Billy McClain
THE WONDERTWINS BIO
Billy and Bobby McClain are identical twins who grew up in Boston, Massachusetts in the 70s. They have spent the majority of their lives living and breathing dance. Their dance career, started on a very small stage at the age of 6 performing for family members at cookouts, and is now much larger as they have performed on stages all over the world.
They had their first real performance at the Cyclorama in the South End of Boston. Wearing matching brown silk sweat suits and judged by none other than the legendary rapper Kurtis Blow, they finished with a win! A couple of years later, at 10 years old, they were asked to join Boston’s first professional street dance crew, The Funk Affects. During this time they opened up for some of the biggest names in hip-hop history; Run DMC, LL Cool J, KRS One, and Afrika Bambaataa, to name a few.
After 7 years with the crew, Billy and Bobby branched off to become The Wondertwins. The Wondertwins have had many notable accomplishments including touring with Bobby Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel tour in the UK and Purple Rain’s Apollonia’s Since I Fell For You tour in Singapore. They were the opening act for EPMD, Public Enemy, and Queen Latifah. They have also appeared on television shows Good Day New York, Evening Magazine, and The Jenny Jones Show. In 1989, Mc Lyte invited them to dance on stage during her show at the Apollo Theater. Shortly after this they won Amateur Night on Showtime at the Apollo six times.
The Wondertwins have created a distinctive style all their own, with the technical facility of hip hop, the sophistication of the glory days of the Cotton Club, the flash of Rat Pack era Las Vegas, and elements of vaudeville, robot, tap, and mime.
Some more recent accomplishments include: winning The Pioneers of Dance Award, performing at Jacob’s Pillow in Unreal Hip-Hop, headlining at Tap the Yard 3 on Martha’s Vineyard, and sharing the stage with Maurice Hines Jr. in his sold-out show, Club Harlem at the Apollo Theatre.
Former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre executive director Judith Jamison has praised The Wondertwins as “absolutely beautiful, strong, powerful, and electric…made for Broadway.” And Maurice Hines noted that the identical twins "dance in the same spirit as the great brothers of dance before them.”
