Louis Johnson, director and choreographer, was born 19 March 1930 in Statesville, North Carolina. As a child he moved with his parents to Washington, D.C. In high school, he enrolled at the Jones Haywood School of Dance, where he trained as a dancer. He then studied at the New York City Schoolf of American Ballet, mentored by Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine. He performed with the New York City Ballet Company and then on Broadway. He choreographed the Broadway production [i]Black Nativity[/i] by Langston Hughes. He has choreographed operas performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera.