Michelle Johnston

Michelle Johnston

Michelle Johnston is an American dancer and actress. She rose up the ranks from chorus gypsy to choreographer of film and TV and featured performer herself. She got her first break in 1982 as a dancer in One from the Heart, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and then danced with John Travolta in Staying Alive. Two years later, she was chosen by choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday as a dancer in A Chorus Line, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. Johnston became Bebe Benson, singing "At the Ballet", and also assisted Hornaday on the film. She went on to become Hornaday's assistant choreographer on Madonna's Who's That Girl Tour, on the Michael Jackson film Captain EO, and on various music videos. Johnston then assisted Hornaday on Dick Tracy, and danced in the film as well. She began choreographing on her own with an episode of Tales from the Crypt in 1990, and, when Hornaday was chosen to direct Shout, a John Travolta vehicle, he gave Johnston the nod to choreograph the film on her own—the plot offered the story of a fugitive hired as a music teacher in a Texas town. She also played a lead role of a dancer in the independent comedy, California Casanova.

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