Senior Fiene puts on his dancing shoes and starts his career

By Delaney Whittet
Staff Writer

Senior Ryan Fiene truly is dancing through life.

Fiene is trained to dance in various styles including ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz funk, African and Bollywood. He is currently a professional dancer, has danced in all four Costa musicals and has been featured as a dancer on Perez Hilton’s website.

“Dancing has affected who I am as a person as it has allowed me to express myself and taught me discipline,” Fiene said.

After playing various sports, Fiene’s parents enrolled him in dance classes at the School of Dance and Music in Hermosa Beach when he was eight years old.
Fiene now dances five to six days each week for four and a half hours every day at Edge Performing Arts Center, a training center located in Hollywood.

“Sheryl Murakami is the teacher, dancer and choreographer at Edge who I definitely look up to,” Fiene said. “She has helped me navigate my way through the professional dance world and has shown me what I need to do to be successful.”

At Edge, Fiene is both a professional dancer and an assistant to Murakami. As an assistant, Fiene demonstrates dances for the class.

“I was chosen to be an assistant to the choreographer because I took a lot of dance classes and got to know Sheryl Murakami,” Fiene said.

In March 2015, Fiene was featured on the website, perezhilton.com, as a dancer in Murakami’s dance video on the PerezTV Choreography Spotlight. The dance was to the song “Cold Hearted” by Paula Abdul and was rehearsed once before shooting the video.

“Dancing professionally has given Ryan a greater challenge and a lot of motivation to get better at what he loves to do,” Fiene’s brother, junior Kyle Fiene, said.

During his time in the Costa Drama Department, Fiene has performed as an actor in the plays “The Crucible” and “The Matchmaker” and has been a dancer in the musicals “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Anything Goes,” “Peter Pan” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Fiene was also nominated for the John Raitt Awards for Youth Male Dancer of the Year for “Anything Goes.”

“Ryan has been immensely impactful in the drama program, especially because he is a male dancer who is so athletic and talented,” drama teacher Carol Matthews said. “We’ve gotten so many opportunities to showcase him and utilize his talents.”

Fiene was also picked as co-dance captain, along with senior Kalena Tamura, for the most recent musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” As co-dance captain, Fiene and Tamura were in charge of learning every dance in the show and adjusting them to make them perfect.

“Ryan’s a great guy to work with because he’s extremely passionate and a hard worker,” Tamura said. “He’s also able to give the dancers corrections that are constructive and beneficial while still keeping the atmosphere fun and positive.”

After graduation, Fiene has decided that he will focus on going on auditions to further his career rather than attending college. He plans to dance and choreograph simultaneously, then eventually switch to just choreography when he becomes too old to dance.

“There are no words to describe how much dancing means to me,” Fiene said. “The feeling I get when I am dancing is truly indescribable.”