Felipe Rose Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Felipe Ortiz Rose (born January 12, 1954) is a founding member of the disco group the Village People, in which he is the Native American. His mother is a Puerto Rican and his father is a Native American (Lakota Sioux). Rose was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn where he displayed an interest in the arts during his childhood. His mother was his main inspiration as she herself had been a dancer for the Copacabana during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1970, when Rose was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to study dance with the Ballet de Puerto Rico under the guidance of Pascual Guzman.... MORE

Felipe Ortiz Rose (born January 12, 1954) is a founding member of the disco group the Village People, in which he is the Native American. His mother is a Puerto Rican and his father is a Native American (Lakota Sioux). Rose was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn where he displayed an interest in the arts during his childhood. His mother was his main inspiration as she herself had been a dancer for the Copacabana during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1970, when Rose was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to study dance with the Ballet de Puerto Rico under the guidance of Pascual Guzman. He participated in a dance-drama recital of Julia de Burgos at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with the Ballet Company. The New York Post called his performance "Poignant and Compelling". Soon, Rose started to venture into the nightclub scene and at the same time his aunt introduced him to other influences in dance and recommended that he honor his father's heritage by dressing in his tribal regalia - this led to the "Indian" attire. Rose was working as a dancer and a bartender in a gay New York Go-Go club, dressed as an Indian when he was discovered by French producer Jacques Morali LESS