Leroy Johnson Character of the Month

 Leroy Johnson was born and grew up in Harlem New York City.  His father Vernon, left his wife and 3 children to follow his dream to be a dancer. The family struggled, Leroy spent some time in a gang but managed to break free from that to follow his own dream to be a dancer. His brothers Lemar and Willard weren't so lucky as both ended up involved in crime and went to prison for awhile.  

Leroy's Mother moved away from the City to work as a housekeeper for a wealthy family, leaving Leroy alone in a rented room above a pool hall where he works part time to make some money.  Vernon returns and even starts attend the School of the Arts in order to get to know Leroy in "I Never Danced For My Father" until he has to rush off again in search of another show.

Lemar and Willard both turn up to cause problems for Leroy and Lemar even leaves Leroy with his niece Tina to look after. 

Leroy is a very talented dancer, although not always the most disciplined and is frequently late for rehearsal which causes issues with Lydia. In "Feelings" she even removes him from a show in order to try and teach him a lesson. When Chris Donlon arrives at the school there is initially a rivalry with between the 2 dancers.

Leroy can be hot headed and become angry easily but over the years his personality mellows.   

Leroy's love life starts in Season 2 when he starts dating Stephanie, who then is penalized by the ballet teacher for being black. In "Indian Summer" Leroy fears his current girlfriend is pregnant but thankfully it's a false alarm. That year Cleo develops a crush on Leroy and in "Such Good Friends" Leroy develops a crush on Lydia. 

Leroy had never really had much time for school and when he attends the School of the arts it is discovered that he can barely read and struggles to keep up with the assignments, causing lots of problems for Miss Sherwood who on a number of occasions comes close to having Leroy thrown out of School. However, Leroy perseveres, develops a great respect for Miss Sherwood and after graduating even takes the role of teaching assistant in Lydia's dance class.

In "Judgement Day" Leroy is accused by Susan, a white dancer, of favouring the black students when he hands out roles in shows. This isn't true  but for a moment makes Leroy doubt himself and causes issues with his close friend Danny, who happens to be dating Susan at the time.

In "Losin' It" Leroy falls an badly injures his knee. For awhile fear takes over and he was too scared to dance.

Having worked as a teaching assistant for 2 years in the final episode Leroy finally decides he has to follow his dreams and concentrate full time on finding dancing work and says an emotional farewell to the school.