Michael Peters was born on August 8, 1948 in
Brooklyn,
New York. At the age of four, his mother enrolled him in a dance class. Later on, Peters decided he wanted to be a professional dancer after he had watched the original Broadway production of
West Side Story. He told the
Chicago Tribune: "I came from a housing project in Brooklyn where there were gang wars, and as I watched something I could relate to translated into musical terms, I decided this was something I could do and that I wanted to do." Peters attended the
High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, which he attended for four years. However, he disliked school and never graduated. Instead, Peters learned to dance at the
Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center in
Queens. == Career ==