show based on the very high school he once attended,
as well as non-dance-related TV shows like "A Different World" and "Notes Landing."
(09:28):
He also returned to Broadway to direct and choreograph the jukebox musical "Leader of
the Pack," which debuted in 1985.
And then came one of his most transformative assignments, helping Angela Bassett become
"Tina Turner" for what's love got to do with it.
He rehearsed with Bassett every Saturday for months, working tirelessly to shape not just
(09:53):
the steps, but the energy, grit, and tension that defined Tina's movement.
Bassett scored an Oscar nomination for it, but without him, that transformation wouldn't
have landed.
He choreographed so much in the world of TV and movies, like "Sister Act 2" and "The Mamba
Kings," and "The Jackson's," an American Dream.
(10:15):
In 1992, many series that brought the Jackson family story to TV, and he earned his second
Emmy for that project.
But even as the money and accolades rolled in, he never fully left the people and places
that raised him.
He'd returned to Bernice Johnson Studio in Queens to teach and help fundraise.
(10:36):
His closest friends were still the ones he grew up with, the ones who saw the fire before
the spotlight ever did.
And most of his life he couldn't sit still.
He was chasing the next job, the next number, the next idea.
Restlessness was the undercurrent, until it wasn't.
Later in life, something shifted for the first time he allowed himself to pause, to reflect,
(11:01):
to feel proud.
His most famous routine, the choreography for Thriller, is arguably the most danced and recognizable
piece by a choreographer in history.
It's been performed everywhere in films, TV shows, stadiums, competitions, social media,
and flashmobbs.
(11:21):
The annual global event "Thrill the World" unites thousands across continents to emulate
the iconic dance, and yet, his name is nowhere to be found on their website.
No credit, no mention.
It's a stark omission, especially considering that he spent his later years fighting for
(11:42):
choreographers to receive proper recognition, leading a campaign for the Academy to create
an Oscar category for choreography in film.
The irony isn't lost.
It's time the world finally honored the man behind the movement, his name, Michael Peters.
And now you know the rest of the story.
(12:04):
Alright, dance fam, I hope you loved this episode.
If you were inspired, if you felt entertained, educated by this story of the great Michael
Peters, do me a favor and do all the things.
Subscribe, follow, and share the podcast with someone you know who would be equally inspired.
(12:25):
Because come on man, what a story, what a legacy.
As I always say, I don't get into the personal lives of these artists, but for Michael Peters,
his passing feels important to mention because he did die so young from age-related complications
in 1994.
(12:46):
He just made his 46th birthday, like just so many brilliant artists of his era, his life
was cut short due to this reason, but his influence was never cut short.
But he left behind clearly continues to move the world.
You know Vincent Patterson, who was the assistant choreographer on Thriller, to Michael Peters.
(13:08):
He actually went on to work with Michael Jackson for over 15 years and Madonna and everybody.
He's very iconic himself.
And he credits Michael Peters, his stylish ease in the most famous moves of Thriller as to
why the dance has been copied for decades.
But people don't have to look like trained dancers to have fun with the movement, said Patterson.
(13:31):
If we see somebody put their two hands, like claws up from one side to the other, we immediately
go, oh Thriller, he said, I think that made for such a memorable, memorable piece of choreography
end quote.
And again, that was by Vincent Patterson about Michael Peters' choreography and it's so true,
right?
It's the kind of choreography that is instantaneously recognizable.
(13:54):
Now moving on, so I will tell you that I work very hard.
I'm a one man team, I've said before, to vet all of the data that I find with regard to
these dance subjects.
And the amount of misinformation online is just extraordinary.
You know how the internet is, but the frustrating thing is is that endless sources list many
(14:17):
credits of Michael Peters as a dancer on Broadway that as far as I can find just did
not exist.
They say he was in the Wiz, Raisin, Purly, but when you go to IBDB or Broadwayworld.com and
IBDB, by the way, is the internet Broadway database, they don't list those credits.
(14:38):
They only list one dance credit for Michael Peters and that is Billy.
It's frustrating because I want to bring to you the most reliable information, but somebody
says, "Oh, he was in the Wiz and then everybody picks it up."
But it's not true because, for example, again, IBDB or Broadwayworld are the major resources
(15:00):
to hit for someone's Broadway experience.
So if anybody out there leave a comment, send me a DM at back to great, shoot me an email,
back to greatbiz@gmail.com.
Let me know if you know something more, maybe he was in those shows, but I will not bring
to you things I cannot vet.
And so often the information online is just erroneous and I will only bring to you things
(15:25):
that I'm 100% positive are true.
As I often say, these are not meant to be a 90-minute two-hour documentary.
It's not meant to be a full biography by any means.
It is a dance centered, a dance focused, highlight reel, if you will, retrospective on a dance
giant.
(15:46):
And it's still funny to me that I often repeat this and I still get comments from people
saying, "Oh, you forgot this, you forgot that.
Never do I even intimate that these are full biography."
But one part that is very important to me in these people's stories is the early part,
the childhood, the years of training, the foundation.
(16:07):
And I'll tell you, even for like the most famous dancers of all time, like recent episodes
even on Vera Ellen, Carol Haney, it's very difficult to find because there aren't interviews
with these people, you know, unless you're like a huge famous actor, you know, actress in
the movies, whatever, in more recent times, but go and try to find on Google, you know,
(16:31):
something about, you know, these dance icons from yesterday and yesterday could literally
be the 80s and 90s.
I'm not even talking about, you know, the 30s or 50s or something.
There's not one-on-one interviews really to be located.
And I was very proud of myself.
I didn't say with my words, although I put it as a text overlay and in the episode description
(16:55):
for Carol Haney.
I got an exclusive, I, through my own digging, I found her high school yearbook and literally
discovered pictures of her as a teenager that have never been seen before online.
I was so proud of myself.
I just was, I kept digging and because again, I really want to find stuff from their childhood
(17:18):
to bring to you, especially visually, you know.
And with Carol Haney, I found her high school yearbook and in it was her senior portrait and
her class picture and the fact that she was voted most likely to succeed and best dancer
and her singing in the choir.
I, wow.
Like that should be on the news.
I'm very proud that I found this.
(17:39):
But anyway, with Michael Peters, again, I couldn't find anything from his childhood very little
bit about his training, except for, of course, that he went to the performing arts high school
in Manhattan.
That was known.
But guess what?
I found this one footnote.
It was on IMDB and it was an article.
But there was no link to it.
(18:00):
You couldn't click on it, but it had three different sources for him on IMDB that were
articles.
And this one seemed to be an old article that was an interview with him and I was shocked
and I tried to do all the things.
I looked up the two writers of the piece.
I looked up the title.
I tried to do all the sort of keywords.
I couldn't find it.
(18:21):
And then what I did find was on eBay, they had this article.
Okay.
So it was from People Magazine back then called People Weekly.
And on eBay, they, I found the actual magazine.
I could have bought it, but I didn't want to spend that time to have it arrive, you know,
because I'm on a sort of schedule here to get these episodes out.
(18:41):
And on eBay, they had a couple of pictures of different pages from this particular week,
all the way back in 1984.
And I saw the table of contents and I got the page number for the article with Michael
Peters, okay?
And the date of the People Weekly, but not the actual article that was not shown on eBay.
(19:03):
So I literally did so much crazy digging.
I finally got hold of the history department at the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown.
Shout out to Peter who helped me out there.
He found with me giving him the date of the magazine, the volume and the actual page number
of the article, which is what they needed.
He was able to consult somebody and get it for me on microfilm.
(19:28):
And then email to me the article.
And I am so excited by that because it is the only vetted, truthful source that exists
that is an article in interview with Michael Peters that gives a little bit of a backstory
as to his youth.
That really did inform a lot of this script.
I just say this to tell you that it is crucially important to me to bring to you as much
(19:55):
of the truth as possible.
And I don't want to mention things unless I can really cross reference.
I got also lucky.
I found a YouTube dedicated to Michael Jackson's album Thriller.
And this was an interview with Lorraine Fields, who happened to be one of the main dancers
on Thriller.
(20:16):
And that is how I learned that she went to school with Michael Peters at the performing arts
high school in Manhattan.
And he had friends going back all the way to that time and he brought them into addition
for Thriller.
She painted the picture, what it was like auditioning the rehearsal.
And that informed that part of my script, which again, really not possible to find online
(20:38):
just by googling or going to AI, which is always wrong, by the way.
So all these little things begin to dictate what I can tell you that I'm certain is true.
Luckily it was Lorraine Fields, who said in an interview that Michael Peters worked in
Lester Wilson's company in Germany called Double Exposure.
(21:00):
And I was like, what?
Oh my god.
Like that information is nowhere online.
And so that informed my script.
So while my podcast, this, the rest of the story series is just a dance centered retrospective,
I am proud to say that with many of these episodes, I am revealing information dance wise
(21:25):
with regard to these giants that many times have never been talked about before, released,
exposed, and all of the above.
And I'm very, very proud of that.
So if you appreciate the work I'm putting into it, again, it goes a long way when you subscribe
and tell your peeps about it.
(21:46):
I am in no way sharing any of this from a self-boasting perspective.
I just take pride in my work.
And it's these dance heroes are, you know, very important to my heart.
I kind of, in my own way, fallen love with them every single week.
Their legacy is something that I take very seriously.
(22:07):
And that's all I got for this week.
If you have any recommendations on future dance icons, giants, legends, let me know in
the comments until next time.
[MUSIC]
He transformed music videos into cinematic dance, and in doing so helped rewrite the rules
(00:08):
of choreography forever.
Welcome to the rest of the story, where every week I bring you the dance legends behind
the movement.
I'm your host Miller Daurey, and this is my podcast, Hey, Dancer.
If you're loving this series, my podcast, The Content in General, it goes a long way
when you subscribe, follow, leave a review on Spotify or Apple, rate, comment like all
(00:34):
the things.
It just really helps my podcast reach new people, so thank you in advance and make sure
you hang out until the outro because I'll give a little window as to the work and prep
entailed to make these episodes as truthful and vetted as possible.
Okay, now let's get into it.
(00:54):
He was born in 1948 and raised in the low income housing projects of the Williamsburg
section of Brooklyn.
His mother, Rebecca, was white and of German Jewish descent.
His father, John, was black and worked in a factory.
The story goes his parents lived together for eight years, got married, then divorced
(01:14):
a year later.
From an early age, this child was energetic, expressive, and constantly moving.
He was placed in a gifted program by the fourth grade, thanks to his high IQ, but school
never interested him.
He once said, quote, "I didn't want to do schoolwork.
I just had so much energy and I got bored so easily.
(01:36):
Still do."
End quote.
He spent four years at the high school of performing arts in Manhattan, a prestigious institution
known for producing some of the top performers in the country, but he didn't graduate.
I didn't have the grades he later admitted.
Dance became an outlet and he finally found his solace when he began studying at the Bernice
(01:59):
Johnson Cultural Arts Center in Queens, New York, commuting by subway and bus.
The studio was known for producing major black dance talent, including future stars like
Ben Verine and Lester Wilson, whom he also took class from, by the way.
There under Johnson's guidance, he found what he needed.
(02:19):
Both encouragement and discipline.
She told him once, quote, "It's out there for you.
Just go and get it."
End quote.
And he tried, a path full of pain your dues and just barely getting by.
One night it finally happened.
Broadway.
In 1969, he landed a role in a new musical called Billy.
(02:42):
He played a character named Roper.
It was his Broadway debut and his only confirmed credit as a dancer on the Great White Way.
But the show opened and closed on the same night.
One performance.
Just like that, it was over.
Whatever promise it held disappeared by curtain call.
(03:03):
And the grind resumed.
He danced in Lester Wilson's company, Double Exposure in Germany.
And later, he danced in Lola Falanas' European Nightclub Act, a glamorous but grueling
tour that gave him steady work and visibility.
At the time, it felt like just another gig.
But years later, that chapter would resurface in an unexpected way.
(03:27):
After Europe, he joined the Alvin-Aly Dance Company, but it didn't last.
Just six months in, it was clear he didn't quite fit the mold.
Ailey would later say he was "a terrific dancer quick, fast, kind of explosive," end
quote, and also quote, "volatile, strong-willed, and restless."
(03:48):
Already, he had that spark of creativity."
Still restless, still searching, he bounced between gigs, dancing, assisting, doing whatever
it took to stay in the room.
Over time, that grind turned into opportunity.
He began staging live acts.
First for Donna Summer, creating movement for her hit disco number, Love to Love You Baby
(04:12):
in 1975, a sold-tree performance that marked his first big breakthrough as a choreographer.
He followed that with work for Debbie Reynolds, tailoring choreography to her classic show-based
sensibility.
Through these gigs, he learned how to shape movement around the artist, around the moment,
around the spotlight.
(04:33):
Then came his first big shot as a Broadway choreographer, Common Uptown, a 1979 musical
starring Gregory Hines, an all-black adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
The show had style, spectacle, and major names behind it, but it opened to lukewarm reviews
(04:53):
and shuttered after just six weeks.
He fell into a total depression.
But his choreography hadn't gone unnoticed.
Then the audience one night was Michael Bennett, the legendary creator of a chorus line.
He'd been intrigued by the work, sensed something in the movement, a spark, so Bennett reached
(05:15):
out.
Brought him into the fold, along with producer and choreographer Bob Aivian, and they began
building something new.
The three of them would spend the next year and a half shaping it, rehearsing, reworking,
obsessing, that show, Dreamgirls.
Yup, he co-choreographed it with Bennett and together, they won the Tony Award for Best
(05:38):
Choreography.
The production was a smash.
Six Tony's sold out houses and choreography that moved like it meant something.
It was theatrical, polished, and unrelenting.
It made producers take note.
It made dancers push harder, and it finally gave him the credit he'd long been chasing.
(05:59):
Bennett eventually handed him off to commercial director Bob Joraldi, who had just started
dabbling in a new medium.
Music videos.
Joraldi was set to direct "Beat It" from Michael Jackson, and brought him into choreograph,
but Jackson didn't need convincing.
See years earlier during that tour with Lola Falana, Jackson had been a visitor at rehearsals.
(06:25):
He watched asked questions like, "How do you do that move?"
They stayed in touch over the years here and there, and when the time came, Jackson remembered
and welcomed him in.
His street-informed style was the perfect match, the grit, the rhythm, the edge.
And he wasn't just the choreographer.
(06:45):
Jackson personally asked him to play the gang leader in white.
Then came Thriller.
The stakes were already sky high.
The song and album had been out for nearly a year, and anticipation for the video was intense.
For the audition, dancers weren't just expected to move well.
(07:06):
They had to become the character.
Zombies haunted, strange.
It was about commitment, not just technique.
He pulled from his network.
Some dancers he'd known since high school, but they still had to audition.
Jackson wanted to see if they could not only dance, but transform.
In rehearsal footage, he can be seen breaking things down with surgical precision.
(07:30):
Every flick, every drop, every slouch, it had to read, it had to land.
But he wasn't drilling counts.
He was drilling intention.
As he once said, "When you dance by the numbers, you extract all emotion.
You sterilize the movement.
You remove the dance from its inspiration, which is the music.
(07:52):
What I love is the capability of a body to be free in the sense of street or social dancing."
And at the same time, do something that is technically hard and tremendously disciplined."
He choreographed two the music, not on top of it.
Every drum riff, every guitar lick was a signal.
Hersel's lasted just one week.
(08:23):
Michael Jackson was not the only music icon who trusted him.
He worked repeatedly with Lionel Ritchie, choreographing hit videos like "Running With
the Night" and "Dancing on the Sealing" and appearing alongside Ritchie on screen.
(08:44):
Pat Benatar called him "a translator" turning natural movement into choreographic gold.
He staged her breakout video "Love is a Battlefield."
He didn't just choreograph for these music legends.
He coached them, empowered them.
He choreographed "Diana Rosses" July 1983 Central Park Concert and danced alone on stage
(09:07):
with her during numbers like "Maniac."
This was the peak of his MTV reign when choreographers were becoming stars in their own right.
He directed episodes of "Fame," a show based on the very high school he once attended,
as well as non-dance-related TV shows like "A Different World" and "Notes Landing."
(09:28):
He also returned to Broadway to direct and choreograph the jukebox musical "Leader of
the Pack," which debuted in 1985.
And then came one of his most transformative assignments, helping Angela Bassett become
"Tina Turner" for what's love got to do with it.
He rehearsed with Bassett every Saturday for months, working tirelessly to shape not just
(09:53):
the steps, but the energy, grit, and tension that defined Tina's movement.
Bassett scored an Oscar nomination for it, but without him, that transformation wouldn't
have landed.
He choreographed so much in the world of TV and movies, like "Sister Act 2" and "The Mamba
Kings," and "The Jackson's," an American Dream.
(10:15):
In 1992, many series that brought the Jackson family story to TV, and he earned his second
Emmy for that project.
But even as the money and accolades rolled in, he never fully left the people and places
that raised him.
He'd returned to Bernice Johnson Studio in Queens to teach and help fundraise.
(10:36):
His closest friends were still the ones he grew up with, the ones who saw the fire before
the spotlight ever did.
And most of his life he couldn't sit still.
He was chasing the next job, the next number, the next idea.
Restlessness was the undercurrent, until it wasn't.
Later in life, something shifted for the first time he allowed himself to pause, to reflect,
(11:01):
to feel proud.
His most famous routine, the choreography for Thriller, is arguably the most danced and recognizable
piece by a choreographer in history.
It's been performed everywhere in films, TV shows, stadiums, competitions, social media,
and flashmobbs.
(11:21):
The annual global event "Thrill the World" unites thousands across continents to emulate
the iconic dance, and yet, his name is nowhere to be found on their website.
No credit, no mention.
It's a stark omission, especially considering that he spent his later years fighting for
(11:42):
choreographers to receive proper recognition, leading a campaign for the Academy to create
an Oscar category for choreography in film.
The irony isn't lost.
It's time the world finally honored the man behind the movement, his name, Michael Peters.
And now you know the rest of the story.
(12:04):
Alright, dance fam, I hope you loved this episode.
If you were inspired, if you felt entertained, educated by this story of the great Michael
Peters, do me a favor and do all the things.
Subscribe, follow, and share the podcast with someone you know who would be equally inspired.
(12:25):
Because come on man, what a story, what a legacy.
As I always say, I don't get into the personal lives of these artists, but for Michael Peters,
his passing feels important to mention because he did die so young from age-related complications
in 1994.
(12:46):
He just made his 46th birthday, like just so many brilliant artists of his era, his life
was cut short due to this reason, but his influence was never cut short.
But he left behind clearly continues to move the world.
You know Vincent Patterson, who was the assistant choreographer on Thriller, to Michael Peters.
(13:08):
He actually went on to work with Michael Jackson for over 15 years and Madonna and everybody.
He's very iconic himself.
And he credits Michael Peters, his stylish ease in the most famous moves of Thriller as to
why the dance has been copied for decades.
But people don't have to look like trained dancers to have fun with the movement, said Patterson.
(13:31):
If we see somebody put their two hands, like claws up from one side to the other, we immediately
go, oh Thriller, he said, I think that made for such a memorable, memorable piece of choreography
end quote.
And again, that was by Vincent Patterson about Michael Peters' choreography and it's so true,
right?
It's the kind of choreography that is instantaneously recognizable.
(13:54):
Now moving on, so I will tell you that I work very hard.
I'm a one man team, I've said before, to vet all of the data that I find with regard to
these dance subjects.
And the amount of misinformation online is just extraordinary.
You know how the internet is, but the frustrating thing is is that endless sources list many
(14:17):
credits of Michael Peters as a dancer on Broadway that as far as I can find just did
not exist.
They say he was in the Wiz, Raisin, Purly, but when you go to IBDB or Broadwayworld.com and
IBDB, by the way, is the internet Broadway database, they don't list those credits.
(14:38):
They only list one dance credit for Michael Peters and that is Billy.
It's frustrating because I want to bring to you the most reliable information, but somebody
says, "Oh, he was in the Wiz and then everybody picks it up."
But it's not true because, for example, again, IBDB or Broadwayworld are the major resources
(15:00):
to hit for someone's Broadway experience.
So if anybody out there leave a comment, send me a DM at back to great, shoot me an email,
back to greatbiz@gmail.com.
Let me know if you know something more, maybe he was in those shows, but I will not bring
to you things I cannot vet.
And so often the information online is just erroneous and I will only bring to you things
(15:25):
that I'm 100% positive are true.
As I often say, these are not meant to be a 90-minute two-hour documentary.
It's not meant to be a full biography by any means.
It is a dance centered, a dance focused, highlight reel, if you will, retrospective on a dance
giant.
(15:46):
And it's still funny to me that I often repeat this and I still get comments from people
saying, "Oh, you forgot this, you forgot that.
Never do I even intimate that these are full biography."
But one part that is very important to me in these people's stories is the early part,
the childhood, the years of training, the foundation.
(16:07):
And I'll tell you, even for like the most famous dancers of all time, like recent episodes
even on Vera Ellen, Carol Haney, it's very difficult to find because there aren't interviews
with these people, you know, unless you're like a huge famous actor, you know, actress in
the movies, whatever, in more recent times, but go and try to find on Google, you know,
(16:31):
something about, you know, these dance icons from yesterday and yesterday could literally
be the 80s and 90s.
I'm not even talking about, you know, the 30s or 50s or something.
There's not one-on-one interviews really to be located.
And I was very proud of myself.
I didn't say with my words, although I put it as a text overlay and in the episode description
(16:55):
for Carol Haney.
I got an exclusive, I, through my own digging, I found her high school yearbook and literally
discovered pictures of her as a teenager that have never been seen before online.
I was so proud of myself.
I just was, I kept digging and because again, I really want to find stuff from their childhood
(17:18):
to bring to you, especially visually, you know.
And with Carol Haney, I found her high school yearbook and in it was her senior portrait and
her class picture and the fact that she was voted most likely to succeed and best dancer
and her singing in the choir.
I, wow.
Like that should be on the news.
I'm very proud that I found this.
(17:39):
But anyway, with Michael Peters, again, I couldn't find anything from his childhood very little
bit about his training, except for, of course, that he went to the performing arts high school
in Manhattan.
That was known.
But guess what?
I found this one footnote.
It was on IMDB and it was an article.
But there was no link to it.
(18:00):
You couldn't click on it, but it had three different sources for him on IMDB that were
articles.
And this one seemed to be an old article that was an interview with him and I was shocked
and I tried to do all the things.
I looked up the two writers of the piece.
I looked up the title.
I tried to do all the sort of keywords.
I couldn't find it.
(18:21):
And then what I did find was on eBay, they had this article.
Okay.
So it was from People Magazine back then called People Weekly.
And on eBay, they, I found the actual magazine.
I could have bought it, but I didn't want to spend that time to have it arrive, you know,
because I'm on a sort of schedule here to get these episodes out.
(18:41):
And on eBay, they had a couple of pictures of different pages from this particular week,
all the way back in 1984.
And I saw the table of contents and I got the page number for the article with Michael
Peters, okay?
And the date of the People Weekly, but not the actual article that was not shown on eBay.
(19:03):
So I literally did so much crazy digging.
I finally got hold of the history department at the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown.
Shout out to Peter who helped me out there.
He found with me giving him the date of the magazine, the volume and the actual page number
of the article, which is what they needed.
He was able to consult somebody and get it for me on microfilm.
(19:28):
And then email to me the article.
And I am so excited by that because it is the only vetted, truthful source that exists
that is an article in interview with Michael Peters that gives a little bit of a backstory
as to his youth.
That really did inform a lot of this script.
I just say this to tell you that it is crucially important to me to bring to you as much
(19:55):
of the truth as possible.
And I don't want to mention things unless I can really cross reference.
I got also lucky.
I found a YouTube dedicated to Michael Jackson's album Thriller.
And this was an interview with Lorraine Fields, who happened to be one of the main dancers
on Thriller.
(20:16):
And that is how I learned that she went to school with Michael Peters at the performing arts
high school in Manhattan.
And he had friends going back all the way to that time and he brought them into addition
for Thriller.
She painted the picture, what it was like auditioning the rehearsal.
And that informed that part of my script, which again, really not possible to find online
(20:38):
just by googling or going to AI, which is always wrong, by the way.
So all these little things begin to dictate what I can tell you that I'm certain is true.
Luckily it was Lorraine Fields, who said in an interview that Michael Peters worked in
Lester Wilson's company in Germany called Double Exposure.
(21:00):
And I was like, what?
Oh my god.
Like that information is nowhere online.
And so that informed my script.
So while my podcast, this, the rest of the story series is just a dance centered retrospective,
I am proud to say that with many of these episodes, I am revealing information dance wise
(21:25):
with regard to these giants that many times have never been talked about before, released,
exposed, and all of the above.
And I'm very, very proud of that.
So if you appreciate the work I'm putting into it, again, it goes a long way when you subscribe
and tell your peeps about it.
(21:46):
I am in no way sharing any of this from a self-boasting perspective.
I just take pride in my work.
And it's these dance heroes are, you know, very important to my heart.
I kind of, in my own way, fallen love with them every single week.
Their legacy is something that I take very seriously.
(22:07):
And that's all I got for this week.
If you have any recommendations on future dance icons, giants, legends, let me know in
the comments until next time.
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