Miller-Marley School of Dance & Voice

November 2006 News

10448 Mastin O.P. KS 66212 Phone (913) 492-0004 FAX (913) 894-2575 E-Mail millermarley@yahoo.com

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday, October 16: Dance Showcase 2007 - Costume Fees Due.

Tuesday, October 31: HALLOWEEN - No Classes will be held.

Students may make up this date. Monday, November 20 - Sunday, November 26: THANKSGIVING BREAK

No Classes will be held. Friday, December 1:

Winter Session classes begin. Tuition Due. Saturday, December 16 and

Sunday, December 17: Clara’s Dream - Holiday Performance

Blue Valley North High School - 2:00 p.m. Friday, December 22 -

Wednesday, January 3: WINTER BREAK - No Classes will be held.

Thursday, January 4: Winter Session classes resume.

PARENT WATCH WEEK

WATCH WEEK #1: Friday, Nov. 3 -Thursday, Nov. 9: Matthew Donnell, Laura Skidmore, Sharon Ingebritson, Shirley Marley.

WATCH WEEK #2:

Friday, Nov. 10 -Thursday, Nov.16: Jill Hochman, Joan Walsh, Larissa Klinger.

WATCH WEEK #3:

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17 & 18. Monday, Nov. 27 - Thursday, Nov. 30:

Ann McCroskey, Beth Johnston, April Hamner, Brian McGinness.

At age five, when Denise Piane took her first dancing class at Miller-Marley, it was a foregone conclusion that Denise would become a dancer. Her mother was a dancer and likewise, so was her aunt. And, to round out the equation, Denise’s older brother and younger sister also studied at Miller-Marley. Before Denise entered high school she had already performed in over a dozen shows at Starlight Theatre. During her illustrious high school career at the Barstow School,

she won many awards and received national recognition for her dancing and innovative chore-ography. In 2002, after graduating high school, Denise attended New York University. While in New York Denise was privileged to study with top choreographers Wade Robson, Jamal and Rosero, Roger Lee and Rhapsody. Currently, Denise lives in L.A. and has just made her film debut as a featured dancer in the hit film Step Up, where she also served as the assistant to the director/choreographer, Anne Fletcher. She worked as a choreographer for an upcoming MTV series and her newest project involves creating the choreography for a new film titled Me and the Girls. This month Denise will bring her talents to Miller-Marley where she will present a Master Hip-Hop Jazz class at the studio on November 11. (See related Page 4)

K.C. Theatre Critic Writes About Miller-Marley Track Record for Talent

Shirley Marley has never been one to brag. But when over 35 of her former students have landed on Broadway, this is definitely something to shout about. And, Robert Trussell, esteemed theatre critic and arts reporter for The Kansas City Star, agrees. Trussell, a long time friend of the studio and advocate for K.C. natives who have “made it big”, has written an arti-cle about Miller-Marley’s track record for turning out talent. Recently, Trussell interviewed Shirley Marley and Brian McGinness for the article, slated to appear in a November edition of The Kansas City Star. In preparation for the interview, Brian and Shirley organized and com-piled data that revealed the following facts. At present, 38 Miller-Marley alumni have performed in 90 different productions of 62 Broadway shows and National/World touring companies. Five of these people have appeared in leading roles: Lisa Brown, as Peggy Sawyer, in the Broadway revival of 42nd Street; Cheryl Clark, as Cassie, in the Broadway and National Tour of A Chorus Line; Jerald Vincent, as the Beast, in the Broadway National Tour of Beauty and the Beast; and Shannon During, as Tracy Turnblad, in the current Broadway production of Hairspray. In addition, 21 alumni have been represented in over 200 film productions in the television and motion picture industry. So, here’s to “our stars”, both past and present: You have enriched our lives and continue to be an inspiration to all of us at Miller-Marley.

Here’s to Our Stars! Meet Denise Piane

Photos courtesy of Denise Piane (top L) and Kevin Smith (bottom R)

Miller-Marley News Page 2 November, 2006

Babes in the Big Apple For some kids, summoning up the courage to take the plunge into the deep end of the swimming pool can cause mixed emotions. They want to jump. Yet, why take the risk when they could be content in shallow water? Miller-Marley students, 10 year old, Cindy Joo and 12 year old, Madison Cornett, decided to “take the plunge” and moved to New York City to pursue their careers. This is a story of how talent, timing and tenacity came together to make dreams come true for two girls.

Cindy’s Story Cindy Joo has been a stu-dent at Miller-Marley since age three. She is a member of the Minitainers, studies tap, jazz and ballet and also does print and commercial modeling. Well-endowed with both brains and talent, Cindy has racked up quite a resume that includes performances at the Lyric Op-era of Kansas City, Starlight Theatre, Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park and two local productions of The Nut-cracker Ballet. Of Korean descent on her father’s side, Cindy has a petite frame and an exotic look that have turned many heads, including those of certain people in the modeling industry. At the urging of Cindy’s modeling agent at H o f f m a n I n t e r n a t i o n a l (Overland Park, KS), Cindy entered the Millie Lewis Talent and Modeling Competition, held in Orlando, Florida, in July. As a result, Cindy re-ceived callbacks from several agents, including the casting director for Mattel. Eager to visit with more agents, Cindy and her mother, Kristin, de-cided to take two weeks in late August to travel to New York City, where they would stay with Cindy’s aunt, who lives in Manhattan. During their visit, a modeling agent suggested that Cindy might be interested in attending the open auditions for the prestigious School of American Ballet, the official training academy for the famed New York City Ballet Com-pany. After careful considera-tion, Cindy decided “to try.” After all, as she stated, “Auditioning for such a great school would be an awesome experience.” And it was.

Cindy, standing outside the café that the SAB shares with the

Julliard School of Music.

Two days later she was notified that she had been accepted into the school’s winter session that offers a classical training pro-gram for professional ballet dancers. Of the 304 dancers, ages 8 to 18, that audi-tioned this year, only 68 earned spots and

family and friends lent a bitter-sweet note to Cindy’s elation. But, realizing that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Joo’s decided to make it work. Cindy would be able to live in Manhattan with her aunt and each parent would alternate staying with their daughter for two weeks at a time. In Sep-tember, Cindy began attending ballet classes at the School of American Ballet, located in the world-famous cultural center, Lincoln Center for the Perform-ing Arts. After only a month, Cindy was invited to be in the cast of the New York City Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker where she will dance as a soldier. In addition, she has signed with the FFT (Funny Face Today) modeling agency and studies tap and jazz at the Broadway Dance Center. Cindy keeps up with her school work via an online home school program through the Shawnee Mission School District and is greatly missed by her friends at Rising Star Elementary School, in Lenexa, Kansas. Cindy will fly home to touch base, as her schedule permits. As far as long range plans are concerned, Kristin Joo said, “Cindy is so happy and having a blast in New York City. For now we are just taking it day by day and she (Cindy) knows that she can come back to Kansas any time.”

Madison’s Story Madison Cornett has been a student at Miller-Marley for four years, is a member of the Minitainers and studies tap, jazz and ballet. To Madison, ‘All the world’s a stage.’ Even as a little girl, Madison fash-ioned her own costumes and put on many a lavish produc-

tion at home for her parents. If she’d thought of it, she probably would have worn the curtains, as did Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. After a while, recognizing that their daughter’s insatiable need to entertain must be a cry for something, Jeff and Dana Cornett enrolled their only child in dancing lessons. At around 10 years old, Madison emerged as a serious dance student, with her sights set on Broadway. So great was her passion that she began vocal training and, on her own, memorized the scores from Phantom of the Opera and Wicked, two of her favorite musicals. She began attending auditions and landed parts in shows at Starlight Theatre, Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park and Blue Valley High School. The family made sev-eral trips to New York where Madison was treated to Broad-way shows and backstage tours. Last March, during one such vacation to NYC, the Cornett’s learned that (con’t. Page 3)

Cindy, backstage with Broadway Hairspray star and Miller-Marley alum, Shannon Durig.

Cindy was one of the lucky ones. Never-theless, this exciting and unexpected proposition posed many challenges for the Joo family. Cindy has four brothers, rang-ing in age from 6 to 17. For parents, Peter and Kristin, juggling responsibilities among five children and commuting be-tween K.C. and NYC was not going to be easy. The reality of leaving behind her

Madison Cornett

Photos this page courtesy of the Joo and Cornett families.

Miller-Marley News Page 3 November, 2006

American Girl Place, the NYC headquarters for American Girl Dolls, was holding auditions that day for an off-Broadway revue called Circle of Friends. Coinci-dentally, shortly thereafter, the Cornett’s ran into Shirley Marley and Brian McGinness, who also happened to be in NYC at the time. Based on the encouragement they received from Shirley and Brian, the Cornett’s decided that Madison would attend the audition and im-mediately went into action. Dana Cornett described the whirlwind of activity that ensued preceding the audition: “We printed a picture of Madison from Jeff’s computer. Jeff ran to Colony Music for sheet mu-sic as Madison and I went to the hotel business center to print off a

resume. Madison practiced her song a couple of times and off we went.” When they arrived, Madi-son stood in line and waited with over 600 hopeful American Girl wannabe’s. Undaunted by the competition, Madison made the first cut of 60 girls and was called back for the second round of audi-tions that occurred two weeks later. After over 12 hours of auditioning, Madison received the call that she had been selected for the show and was offered a one year contract with American Girl. In July, Madi-son and her mother moved to a small studio apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan where, as Dana put it, “We have given up a number of Johnson County luxuries to make this happen.” Rehearsals

began on July 21 and included five weeks of intense singing, dancing and acting in preparation for the show that opened on September 30th at the American Girl Theatre, located in Manhattan’s American Girl Place store, a Mecca for doll lovers the world over. Circle of Friends: An American Girl Musical is based on the American Girl character dolls. Madison performs 3 to 5 shows a week and portrays Katie and Kirsten and four other characters throughout the show. Currently, Madison is getting ready to begin dance classes and is home schooled through a program with the Lawrence, Kansas School District. Jeff Cornett, who does business in NYC, has been able to make

frequent trips to see his wife and daughter. Both parents concur that Madison has ad-justed to the New York lifestyle “like a fish takes to water.” And why shouldn’t she? Madison Cornett was born to entertain. * * * Recently, the two K.C. kindred spirits hooked up in NYC to compare notes, do lunch and to shop. Only time will tell whether the girls will choose the bright lights of the big city or decide that there’s no place like home. The staff and all their friends at Miller-Marley would like to wish Cindy and Madison the best of luck in the Big Apple!

Troupe Talk Entertainers Perform at

Mall of America In the old days, to the Entertainers, a performance at “the mall” meant The Ward Parkway Center or Metcalf South. Recently, the Entertainers upped the ante when they traveled all the way to Min-neapolis, Minnesota to appear at the Mall of America, a place that gives new mean-ing to the phrase “shop ‘til you drop”. With over 520 stores, 14 movie theaters, 50 restaurants, attractions galore and the biggest indoor theme park in the nation, the Mall of America is America’s largest shopping and entertainment complex. Prior to the trip, when asked what the 36-member troupe would be doing in their hour-long show, Ann McCroskey, Direc- tor of the Entertainers, stated, “Everything they know!” This accounts for the fact that during one of their re-hearsals at the studio, the Entertainers could be seen spilling out into extra class- rooms and even dancing on the sidewalk. Fortunately, all their hard work paid off. On Saturday afternoon, September 30, the group performed on the community stage at the Mall of America for an audience of

over 300 people. When asked about their favorite part of the trip, Shannon Lowe and Ashtyn Hutchings gushed, “Shopping, of course!” According to A.J. Pflumm, “The show was great….except for the times when the indoor rollercoaster went by.” Despite that, the Entertainers returned home the next day, voices still in tact. “It was a great little trip. The performers did great and everyone had a fun time,” said Ann McCroskey.

Troupes Perform at JCCC

The Tini-Tainers and The Entertain-ers will be the half-time show for two Women’s Basketball games at Johnson County Community College. The Tini-Tainers will perform at the game on Saturday, November 11 and the Enter-tainers, on Wednesday, December 6.

Troupes Perform at Pumpkin Patch and

American Royal The Tini-Tainers, Minitainers, Entertainers and The Show Biz Kids performed at the Crown Center Pumpkin

‘Twas a New Show The Minitainers are on a sugar high, of the Candyland variety. In their new holiday show, ‘Twas, the Minitainers take a musical tour to the land of tasty treats. The candy isn’t real, but the talent and non-stop enthusiasm of the Minitainers are the genuine article. The troupe will appear in the Viviano Variety Show, at The Rose Theatre, on November 18. Jerry Viviano, father of Minitainer, Katherine Viviano, is the director of the show, that each year raises thousands of dollars for a Catholic charity. Katherine Viviano is a soloist with the Minitainers and also will be one of the featured performers in the Variety Show. ‘Twas will be performed again at a holiday event for Children’s Mercy Hospital, at the Kauffman Foundation, on December 9 and at the Miller-Marley Clara’s Dream Holiday Celebration on December 16 and 17.

Patch on October 21. To round out their fall schedule, the troupes performed at the American Royal on October 28. Look for all the troupes at the pre-show for the Miller-Marley Youth Ballet’s presentation of Clara’s Dream at Blue Valley North High School on December 16 and 17.

Entertainers at Mall of America

Miller-Marley News Page 4 November, 2006

On Stage The Spell of Sleeping Beauty Prairie Star Middle School Oct. 11 - 12 Gage Brock (Black Cat) Turns Lawrence Arts Center (Lawrence, KS) Oct. 13 - 22 Sarah Bezak (Marta, leading role) Westside Story Jewish Community Center Oct. 28 - Nov. 12 Eric Huffman (Baby John), Shark Girls: Mikaela O’Neill, Annie Paglusch. Shark Boys: C.J. Bradley, Marty Craft, Curt Knupp, Jet Girls: Katie Hunter, Laura Kaufman, Cassie Hollman. Choreographer: Ann McCroskey (Miller-Marley instructor) Assistant Choreographers: Megan Arnott & Annie Paglusch. Crazy for You St. Thomas Aquinas High School Nov. 2 and Nov. 4 - 5 Gina Littlejohn (Choreographer/ Ensemble), Erik Meixelsperger (Lank) Once on This Island Shawnee Mission South High School Nov. 14 -18 Camille Hendricks (Asaka), Emily Arnold (Little Ti Moune) Ensemble: Lauren Berry, Samantha Fernandez, Olivia Howell, Riley Trowbridge. A Christmas Carol Kansas City Repertory Theatre Nov. 18 - Dec. 24 Caroline Adams (Want), Jessica Ims (Fan, sister to Boy Scrooge), Jeremy Ims (Toy Vendor / Dancer), Kelcie Marquardt (Fred’s maid), Alex Peterson (Boy Scrooge). Miracle on Main Street Legacy Christian Church Dec. 10 Franklin Carter (Thurston) The Magic of Christmas Kansas City Symphony - Lyric Theatre Dec. 15 - 16 Soloists: Amanda Burns, Daria LeGrand, Mayme Marshall

Six Miller-Marley students appeared in the CYT South production of Pocahantas, Sept. 28 - Oct. 1. Pictured are (L to R) Rachel Phillips Nick Monaldo, Jeremy Ims, Jessica Ims and Jordan MacGillivray. Not pictured: Jamie Ras.

Angel Reda, with R & B singer Usher in Chicago.

Photo courtesy of broadway.com

Shortly after Angel Reda bid fare-well to the Broadway hit, Chicago, in which she played the role of Annie and understudied the leading role of Trixie, she fell into another sweet deal. Cur-rently she is co-starring opposite Molly Ringwald in the Broadway National Tour of Sweet Charity where Angel plays the role of Ursula. During her stint in Chicago, Angel had the privi-lege of working with R & B singer and songwriter, Usher, who took over the role of Billy Flynn. Last month Hayley Podschun was in Toronto wrapping up shooting for the new movie version of Hairspray where she plays Tammy, one of the “Council Kids.” Just when Hayley was about to break out of the 60’s and get back to the 21st Century, she was hired to reprise the role of Tammy in the Broadway production of the show. Beginning December 5, Hayley will be sharing the Hairspray stage with an-other Miller-Marley alum, Shannon Durig, star of the long-running hit. Meggie Cansler will be a member of the ensemble in the Broadway revival of The Apple Tree, starring Kristen Chenoweth. Billed as a story “about men, women and temptation,” the show, comprised of three, one-act musicals, will open at Studio 54 on December 14. Megan Arnott will be in the cast of a musical revue, White Christmas, at the Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, Illinois. The show runs from November 9 - January 6.

“Dancing With

Our Stars”

Denise Piane, featured dancer from the movie

STEP UP presents: Master Hip-Hop Class Sat. Nov. 11, 3-5 p.m.

Cost: $25

To our cherished families: Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous Holiday Season.

Yours truly, The Miller-Marley Staff

To enroll

please call the studio at

(913) 492-0004

WE’RE ON THE WEB www.MillerMarley.com

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