Michael Peters
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Michael Peters (August 61948 - August 21 1994) was an American choreographer. He was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in New York City, and died in [[Los Angeles, California]from complications of AIDS].
He also did choreography for Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby". He went on to stage other memorable dance sequences for music videos, including Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" (which he has a brief cameo in), Lionel Richie's "Hello" (which he also has a brief cameo in as the dance instructor of Lionel Richie's blind love interest), and Michael Jackson's "Beat It". In this video directed by Bob Guraldi, which is vaguely reminiscent of "West Side Story", Peters co-stars as one of two gang leaders who prepare for a dramatic showdown/knifefight which is averted at the last moment by Jackson. Peters is dressed all in white, and wears sunglasses during the piece.
Peters' best known choreography (which was contributed to by Jackson) was that for the fifteen-minute video-opus "Thriller", directed by John Landis. A testament to the strength of these two collaborations is that more than a decade later, Jackson's stage shows still contained large elements of Peters' original footwork.
He danced with Talley Beatty, Alvin Ailey, Bernice Johnson, and Fred Benjamin, and worked with Michael Bennett.
At the time of his death, he was advocating for a choreography Oscar.
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