Michael Terrace's dance career spans more than sixty years. He is probably most widely recognised for his role of Bernardo in "West Side Story" with the national company and was picked from more than 2000 ballet dancers to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House with the Bolshoi Ballet Company of Russia.

Michael is most particularly associated with the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing". His stories of the formative years of the Mambo in the Catskills inspired Eleanor Bergstein's vision of lead character Johnny Castle played by Patrick Swayze.

Michael met and married his beautiful wife Elita Cleveland and formed the dance team Terrace & Elita. As one of the original Mamboniks, Michael and Elita were regulars in the Palladium Ballroom dance competitions and helped to bring the Mambo craze to mainstream America. They worked closely and often with legends such as Tito Puente, Machito, Sammy Davis, Jr., Harry Belafonte and other stars of the 1950s and 1960s.

Currently he and his wife are still sharing their love of dance, and especially the Mambo, teaching dancers and telling stories of their days at the world famous Palladium Ballroom of NYC fame.