Randy Duncan is a Chicagoan boarn and raised, his family hailing from the west side neighborhood of Austin.
“My brothers were all involved in sports. Mostly baseball,” he said. “I wanted to twirl the baton. I wanted to jump double Dutch. Anything that had movement in it that was pretty.” (WTTW Interview). Duncan’s first inspirations were the television show Bozo’s Circus, where he was interested in the acrobats, and the movie West Side Story. Duncan’s career started with an all-city high school production of West Side Story in the seventh grade: 
“Duncan’s star rose quickly: the choreographer of that show invited him to train on scholarship. He became a professional dancer at age 15 when he was invited to join the Joseph Holmes dance company. He spent 19 years with that company – the last seven as artistic director.” (WTTW Interview)
Duncan “began his dance training with Ms. Geraldine Johnson and credits much of his artistic development with Harriet Ross and Joseph Holmes” (Chicago Academy for the Arts profile).

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