International dance star comes home to Sarasota

In a studio next to The Ringling’s Historic Asolo Theater, where LaMichael Leonard Jr. will premiere his new work-in-progress, “The Hot, New Dance,” on Feb. 19, we asked what brought him back to Sarasota.

In a word: “Family.”

He explains: “I had been away and traveling for my career for nearly two decades. There were some things I needed to catch up with.”

Like many aspiring artists, Leonard long had his eye on New York. After earning his degree from Booker High’s Visual and Performing Arts program in Sarasota, he enrolled at the State University of New York at Purchase, just north of New York City in Westchester County.

But he wasn’t ready to leave Florida for good just yet. Leonard transferred to Miami’s New World School of the Arts, where he earned his BFA.

While studying dance with Peter London at New World, Leonard was attracted to the athletic style of dance pioneered by Martha Graham. With London’s help, Leonard landed a position as principal dancer with the Graham company right after graduation.

After spending a year with the Martha Graham Dance Co., Leonard moved on. With the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., he spent nine years touring the world and expanded his range from dance to choreography.

Then a chance meeting on a New York City street led to a decadelong stint as the first Black principal dancer and emcee at the famed Lido Cabaret in Paris.

That role gave Leonard the opportunity to create a persona that we’ll call LaMichael. In the tradition of larger-than-life stars like Cher, Prince and Beyoncé, Leonard is now known primarily by his first name.

But unlike those other one-name artists, LaMichael doesn’t have a reputation for being demanding or distant. His imposing stature (we reckon 6 feet 5 inches) and charismatic presence guarantee he will grab the spotlight without resorting to diva antics.

When the Lido got a new corporate owner, LaMichael hung around for a year to see how that would play out. Around the time the Lido closed in late 2022 (It has since reopened with a new look.), Leonard decided it was time to head home.

Photo by Wes Roberts

Yet another chance meeting led to LaMichael’s current position as artist-in-residence at The Ringling, the arts institution endowed by circus magnate John Ringling that is administered by Florida State University in Tallahassee.

In March 2024, two of LaMichael’s friends and former classmates, Rosie Herrera and Leah Verier-Dunn, presented their work “Florida Woman” at the jewelbox theater called “The HAT” for short. LaMichael met Herrera when they were students at New World in Miami, while his relationship to Verier-Dunn dates back to Booker High.

One of the people Herrera and Verier-Dunn invited to their dance ode to Florida’s natural beauty and to female friendship was LaMichael. That’s how he came to meet Elizabeth Doud, The Ringling’s Currie-Kohlman Curator of Performance, who programs the museum’s eclectic Art of Performance series.

After several conversations exploring LaMichael’s background, interests and movement research, Doud invited the Booker High alum to become artist-in-residence at The Ringling, a position earlier held by Verier-Dunn.

Even though The Ringling is a global institution, thanks to the legacy of John Ringling’s art collection and love of travel, LaMichael’s local connection piqued Doud’s interest.

“I was intrigued that he had relocated to Sarasota and was thinking about creating work from this place,” she says. “It’s important to me to support artists based here through residencies, space, time and resources.”

As part of his Ringling residency, LaMichael has been teaching dance classes at the museum. These classes aren’t exclusively for dancers, he says, but having been trained in a movement-related discipline is a must for participants.

According to Doud, the class is “open to all kinds of movers, but over the last two years has become a vital space for professional dancers to train and build community.”

Learning flips in the backyard

With his physique and growing up in an athletic family, LaMichael was a natural candidate for sports when he was young. “I was always playing outside, roller skating, riding bikes. I taught myself how to flip in the backyard with a mattress. Movement was always part of who I was.” 

He competed in high school track and field but was sidelined by an injury. After that, tennis was a passion, until he discovered Booker’s dance program through classmate Erika Hand, who also went on to become a professional dancer. 

LaMichael’s budding interest became a vocation after seeing Alvin Ailey’s all-Black dance company at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. 

“I always say dance decided me,” LaMichael says. “I know that’s cliche, but that’s really how it happened.”

In addition to being surrounded by physical activity growing up, LaMichael’s childhood had a soundtrack. “There was always music playing in the house,” he recalls.

As a professional dancer, he is well-versed in classical music, but LaMichael he doesn’t shun pop culture. He cites Michael Jackson, hip-hop and Prince (of course!) as some of his youthful influences.

“I think it’s important not to dismiss pop culture,” he says. But LaMichael also draws inspiration from spiritual writers, such as Eckhart Tolle and poets including Khahil Gibran. 

When he was an emcee at the Lido in Paris, he surprised himself with his ability to rap spontaneously, right down to the rhymes.

If more evidence was needed of LaMichael’s appreciation for popular culture, it should be noted that he found his musicians for “Hot, New Dance” at a nightclub in Bradenton. The trio — Aaron Bowes (aka Pilot Jonezz), Kingsley Reeves and Alix Herard — will be on The HAT stage along with six dancers.

Two of them, Verier-Dunn and Jess Pope, will be familiar to audiences from “Florida Woman,” though in one of Pope’s winning turns in that show she wore an alligator costume.

To LaMichael, it’s not surprising that Verier-Dunn and Pope are part of his show. “There’s a very small, close dance community in Sarasota,” he says. 

Rounding out the cast of dancers in “Hot, New Dance” are Ivonne Batanero, Nicole Hoeberling, Rachel Lambright and Sydney Lemelin.

Though LaMichael is the choreographer, these musicians and dancers are his co-collaborators. The ease among the group was apparent during a recent rehearsal as they worked out staging and surmounted technical difficulties. 

We’ve saved the bad news for the end. LaMichael is so well-known that “Hot, New Dance” sold out almost immediately. But there is a waiting list in case season subscribers release their tickets.

The good news? “A Hot, New Dance” is just a work-in-progress. And future versions will be coming to The Ringling in the not-too-distant future.