Ex-Enfield Resident Gets Dream Dance With Diana Ross

ENFIELD, CT — Former Enfield resident David Dukes has been a fan of legendary singing star Diana Ross for decades, but Wednesday night, he lived out a dream come true.

The 1983 graduate of Enrico Fermi High School, who moved to Atlanta in the late 1980s and currently lives in Florida, said he attended her show at the former Oakdale Theater in Wallingford in 1982, and estimated he has seen her in concert more than 50 times since then. In 2019 alone, he has attended two shows in Las Vegas and one at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, but Wednesday's performance at the Chicago Theatre was perhaps the most memorable of all.

In the middle of her No. 1 hit from 1980, "Upside Down," the former lead singer of The Supremes, still beautiful at age 75, told the audience, "I need you to sing with me, here we go ... no no, wait wait wait ... we've got a pretty good stage here. Does anyone want to come up and dance with me?"

As hundreds of hands shot into the air, Ross walked to the right side of the stage and picked out Dukes, who was seated on the aisle in the second row.

"I was right by the stairs of the stage," he said in an interview Friday. "At this point I hope and believe she recognizes me, but I did put my hand up and she told me to come on up."

Dukes had met his idol in Feb. 2017 at a meet-and-greet in Las Vegas, but this encounter was much more personal. He climbed the steps to the stage and immediately got down and funky with the star, who shook her body in sync with her new partner.

After telling the crowd, "Don't be jealous," she approached Dukes and gave him a warm embrace, then held his hand as he departed the stage to raucous applause.

"The meet-and-greet was great, but the dancing and the huge hug from her was the most amazing thrill," he said.

A brief clip of former Enfield resident David Dukes dancing with the legendary Diana Ross at a July 10 concert in Chicago. (David Dukes via YouTube)

David Dukes, a 1983 Fermi High School graduate, is chosen to dance on stage with Diana Ross during a July 10 concert in Chicago. His segment begins around the 4:00 mark, and runs about a minute. (Fredy Rimando via YouTube)