Dancin' in the Streets
What better way to stay in shape than to exercise on the
job? For Providence's famous "Dancing Cop," it's all in a day's
work.
The
holidays are just around the corner. For Rhode Islanders, that
means Newport mansions dressed in their Christmas finery, LaSalette Shrine
aglow with thousands of lights and Officer Tony Lepore doing his thing on
the corner of Dorrance and Westminster streets. Since 1984, "The
Dancing Cop" has used his fancy footwork to direct traffic, sometimes
confusing, but always entertaining drivers. "The little boy in me
just came out one day," he says of the day he was transformed from
flatfoot to light foot. "I love to dance so I started using some of
my natural moves in my work."
Lepore retired in 1988, but Mayor Vincent Cianci persuaded him to make
a return two-week engagement four years later. He was such a hit, he's
been back every year since to entertain downtown holiday shoppers.
Lepore has elevated directing traffic to performance art that has
brought him media attention far outside Little Rhody. His credits on
national TV run from day to night, network to cable: Rosie O'Donnell,
Today, Dateline, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Nickelodeon and even ESPN's
Plays of the Week. A number of European newspapers and magazines have also
featured his waving and whistling.
When he's not performing, Lepore stays fit by running four miles
every other day and lifting weights: "I never know when a call will
come to perform, so I have to be ready. Parades are the hardest. The
Bristol July 4th parades wipe me out." He makes
appearances both across the country and close to home. "I visited
Hasbro Children's Hospital and the kids knew me so well they requested
certain moves. Their favorite was the 'John Travolta' where I go down
on both knees." To execute those moves, you would think Lepore must
have bionic knees: "More like great knee pads. My wife sews
Velcro to the spandex I wear underneath my uniform, making the pads nearly
invisible."
Lepore is not one to sit still for long. He appears on the big screen
in A Wake in Providence, shot on location on Federal Hill at
Berarducci & Sons Funeral Home. What role does he play? Himself, of
course, directing the mourners. When he's not "on duty,"
Lepore works on his autobiography, telling his one-in-a-million story.
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