Dancing Queen

She got her start at Ballet Western Reserve.

TRACEY D’ASTOLFO

Vindicator Correspondent

You wouldn’t know if by talking to her, but Adrienne Misko is one of the Mahoning Valley’s top performing arts successes.

She’s a member of Dance Alloy Theater, an established professional dance troupe in Pittsburgh. That makes her part of an elite group: dancers who make a living through their art.

The 2001 Poland High School graduate honed her skills at Ballet Western Reserve, the dance school/performance troupe in downtown Youngstown.

In a recent interview, the unassuming Misko said she feels lucky to have a job doing something she loves.

“I feel blessed that I can go to work and dance, listen to music, work with people and create using my body,” she said.

Her attitude is humble, and she seemed surprised by the attention. But those who’ve worked with Misko aren’t the least bit surprised by how far she’s gone.

“Adrienne was a dancer from the beginning of her training,” said Karen Westerfield, Misko’s modern dance teacher at BWR.

Westerfield said Misko always understood that her job as a dancer is to convey the choreographer’s work. “A dancer must be able to communicate through movement and capture the attention of an audience. From the beginning, Adrienne got that.”

Westerfield isn’t sure what percentage of BWR students go on to dance professionally, but said it is not easy to find what Misko has: a salaried job with health benefits in the arts. Westerfield cites Misko’s humility and work ethic as keys to her success.

“She is a true artist, and a joy to work with,” she said.

Dance Alloy Theater, a repertory troupe founded in 1976, was featured in the February issue of Dance magazine. It is located in a Pittsburgh’s Friendship neighborhood, which is in the midst of a revitalization as an arts community. Dance Alloy serves some 5,000 students through classes and outreach activities and performs two main stage home seasons a year: one at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh’s East End and the other at The New Hazlett Theater on the city’s North Side. The troupe also performs at local festivals and events, including Pittsburgh’s First Night and Three Rivers Arts Festival, and tours nationally and internationally.

The full-time company consists of five dancers including Misko, and DAT’s artistic executive director, Beth Corning.

Misko said she didn’t always plan to be a dancer, but events in her life took her down that path.

As a child, she attended a local gymnastics and dance studio but she eventually gave up on gymnastics in order to focus on dance. She went on to Ballet Western Reserve, but not with the intention of pursuing a career in dance. After graduating from high school, Misko, unsure of what she wanted to study, auditioned for college dance programs. She was accepted at Ohio University, where she went on to receive a bachelor of fine arts in dance performance and choreography.

She was hired by Dance Alloy Theater shortly after graduating from college, and ended up with a job that many dancers only dream of having.

Misko, who lives close to the DAT studio, said during a typical week she works Monday through Friday, starting each day with dance class at 9 a.m. The remainder of the day is spent working with choreographers and practicing until 5 p.m. DAT performs 28 weeks of the year, and during the off season Misko does pilates and cross training to keep in shape.

In August, Dance Alloy will perform in Germany, presenting the international premiere of Donald Byrd’s “The Interrupted Narrative/No Consolation” at the Internationale Tanzmesse NRW in Dusseldorf. An audience of more than 1,000 dancers, choreographers and professionals from over 40 countries will be in attendance.

Though she’s content with where she is at the present time, Misko said she’s considering getting a master’s degree in social work in the future.

“I’d like to eventually have a job where I feel like I’m being of service to humanity,” she said.

Plus, she doesn’t want to have to rely on dance in the future. “I know dancers in their 40s who are great, but I don’t think I’ll hold up that well,” she said, laughing.