Life on Stage
Dancing Great Ron Holiday Awaits the Upcoming Broadway musical of His Life Story
Written by Blair Townley; Photos by LAKE Magazine
You may think by the way Ron Holiday gushes about his kids that he is the proud father or grandfather of the children he speaks of.
Yet the “kids” he talks about of are those that he has taught ballet to for years at several local dance studios as well as privately in and around Lake County.
“My students are achieving at 13 and 14 what [my late wife] Joy and I achieved in our early twenties. They are more focused as it is what they want,” he says.
Ron has spent over 60 years of his life performing ballet with wife Joy Holiday all over the world, both even breaking a performance record at Radio City Music Hall for performing 364 consecutive shows.
His ballet career was recently captured by HBO for a 2008 documentary, “Cat Dancers,” which chronicled the couple’s use of exotic cats for some of their performances as well as the tragic deaths of Joy and the couple’s friend Chuck Lizza by one of the cats.
Plans for a Broadway musical are already underway in New York along with a potential film, both detailing Ron’s dancing career from childhood to the present.
Even with the big-budgeted recounting of his extensive career in dance, Ron has found teaching his craft to younger dancers is where the true accomplishments of his career lie.
“I’m blessed and I thank God so much for what I have today. I have a good life now, I have to say,” he says with a smile.
“When a tragedy happens like that, you either go downhill all the way or you struggle for a while and then move on [to a brighter outlook].”
Making it to Broadway and Hollywood
The success of the “Cat Dancers” documentary prompted plans to bring Ron’s life story to his beloved stage, specifically on Broadway where Ron and Joy spent most of their early careers.
The script is currently being created by Oz Perkins, the son of the late acting great Anthony Perkins, and Steven Sater, creator of the “Spring Awakening” Broadway show.
“I heard they would like to do the musical in a sequence format similar to ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ where you see Joy and me at different ages through the story,” he says.
Ron and Joy met one another at age 11 and 7, respectively, as students at a ballet school in Maine, going on to become recognized dancers on the Broadway circuit.
Ron recently learned that the show will open in his and Joy’s one-time home, Radio City Music Hall.
“We broke all records by having 364 consecutive performances and we lived there; eating, sleeping, warming up and dancing,” he recalls. Joy and Ron did a few shows a day at Radio City Music Hall when the Hall’s daily show format included movie screenings, variety acts and the Rockettes.
The reception toward the musical will determine whether plans continue for the big-screen movie of Ron’s life, a film that has already passed through the hands of big Hollywood names like Sean Penn.
Kids are the Biggest Reward
With the Broadway show and movie of Ron’s life comes more exposure to the talent he possesses and his dedication to helping youngsters realize their dancing dreams.
Ron, for one, was surprised when he discovered the enjoyment that came from teaching younger dancers the techniques and merits of ballet.
“I remember one time Joy invited me to teach lifts at one of the classes she was guest teaching for and I told her I didn’t like children. If someone would have told me then that I would be that interested in teaching children like I am now, I would have said you were crazy,” he says.
Ron also found that returning to his love of dance helped him cope with the loss of his wife, his friend and their cat careers.
“I didn’t have any interest in life until I started teaching again and all of a sudden I developed this new career,” he states.
“I started teaching and little by little I got out of my self-pity and became more involved with the kids.”
As he approaches his 75th birthday, Ron is excited about continuing to help young dancers reach their full potential in ballet or for whatever career they pursue later on.
“My grandfather told me at a young age, ‘Whatever career you choose in life, whatever you want to do, make sure when you get up on Monday mornings that you can’t wait to do your job and at the end of the week, you can’t wait to get back to work.’ That’s when you will be very successful,” he concludes.
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