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Rico, while Michael along with his then-partner,
a ballerina from the Robert Joffrey ballet company,
opened for Tony Martin in his nightclub show.
Michael
who was married once before and convinced he would
never wed again. When he was introduced to Elita
he was so immediately smitten that he recalls
proposing matrimony on the spot. After several
moments of meditation, Elita blithely answered
`yes.’Elita happened to see Michael prior
when he was featured in the off-Broadway show
Safari and years later when prompted to recall
how she and Michael and met, she quipped:
“I met Michael while I was on vacation in
Puerto Rico and that was the last vacation I ever
had.”
As an ex-marine with nearly no dancing experience,
Michael began to frequent Roseland
the Arcadia ballrooms. As he was considered to
be a very handsome Latin, women were said to jump
at the chance to meet and dance with him. Unfortunately
for him, Michael only knew one step that he repeated
so often the girls would eventually drop him and
run.
Michael started losing his self-confidence as
a dancer. Heeding the suggestion of a friend to
go to Dale’s dance studio and apply for
on the job training course as a dance teacher.
Michael applied as an instructor to Dale’s
and the director asked him if he was Spanish,
where he answered immediately “yes’
thinking it was important.
The
director said, “you must be a terrific rumba
dancer” to that Michael again answered `yes.’
The director brought in a female dancer to test
with Michael but after thirty seconds interrupted
the dance and , despite declaring that he was
les than impressed with Michael’s performance,
made this assessment:
“You’re a great looking guy and the
women will love you, so we’ll put you in
a training class where you’ll learn to teach
and dance.”
Following
this inauspicious start, Michael Terrace proved
to be a fast learner and in one year was the best
dancer there.
Michael would count among his professional achievements
the role of Bernardo in a national company of
West Side Story and more recently, consultant
to Eleanor Bergstein’s global musical production
of her 1987 screen success Dirty Dancing.
As a point in fact, Ms. Bergstein has been oft-quoted
as citing Michael Terrace as the chief inspiration
for Patrick Swayze’s character Johnny Castle.
Today, Michael and Elita Terrace continue to professionally
teach ballroom dancing and
dance socially at least three evenings a week.Mrs.
Terrace is active as a painter, mainly in the
media of oil and water-color.
End
part 2
© Michael
Terrace
Saturday, 02-Oct-2010
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