Award winning dancer-choreographer-director, Michael Smuin (born 1938) had a wide-ranging career filled with numerous honors in the theater, television, and film.

Michael Smuin was born on October 13, 1938, in Missoula, Montana, of parents involved in community theater. His mother was an actress and his father was a skier who also ran a meat market. Michael's earliest memories include family Christmas parties with Missoula relatives, plus his passion for the dancing of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, his movie idols. He wanted to dance like them and was serious in attending tap dance classes at a young age.

At the age of eight he was a member of The Wise Guys, a group of youngsters who sang, tapped, and told jokes for such groups as the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis Club, and Red Cross. When Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo came to town in a one-night stand, Michael became an instant...