•!!- ueritlioA 44 TI 'c. 1:11 1 1 f- r.-1(1 Friday, November 29, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS THEATER Dual Upbringing, Career For Michael Peters BY MICHAEL ELKIN Special to The Jewish News ANYTIME OF THE YEAR! Special orders allow 2 weeks delivery. fine jewelry and gifts 357-5578 THURSDCMS MON -SAT 10:00.845 10-00-5.45 26400 W. 12 Mile Rd. Southfield, MI 48034 10600 Galaxie Ferndale, MI 48220 353-3355 399-9830 N Mark, Sheila and Jimmie can serve you now at both locations. We are more than an office supply store! Those must be some very spe- cial shoes Michael Peters has been wearing all these years. 'How else to explain the fact that the likeable 36-year-old dancer/ choregrapher has been able to stay one step ahead of everyone else. "I've been dancing all my life," Peters says with a kick in his voice. "I don't remember doing anything but dancing. My mother said I never crawled or walked." He laughs. "Just danced." Peters has waltzed his way into the spotlight since those early days, choreographing the music videos "Thriller' and "Beat It" for Michael Jackson and such Broadway shows as Coming' Uptown and Leader of the Pack. Leading the pack is a natural for Peters, who won a Tony Award for his choregraphic work on Dreamgirls, the multi- Tony Award-winning 1981 show. There was a time in Peters' life, however, wherl the ou and limber •dancer felt out t of step with others his age. Born to a white Jewish mother and black father, Peters' playground was a swing on unparallel bars — he felt slightly out - of - synch with the other kids on the block. "Why can't I be the same color as you?" he once asked his mother. "To be truthful, everyone seemed more upset about it than I," he says, recalling some harsh treatment. "People talked to me as if I were terminally ill. They just didn't understand." But his mother well knew what he was enduring. Rebecka Peters, who divorced Michael's father after a year of marriage and living together for eight years ("MY mother was a re- bel!"), gave her son everything he needed. "My mother took me to opera, she was a devotee of classical music. She gave me anything I wanted in culture. I had won- derful exposure to all kinds of things," says Peters. Indeed, by the time he was 'six, the impressive Peters was impressing others. "I won a All the fantastic GEMINI supplies and services plus all NEW • Executive Gifts • Invitations Personalized Station-ery • • • • Printing Cards Free Delivery Pottery • • • I= IN MB MI OM MO MN OM OM OM MO UM FREE BIC LIGHTER With Coupon Limit 1 Expires 12-6-85 No =I Ns MI MN WV I= MN •IIII III MI IR MEI NO OM al I WE HAVE A FULL LINE OF INVITATIONS AND HOLI- DAY GREETING CARDS NOW AT 20% OFF scholarship to a ballet school," he remembers with a chuckle. "I remember being the only guy in the class." His flights of fantasy took off with his first role. "I played Peter Pan." Peters' interest didn't peter out. His talents increasingly at- tracted fans and admirers. Pet- ers was different although his distinctions weren't limited to his performances. "I went to Hebrew school and church," he says of his upbring- ing. "I wanted to know what it was all about. It was like a smorgasboard." He can grin and laugh about it now, but at the time, Peters- was confused not knowing whether life was- feast or famine. "I felt like a man with- out a country," he says, "when actually I was a man with two countries." Though kids were cruel, laughing at the black Jewish kid who seemingly belonged nowhere, Peters had the last laugh. "I was the one who got out of Brooklyn, not them," he says. What he left behind was Williamsberg, a Chasidic section where he recalls "walking around getting stange looks. Some of my mother's relatives were Chasidim and I remember PRIyA IMPORTS, INC. • Rubber Stamps • Decorating & Design Services • Office Equipment Just for visiting Gemini II Michael Peters: A name among choreographers. 28630 SOUTtifIELD ROAD, SUITE 234 (2113LOCt5 SOUTH OF 12 MILE) (313) 552-8495 DECEMBER SPECIALS • 4-5 MM fresh water pearls, $10.00/strand. Also • • ALL black onyx 25% off retail. ETENDED hours: Sun. 12-5, Tues. and Thurs. 10- 7, Dec. 23, 12-5. Closed Nov. 28, Dec. 24-Jan 1. available premium grade flAIP.