Paul L. Kennedy, 61; Dance Teacher

Respected Los Angeles-based pop dance choreographer and teacher Paul Lawrence Kennedy has died. He was 61.

One of the owners of the Kennedy Tap Company and Universal Dance Design, a dance studio, he died March 16 of heart failure.

Kennedy was born in Boston in 1940, and learned dancing from his mother. By age 12, he was teaching others in her Boston dance academy, and the love of teaching stayed with him all his life.

In the 1960s and ‘70s, Kennedy arranged dances for bands and singing groups, touring with Gladys Knight and the Pips.

He moved to Los Angeles in the late ‘70s and began working with a roster of major Motown artists, including the Temptations and Marvin Gaye.

He choreographed moves to the songs from Gaye’s album “From Here, My Dear” for performances in 1979. He also worked with Michael Jackson on tap dancing.

After working with his sister Arlene in a Compton children’s project, Kennedy increasingly devoted himself to teaching children.

He and Arlene opened Universal Dance Theatre (later Universal Dance Design) in Inglewood in 1982, and although he eventually moved his studio across town to the Fairfax area, his students followed.

He also continued to work in the commercial dance world, choreographing an episode of the TV series “A Different World” in 1993.

During his career, Kennedy received a number of awards from the dance community, but in 1998 he received special recognition when legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso invited the Kennedy Tap Company to dance in Havana at the 50th anniversary celebration of National Ballet of Cuba.

That honor meant a lot to Kennedy, but he always spoke of dance training in terms of a life experience and the values it brought to his students.

“They come here as children and stay until college,” Kennedy told The Times. “No pregnancies, no drugs, and all the madness they miss.”