Dancing to Pitbull’s “Fireball,” 96-year-old Tao Porchon-Lynch and ballroom dance teacher Vard Margaryan wowed the “America’s Got Talent” judges and audience on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, according to the Huffington Post.
As a former actress under contract with MGM and top couture model, Tao knows how to don a dress and command a stage.
Tao started practicing yoga in 1926 at age 8. In 2012, she was named Oldest Yoga Teacher by Guinness World Records.
She has taught yoga at the Pentagon and spoken on peace panels with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
A lifelong activist, Tao is likely the only person still on the planet who marched with both Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During World War II, she performed nightly during the Nazi bombing Blitz of London and helped Jews escape the Germans as a French Resistance fighter. Close friend Marlene Dietrich helped her couture modeling career in Paris and Marilyn Monroe advised her about Hollywood. Later, Tao became a filmmaker and then an entrepreneur publishing the wine newspaper, Beverage Communicator, for over 30 years. She is a co-founder of the American Wine Society and still serves as Vice President of Southern New York.
Vard has his own impressive dance pedigree. Born in Armenia, he began dancing Armenian Folk at the age of 6. He eventually found ballroom dancing and added ballet training. Quickly excelling, he was included in the Armenian Ballet Company that toured in Dubai and Egypt. He came to the United States to hone his dance skills and compete. In 2011, he and his partner Kateryna Angelone won the United States DanceSport Championship in the Professional Mambo category.
