Celebrating 50 years

WINTERSVILLE - On the side of the Center of Music and Art on Main Street, there's a red door with simple gold lettering on it: "Brenda Casey Center of Dance."

Opening the door takes one down a long flight of steps to a well-appointed dance studio with 50 years of history, excellence and ties to major dance institutions such as the Radio City Rockettes.

The school founded by Casey and her sister Mitzie in 1959 continues today with Brenda, daughter Darcee and instructors including Danielle Tiberio, Kelly Barchiesi, Beth Ann Orwasky Johnson, Melissa Karas and Valerie Flenniken. A celebration will be held June 20-21 at Buckeye Local High School to mark the Casey school's 50 years of dance, with a special performance featuring 40 students from across the years taking the stage. A reception at St. Florian Hall in Wintersville will follow.

Casey said the first student of the Casey Sisters School of Dance, Joy Marla Lombardi, is planning to be there.

Casey and her students have been across the United States, at famous venues, opening for famous performers, but it's more than that to her.

"I'm a working girl. I love what I do," Casey said. "I just try to make the most of the talent God gave me."

After all the years, all the students and all the performances, Casey is still moved by a simple "thank-you" from the community. Saved on her answering machine at the studio is a message left after the dancers performed in lousy weather conditions at Steubenville's light-up night at Fort Steuben to open last Christmas season.

It's about life and experiences and opening the world to children, Casey said.

She and Mitzi began dancing lessons as children - Brenda was 5 years old - with Martha McClelland DiAnniballe in Steubenville. Casey recalls performing all over the Tri-State Area with her sister, including at former downtown fixtures including the Paramount, Grand and Capitol theaters. The Casey sisters continued their lessons with Bill Cassidy in Weirton. When he closed his school, the sisters went to the Wrayette School of Dance in Pittsburgh, leaving school on Friday and riding a bus to Pittsburgh. There, they'd take their lessons Friday, help at the school Saturday and ride the bus home on Sunday.

Mitzie wanted nothing more for graduation from high school in 1959 than to have a dance studio, so their father obliged, finding them a place, and the Casey Sisters School of Dance was born.

Casey noted that technically the dance studio's first student was her little sister Colleen Renee Casey, who Casey and Mitzie taught for 15 years. Casey added Colleen Renee earned her bachelor's degree from Point Park College in Pittsburgh and then joined the dance business in 1974.

Meanwhile, the Casey sisters continued their own dancing careers, heading to Atlantic City for shows on the Steel Pier with the Wrayette School, and eventually having their own students perform there, too.

Brenda embarked on a state fair solo tour following her senior year in high school in 1961, performing in front of notables including Brenda Lee and performers from the Lawrence Welk Show. She was the only dancer from West Virginia chosen for the tour.

The Casey Sisters students were invited to dance at the New York World's Fair. While there, they went to see a show by the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

"We were sitting in the top row, and Marcella Kosut said to me, 'Brenda, that's what I want to be one day,'" Casey recalls. The sisters helped get Kosut an audition and she became the first of three Rockettes from their school.

"We are so proud of her because she gave us such a special thrill as teachers in our lives," Casey recalled. She said Leslie Grysko, another student of their school, danced with the Rockettes for 20 years. Kathy Sawka of Steubenville was a Rockette and then performed as a covered dancer at the Tropicana in Las Vegas with the Follies Bergere.

Casey continued professional dancing through the 1960s, appearing at various venues in Pittsburgh, including the Holiday House, the Twin Coaches and the Horizon Room at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. She had a 17-minute act including tap, jazz and a candle acrobatic trick. Casey said her last performance as a professional dancer came at age 38 on stage at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, with the Vogues and her Golddiggers dance troupe.

Daughter Darcee had the dancing bug, making it part of her career. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in dance therapy and dance education from Goucher College, and a master's degree from Hunter College of City University of New York in dance movement therapy.

The list of venues for public performances by the Casey students ranges from Disney World to Hawaii, from New York City to the President's Pageant of Peace in Washington.

Casey said she's got a lot of second-generation students now, but she thinks it will be Darcee who will be around teaching the grandchildren of her original students.

"I hope that I have influenced them in a positive way because I do care about each and every one of them," Casey said. "It has been a wonderful 50 years because a lot of the children stay with me from the time they are 3 years old until they graduate from high school. I'm there at their graduation party. I'm there at their bridal shower. I'm there at their wedding. I'm even there at their baby showers."

(Giannamore can be contacted at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)