Inspirational Broadway tap dancer transcends bone cancer

SONOMA, Calif. (KGO) -- Amid the vineyards and ruins of Sonoma's Jack London State Historic Park sprouts some of the finest talent in musical theater.

A 24-year-old artist is not only lucky to be alive, but may have been saved by his trade.

Below the majestic but recuperating canopy of a 350-year-old oak tree is a stage that's home to Sonoma's Transcendence Theater.

Broadway tap dancer, singer and teacher Evan Ruggiero is helping close the theater's summer season this weekend.

Ruggiero's passion for tap started when he was just six. "It was the sound, it was being able to use my feet to create rhythm," he said.

You may not realize the old oak, recently rehabilitated, and the young Ruggiero have a lot in common.

"I was studying at Montclair State University and my degree was Musical Theater. I had a pain in my right leg and we were rehearsing a show and I just thought that I had hurt my leg through dancing," he recalled.

A biopsy at New York's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center revealed the then 19-year-old had bone cancer.

After numerous surgeries, "and seven months down the road, my cancer came back and I had to my have my leg amputated above the knee," Ruggiero said.

"There was one thing I said to my doctor before the amputation," he said. "I said, 'I promise you I'm going to tap again.' He said, 'I promise I'll be in the front row.'"

"I told him about this story of a one-legged tap dancer back in the day. His name was Peg Leg Bates and he lost his leg in a cotton gin accident. I said, 'If he can do it, why can't I do it,'" Ruggiero remembered.

Rather than wilting under the burdens of cancer, "I recreated this tap language for myself," he said.

"He's so unique and he's transcendent in what he does and it's inspirational for anybody who gets to watch him," Transcendence Theater Artistic Director Amy Miller said.

For tickets to this weekend's final summer performances, click here.