A few years back, I was asked to perform on the Spanish language television variety show Sabado Gigante. This popular show is filmed here in Miami and is hosted by the popular Don Francisco.

As part of thier many talent acts and skits, Sabado Gigante wanted a variety of group dance routines. The group consisted of dancers from Kendall Dance Studio as well as some very good performers I had worked with before.

These fun, but challenging shows required rehearsals for a group of routines over a few nights time. We filmed the routines on consecutive nights, in many cases, far in advance of their airing. Thank God they weren't shown live. You will see why as I tell you my most embarrassing moment in dancing...

This one performance was a ballroom piece, including a beautiful Viennese waltz routine with the guys in beige tail suits. The program directors supplied all the costuming for the guys in this particular number, and they had us wearing matching beige shoes. The girls got to wear their own ballgowns that were fitted for them.

The guys weren't so lucky. They only had a few sizes of these shiny, patented leather shoes with the big square toe. Even when they were the proper size, they looked too large. As fate might have it, I got the largest pair!

I thought I could do it. You know the show must go on, and I'd danced in strange costumes before. I thought this would be easy compared to a gorilla costume with a head you can't even see out of and matching big gorilla feet (that is another good story!). This should be doable. Well, I learned a lesson on costuming this one night.

We had rehearsed the dance number a few times and we had it down. Now it was time to film the performance and that's when we got the costumes. As the crowd filled the TV station audience, my son Mark sat among the many, waving people who expected a great show.

The lights went up and the crowd cheered on que as Don Francisco introduced the dancers. The music filled the room and we all started swirling around the floor to an up-tempo foxtrot. Six couples performed for, not only a large, noisy studio audience but also, to the millions who watch all over the USA, South & Central America.

Then came the waltz section of the music. The couples separated with the men dancing reverse turns around the girls who were going in the opposite direction on the inside of all these swirling guys. A beautiful site it must have been, but suddenly, a wardrobe malfunction! My oversized shoes were no problem until this Viennese Waltz which required tight locking steps to the left. It seems these square toed, dance shoes were to much toe!

As I locked, my crossing foot clipped the opposite shoe and caused a stumble during a turn. I felt myself start to get off balance. I quickly went into adjustment mode. I felt like I could salvage the situation. But, oh my goodness, those shoes were sticky, patented leather and they caught on each other.

Seemingly slow, but irreversibly, I started to go down.

I think the situation passed much quicker than what I felt, but it was like I went down in slow motion. I fought that landing like I never had before. I was good at making spectacular dives to the floor. Dancing all these years its inevitable that a fall will occur and I've made the most of those situations.

Spectacular landings are my trade mark! But this was on TV and in a big show. I didn't want to go down, in front of all those people, Don Francisco, my son... but down I went. Flat on my butt with the crowd screaming with cheers! It was an abrupt fall that jolted me and I saw my feet in the air as I landed.

As hard as I hit that stage floor, I popped up immediately. And without missing a beat, I was back with the group to pick up the girl on the next phrase of the music. But by then, everyone was laughing, including myself, the audience and Don Francisco (Though I don't know why I laughed. I was really embarrassed.)

When we finished, Don Francisco came up to me and said how interesting my special effects were, but “Please” he said, “Next time, do it as we rehearsed it, on the feet NOT on the floor!"

We danced it again and it came out fine. Although I think I didn't lock hardly at all on those reverse turns. But thanks to video tape, no one but the studio audience (including my son) had to watch, or remember that most embarrassing dance moment.