March 19
Born Today:
Louis Johnson
Versatile dancer/choreographer Louis Johnson (1930?-2020) moved to New York in 1950 to study dance at the School of American Ballet and danced in the work of Jerome Robbins (1918-1998). Johnson performed on Broadway in House of Flowers (1954) and Damn Yankees (1955) - and went on to dance in the movie version as well. He created dances for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and choreographed the movie version of The Wiz (1978), starring a young Michael Jackson (1958-2009).
Also Born Today: Original member of The Lockers dance group, led by Don “Campbellock” Campbell (1951-2020), dancer Fred Berry (1951-2003) went on to star in the 1970s TV show What’s Happening!!. Ballerina Nina Ananiashvili (1964-) danced for ABT and the Houston Ballet in the 1990s before returning to her native Georgia in 2004 to direct the State Ballet of Georgia in Tbilisi. Ballet dancer/choreographer Thiago Bordin (1983-) danced with the Hamburg Ballett from 2001-2014 and is a freelance choreographer.