Married dancers spend Valentine's Day onstage at the Fox Theatre

There are few things in life more romantic than dancing.  And that's especially true for a pair of dancers with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, who will spend Valentine's Day together onstage at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre kicks off its 2018 Atlanta engagement with a special Valentine's Day program called "A Night To Love," featuring duets celebrating love.  One of those dances is "Shining Star," spotlighting real-life married dancers Glenn Allen Sims and Linda Celeste Sims.  The couple met at Ailey on Glenn's very first day as a company member; he remembers noticing his future wife in rehearsal, while he was sitting in the corner.

"It was June 1st, 1997, my first day of work, actually," he recalls. "This girl, on the opposite side of the studio, she's kinda cute, you know?"  Linda also remembers meeting her future husband that first day but says she wasn't exactly looking for love: "He joined the company and I thought, you know, he's a nice guy.  Honestly, I wasn't really attracted to him just yet, I just was focusing on working."

Things changed during an overseas tour when a group of company members went Salsa dancing in Germany.  "At this time I'm like, I'm not gonna date him, right?  So we started dancing on the dance floor and Mr. Sims over here was giving me some Latin moves, like, he was hanging with me, and I thought, okay, you could be kinda sexy," remembers Linda. "When he was able to dance to my music, that's what did it to me."

Now married for 17 years, the couple says a key to their relationship is keeping "work life" and "personal life" separate.  That said, both agree that dancing with each other onstage is a unique experience not only for them but also for audiences.  "It's like this chemistry that creates, I want to say, magic," says Linda. "I could close my eyes and throw my arms up and lean back and I know, boom, he's got me right there."  

For more information on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's 2018 Atlanta engagement, click here.