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Triple threat
By JACKIE RIPLEY © St. Petersburg Times, published November 24, 2000 CARROLLWOOD -- Dance instructor Mary Jo Scanio has finally accomplished her goal of two decades: Creation of a "triple threat studio." That's show biz talk for a place where students learn to dance, act and sing. The Looking Glass Theater is a local acting company affiliated with Mary Jo's Dance Studio, soon to be named Mary Jo's Performing Arts Academy, at 11111 N Dale Mabry Highway. Students who go there can take not only dance lessons but also training in acting and voice. "It's always been my dream," said 42-year-old Scanio. "I started the acting segment three years ago." That's when Scanio met Sheri Whittington, 38, director of Looking Glass Theater, a non-profit theatrical company created to give young people in the area an opportunity to perform. The company was named after its first production in 1992, Alice in Wonderland. It went on hiatus while Whittington gave birth to three children but started to get busy again two years ago. "We're really going full force now," Whittington said. Mary Jo's has 650 students who come from as far away as St. Petersburg and New Port Richey. A student can get started for as little as $40 a month, however, average monthly tuition is about $150. The dance studio also awards scholarships to promising students, based on talent and need. Since 1984, Scanio said, Mary Jo's has awarded about $70,000 in scholarships. Whittington said she anticipates awarding about $1,000 in scholarships this year through Looking Glass. The school also caters to students looking for extracurricular activities who do not necessarily want to make dance or acting a career. Typically, though, a mother will call saying her child sings constantly around the house, or dances around the house, and "can they come in to see if there's talent there," Scanio said. Previous productions include Jesus Christ Super Star and Bye Bye Birdie. The group's most recent performance, The Fabulous Fifties, closed Nov. 11 at Sickles High School. "It follows Grease and is so close to the movie," said Ann Voskerichian, whose granddaughter Deana Jansen played Cha Cha, and who, for the past several weeks, watched the movie repeatedly with her granddaughter. "I love it," Ann Voskerichian said. "I've watched it so much on TV. I watch it while I'm cooking, while I'm doing things in the kitchen." Deana, a 17-year-old junior at Sickles, said Cha Cha "is a brassy kind of girl who gets what she wants." But Deana, a demure honor student who spends about 30 hours a week practicing dance, also intends to get what she wants. "I want to dance on Broadway," Deana said. "I can't imagine doing anything else." Some of Scanio's other students are already making their dreams come true, including Brittany Snow, a Gaither High student who performs on TV's Guiding Light and Sharem Pyfrom, a 13-year-old Town 'N Country boy who plays a student in Pay it Forward, a current film starring Kevin Spacey as a social studies teacher. "We focus on education but if something comes along we guide them," Scanio said. -- Jackie Ripley can be reached at (813) 226-3468 or ripley@sptimes.com.
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From the Times |
