Paul Taylor Company Dancer Michael Apuzzo Writes FLYING THROUGH YELLOW

If life is a road of traffic lights for every milestone, green means go and red means stop, but at yellow, how do we know whether to slow down or speed up?

That's the question asked by Michael Apuzzo, a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, in his first book FLYING THROUGH YELLOW (March 15, 2012; Fast Car Press), his engaging memoir of his parallel evolution as an artist and a young gay man.

Slowing down is an option for some. But during an unforgettable narrative, Apuzzo discovers that flying through yellow at full speed every time is the only option if you choose the risky uncertain road of committing to a life in the arts.

Apuzzo's wild ride through youth begins with a chance event at a neighborhood fair and a hilariously botched audition that led to his unexpected television debut as a kid. But local child stardom didn't prepare him for the bullying he would soon encounter in the grade school years that followed. What did was earning a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. These two very different achievements required the same fearlessness and self-discipline to fly through yellow without looking back. But fear of crashing was the only thing on his mind when he had to face a champion opponent almost twice his size in an international competition.

Whatever Apuzzo encounters, he not only wields willpower, but plots a specific strategy for how to win whether it's an outrageous adventure beyond our imagination or the more mundane everyday struggles that every young reader can identify with from getting good grades to fitting in.

When he left behind his blue-collar roots to arrive at Yale, Apuzzo was too busy achieving to realize that he was gay until a disastrous first sexual encounter with a man (and also an ex-girlfriend) landed him face to face with the law, therapy, and his own forced self-awareness.

With a magna cum laude degree from Yale behind him and big dreams ahead of him, Apuzzo moved to New York City. After landing gigs on Broadway and the soaps, a chance whim led him to audition for a coveted spot in one of the world's most admired modern dance companies even though he had no professional training in modern dance. One by one, dancer after dancer was eliminated until there was only one left. Could this really be happening? Where did this yellow light come from? Apuzzo never planned it on his itinerary, but it opened up a road of unexpected opportunity that he's still driving on today.

Some yellow lights are terrifying. Some change fast. Sometimes the road is clear but the lights aren't easy to find. Sometimes no matter how confidently you fly through yellow, you'll risk a crash. It's hardest of all to fly through a yellow light when you or others don't think you'll make it. But that's all the more reason to go for it. There's nothing to lose.

For aspiring artists or everyday risk-takers, FLYING THROUGH YELLOW will give readers the confidence and insight necessary to face life's challenges, grab opportunities and never look back.

Connecticut native Michael Apuzzo graduated from Yale, Magna Cum Laude, in 2005. He's performed at the Yale Repertory Theater, was featured on Live! with Regis & Kelly, and toured with Twyla Tharp's Broadway show Movin' Out. An algebra teacher, Abercrombie&Fitch model and 2nd degree black belt, Michael has been a dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company since 2008.

FLYING THROUGH YELLOW by Michael Apuzzo was released by Fast Car Press last month, March 2012. Price: $13.95, 100 pages. For more information, visit http://www.flyingthroughyellow.com.