Dancer Tribute 3/30/12: Debbie Allen (Houston, TX original Tweet 10/10/11

I have a saying that describes my performing motto:  JUST DO WHAT DEBBIE DOES!!!

You can’t go wrong if you follow the path of Debbie Allen!

Dancer
Choreographer
Singer
Broadway Star
Actress
Director
Producer
Dance Studio Director
Emmy Winner
Academy Awards Choreographer

What can’t Debbie do?

There is no performing road block that Debbie can’t tackle with her magnificent talent, determination and strength.

She opened so many doors of dance, that NO ONE, I mean NO ONE will be able to conquer the Dance World like Debbie did.  In fact, like Katherine Dunham before her, Debbie also integrated and KICKED DOWN the glass ceiling when it came to directing and producing.

If I could come back reincarnated as any performer, it would be Debbie Allen.

There are not many performers that I admire that have so many works that I admire.  I loved her performances in Broadway shows like Purlie, West Side Story and Sweet Charity.  I loved her acting in TV shows like FAME,  All of Us, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Quantum Leap, In The House and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!  And I love it when I see Debbie’s name as a director for shows like Girlfriends, Hellcats and The Parkers!

Debbie has so many incredible performances that it would be hard to pinpoint my favorite, but I can try to narrow it down to my TOP 3:

• 1.  Choreographer for 1983 65th Oscar Awards Live to “A Whole New World” from the movie Aladdin.  The Belly Twins (Veena & Neena) and Atlantis did a great job of performing in that telecast.
• 2.  The Debbie Allen special.  I have a copy of this somewhere on a VHS, but I remember Debbie Allen “Belly Dancing” in a yellow costume.
• 3.  Debbie Allen as Joanna Chapman in Quantum Leap episode of  “Private Dancer.”  http://www.tv.com/shows/quantum-leap/private-dancer-60523/

I can sing my praise of Debbie Allen all day and all night, but let me close by saying:  DO WHAT DEBBIE DOES and you will never go wrong in Dance!  Debbie thank you for inspiring me and so many other dancers, you are a NATIONAL DANCE TREASURE!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Allen
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000739/bio
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=allendebbie
http://www.debbieallendanceacademy.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/biographies/allen.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000739/
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I will be posting some of my original Dancer Tributes in WordPress, only the early ones that were in Twitter only, not WordPress.  Back when I first starting posting the dancer tributes on Twitter I only had 2 subscribers.  Now that I have more, I realized that a lot of people missed my early dancer tributes.  But as I am reposting those, I will also keep adding new content for topics like Dance Choreography, new Dancer tributes, etc.

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Who is your favorite triple threat performer?