Tommy Tune won more Tony Awards than almost anyone in Broadway history.

He starred in Hello, Dolly! opposite Barbra Streisand (chosen by Gene Kelly), Seesaw, and My One and Only.

He directed and choreographed landmark Broadway shows like Nine, Grand Hotel, and The Will Rogers Follies.

So why was he told — again and again — that he didn't fit the mold?

Why did ballet shut its doors on him?

Why was he pushed to disappear inside the chorus?

And why was he constantly urged to change his name?

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, I trace Tommy Tune's unlikely rise… from a Texas childhood shaped by tap, ballet, and backyard shows… to surviving Broadway ensembles… to redefining what a director-choreographer could be.

You'll hear how a chance elevator meeting with Michael Bennett changed his trajectory, how Gene Kelly's blunt advice followed him for life, and why Hollywood ultimately wasn't to his liking.

You'll also find rare, previously unreleased photos from Tune's early life, uncovered through original research for this episode — images that reveal how early his instincts for movement, staging, and control were already forming.

This is the most revealing look yet at the dance life behind one of Broadway's defining architects.

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Ann-Margret danced opposite Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas, exploded onto screens in Bye Bye Birdie, and became one of the most recognizable performers of her generation.

But her dance story has rarely been examined — let alone in full.

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, I trace her path from a tiny village in northern Sweden to childhood dance training outside Chicago, late-night club stages as a teenager, national television talent shows, and an unusually fast rise through Hollywood musicals.

Rather than focusing on fame, this episode follows the throughline that shaped everything: how her body moved — onstage, on camera, and under pressure — and how that physicality set her apart at a moment when screen dance was changing.

We dig into her early film musicals, her electric partnership with Elvis Presley, and the stretch of work that helped redefine movement in 1960s movies — before a devastating onstage accident nearly ended her career.

What followed was not a reinvention, but a return — through live performance, television, and film (including an Oscar nom for Tommy) — driven by discipline, resolve, and an unshakable connection to movement.

This is the untold dance journey behind a performer known for many things — and the story of how dance was always at the center.

If you enjoy this kind of deep-dive storytelling and want to help keep The Rest of the Story coming weekly — carefully researched, independently made, and quality-driven — you can support here: ⁠Buy Me a Coffee! Much appreciated!!!

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Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quiñones became the face of street dance when it burst onto movie screens around the world — most famously through the global hit Breakin', a film that turned real street dancers into international stars.

But long before that explosion, his story began in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects — a place defined by danger, instability, and fear. When his mother made a drastic decision to leave everything behind and drive her family across the country to Los Angeles, it changed the course of his life — and dance history.

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, I trace how a teenager searching for belonging found locking, entered a tight inner circle of era-defining street dancers, and became part of the original Soul Train movement — just as street styles were breaking onto television. From there, he joined The Lockers, the groundbreaking group that brought street dance into American living rooms for the first time.

We follow his pivotal connection with Toni Basil, the moment that pulled him onto major stages, and the path that led to Breakin' — a global hit that didn't just succeed, but helped launch street dance onto the world stage.

From television to Broadway, from documentary to film, from clubs to worldwide screens, this is the rarely told, fully contextualized dance legacy of Shabba-Doo — a performer whose talent, presence, and visibility helped define what street dance looked like when the world first saw it. Which is why he's often referred to as the Godfather of Street Dance and the Bob Fosse of the Streets.

If you enjoy this kind of deep-dive storytelling and want to help keep The Rest of the Story coming weekly — carefully researched, independently made, and quality-driven — you can support here: ⁠Buy Me a Coffee! Much appreciated!!!

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John Brascia is the dancer audiences notice every year in White Christmas.

He's the one partnered with Vera-Ellen in the film's most demanding numbers — and for decades, viewers have asked the same question: Who is that dancer?

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, we trace John Brascia's dance journey in full — from his athletic upbringing and early training in Hollywood, to rapid work across MGM musicals, Broadway recognition, and his unforgettable performances on screen.

You'll hear how a business deal gone wrong unexpectedly led him into dance, how he moved quickly from studio classes to films like Summer Stock and Royal Wedding, and why choreographers trusted him with increasingly complex work — including White Christmas and the physically uncompromising finale of Meet Me in Las Vegas.

We also explore his later career with Tybee — the dance team that became a major Las Vegas headliner and one of the most respected acts of its era.

Along the way, I'll share a brief personal note from my research — a conversation that helped fill in key gaps in his story.

This episode offers the most in-depth, dance-focused portrait of John Brascia to date — not a résumé, but the throughline of a dancer whose work never stopped being noticed.

And today, we finally answer why.

If you enjoy this kind of deep-dive storytelling and want to help keep The Rest of the Story coming weekly — carefully researched, independently made, and quality-driven — you can support here: ⁠Buy Me a Coffee! Much appreciated!!!

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

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Ray Bolger is immortalized as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. But the dance story behind that performance is far deeper, stranger, and more hard-won than most people realize.

This episode traces his path from a premature baby in Dorchester, Massachusetts… to a teenager studying eccentric dancers on Boston sidewalks… to a vaudeville performer who built his entire vocabulary out of instinct, rubber-limbed comedy, and sheer invention.

How did a boy who couldn't afford lessons end up sneaking into dance studios — only to discover that his style was so unusual, no partner could match him? How did years of improvisation on the road turn him into one of Broadway's most distinctive comic dancers? And what surprising thing happened when he entered rehearsals for On Your Toes — and George Balanchine's classical discipline met his improvisational style?

We'll also explore how MGM kept cutting his dances… right before casting him in The Wizard of Oz, and how he rebounded with films like The Harvey Girls and stage triumphs that cemented his legacy.

From vaudeville circuits to Broadway breakthroughs to that iconic wobbling walk down the Yellow Brick Road, this episode uncovers the full story of the dancer who gave the Scarecrow his looseness, his warmth, and one of the most unforgettable movement signatures in American film history.

If you enjoy this kind of work and want to support my Rest of the Story podcast, my docuseries, and my return-to-dance journey 👇

⁠Buy Me a Coffee!

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

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The first-ever Dance Hall of Fame ceremony brought together some of the most influential artists in American dance, and in this episode, I share what it was like to be in the room for this historic night. Led by Anita Mann and made possible by philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, the inaugural celebration honored legends including Martha Graham, Gene Kelly, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Kenny Ortega, Stephen "tWitch" Boss, and Misty Copeland.

Shirley MacLaine received the Lifetime Achievement Award (which will now bear her name), and her speech about why dance matters had the entire room in tears. I walk through that moment, the atmosphere inside the event, the origins of the Dance Hall of Fame, and how this new institution intends to celebrate dance history in a meaningful way. I also share a small but memorable detail from the night: Baryshnikov dedicated his award to a dancer he felt should have been part of this inaugural class.

If you enjoy this kind of work and want to support my podcast, my docuseries, and my return-to-dance journey, you'll now find an option below. Your support is never expected, but always appreciated. Thank you so very much.

If you enjoy this kind of work and want to support my podcast, my docuseries, and my return-to-dance journey 👇

⁠Buy Me a Coffee!⁠

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

Support my Instagram — where I post daily dance inspo, insights and fun! ⁠⁠@backtogreat

Moira Shearer became the global face of The Red Shoes — the film that changed ballet on screen forever. But before Technicolor fame, she was a Scottish child prodigy who trained in Africa, stunned teachers in London, and caught the eye of one of the toughest Russian ballet masters of the era.

At just ten, she was invited into Nicholas Legat's elite class — an offer he almost never gave to children — and by her teens she was touring wartime Britain, stepping into roles far beyond her age. Her rise at Sadler's Wells was fast, surprising, and powered entirely by craft.

So why did she say no when a major film director asked her to star in a groundbreaking ballet movie?

And what finally made her accept — leading to a performance that reshaped film history, inspired generations of dancers, and created international expectations she never wanted?

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, we trace her journey from Africa to London, from prodigy to principal, and through the grueling reality behind The Red Shoes — the stunts she insisted on doing herself, the brutal filming conditions, the technical breakthroughs, and the fame she walked away from.

You'll also hear how she moved through her later films — The Tales of Hoffmann, The Jealous Lover, Peeping Tom, Black Tights — not as a movie star chasing the spotlight, but as a dancer protecting the purity of her craft.

Her story isn't just about a film.

It's about the dancer who made that film possible — and why her legacy deserves far more than the myth.

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

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James Cagney is remembered as Hollywood's original tough guy — the streetwise gangster, the rapid-fire talker, the Oscar winner whose intensity lit up the screen. But behind that persona was something most people don't know:

He was a dancer first.

Before the fame, before Public Enemy, before he became one of the most iconic actors of the 20th century, Cagney grew up in vaudeville — tapping, clowning, singing, and performing for pennies long before Hollywood ever called. He always considered himself a "song and dance man," not a gangster star.

And in Yankee Doodle Dandy, the film that won him his Academy Award (playing George M. Cohan), you can see the truth of it: the rhythm, the physical storytelling, the movement vocabulary shaped by years on the stage.

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, we trace the path you've never heard in full — from his Lower East Side childhood to his early vaudeville partners, to the stage training that made his footwork so distinct, to the moment his dancing finally broke through the tough-guy image Hollywood built around him.

You'll hear the real story of how a kid from New York became one of cinema's most legendary figures… and why, underneath it all, he never stopped being a dancer.

This is James Cagney like you've never seen him: not just the gangster… but the dance artist behind the legend.

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

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Chita Rivera originated Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma in Chicago, and Aurora/Death in Kiss of the Spider Woman — four dance-driven roles that became Broadway touchstones and still carry her imprint today.

But the path to those roles? Almost nobody knows it.

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, we go back to the moment a hyperactive seven-year-old crashed through her family's bamboo coffee table… and how that accident led her mother to place her in a small, disciplined ballet school that would reshape the entire trajectory of her life.

You'll hear how a shy teenager from Washington, D.C., ended up in an audition room with George Balanchine, why classical ballet was both her foundation and her ceiling, and the moment she first realized her real fire lived somewhere outside that world.

We follow the turning points:

the auditions she wasn't supposed to get, the mentors who saw her spark before she did, and the fusion of ballet precision, Latin rhythm, and raw instinct that made casting directors sit up and take notice.

You'll also hear how she built the performances that redefined her career — roles that demanded comedy, danger, musicality, and heat — and how one life-altering car accident nearly ended everything… until she came back stronger than before.

And we trace her late-career transformation into a Tony-winning force in Kiss of the Spider Woman, proving that a dancer's power doesn't fade — it evolves.

This is Chita Rivera's full dance story — the one Broadway knows in pieces, but has never heard told like this.

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

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Jeni LeGon danced with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, signed a historic long-term contract at MGM, and became one of the first women — black or white — to build a solo tap career.

So how did her Hollywood dream suddenly change course?

In this episode of The Rest of the Story on the Hey, Dancer! podcast, I trace the path from her self-taught beginnings in Chicago… to the moment she stopped a room cold in her very first film (Hooray for Love)… to the surprising twist that left her outside the MGM machine almost as quickly as she entered it.

But how did she rebuild into a teenager sent across the Atlantic to perform in London… then back to Harlem to sharpen her craft… before landing scene-stealing moments in Ali Baba Goes to Town, Fools for Scandal, and Double Deal?

And what turned her into the pants-wearing tap pioneer whose legacy still isn't fully recognized?

This is the dance history Hollywood overlooked — brought together through deep research and archival footage never before revealed in one place. Until now.

Check out my ⁠⁠Return to Dance docuseries!⁠⁠

Support my Instagram — where I post daily dance inspo, insights and fun! ⁠⁠@backtogreat