Barry Martin, RIP

Another weekend brings another much-too-soon obituary from the world of the performing arts. Dancer and choreographer Barry Martin has died in New York City, at the age of 44. As a young dancer, he trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. In 1983, while touring with an English dance company in South Africa, he was seriously injured in a car accident. His emergency treatment was delayed under South Africa's apartheid system (Martin was African-American). He became a quadriplegic. Back in the US, he earned a master's degree in arts administration and turned to choreography and teaching as ways to continue his career in dance. He formed the Deja Vu Dance Theater, and taught dance to children in the New York City public schools.