20 years of ASD: Adell Manarino continues quest to better student lives

Teacher praised for her commitment to young learners

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Trophies are the first thing you’ll see and the last thing you’ll hear about at Adell’s School of Dance.

“My accolades are that I have mothers, students that are bringing their kids here. That's the award,” ASD owner and instructor Adell Hoover Manarino said as she reflected on 20 years of teaching at her studio. “That's the gift that I get to teach their kids now.”

Though she is a lauded performer, and her students have won stacks of local and national awards, Manarino said she’s just as happy “teaching right foot from left foot. That is the goal. That's the big achievement is, ‘This is your right side, and this is your left side.’ ”

By now, it’s a given that students who enroll in ASD will become better dancers. What makes the process special, however, is that Manarino is more focused on helping her students become better people as she offers them better experiences.

“As a teacher, I'm responsible to change their days,” Manarino said. “We work with lots of kids and teenagers and middle school kids, and they all have their own struggles, and what they're going through and what their lives are; and they could walk in and have a bad day and, with the right music and the right class, we change that. You walk out and you feel good; and whatever you walked in with was left at the door. It's a place of freedom and safety.”

Though dancing was something initially presented to Manarino as a means to strengthen her feet and get rid of leg braces as a young child, she didn’t view it as a chore.

At her grandparents’ house, she starred in “Tiny Talent Time.”

“I would literally sit and dance in front of (my grandfather) for hours,” Manarino said. “Once I started taking lessons, then it became I was practicing, and my mom would watch, and they would all sit and watch me practice. It wasn't ever something that I was made to practice. I wanted to practice. I wanted to do well. I wanted to learn more.”

She credits that to her family and their shared love of music.

“That's still, to this day, everything that inspires me is the music and the art of it and the movement of it,” Manarino said.

In class, Manarino found herself paired with older dancers. She excelled at tap. By age 14, she was teaching others and “started having my own visions of choreography or hearing my own footwork. …

“I loved working with people, and I loved helping others get something and achieve that, whether it be a step or a move or a piece of choreography or a drill or something like that. I loved working with people, and especially if they had the same passion that I did – it was like superglue for me with people. Some of my best relationships, my friendships – everything – came from dance, just because of the connection.”

Adell Manarino is shown with her “amazing children”: Monroe, 9, who said she loves “seeing my friends. … I just like all the tricks that you can learn. And every day in acro, I always learn something new”; and Montana, 12, who said, “I like how everyone teaches. … I just love to dance, and I love my dance family.” Montana said of her mother, “She really cares about it. She puts in the work that not a lot of other people do. She does a lot, and she has a passion, and she loves it, too.” Adell is celebrating 20 years at her ASD studio in the Town of Niagara.

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Now 44, a wife and mother of two dancers – 12-year-old Montana, also a tapper, and 9-year-old Monroe, who’s into acro – Manarino has no thoughts of slowing down.

“I probably teach 12-15 classes a week,” she said. “I’m not hanging my shoes up; no! I feel stronger now than I did 20 years ago. More confident now than I did 20 years ago. I know my teaching styles, my choreo. styles. I’m here every day.”

In speaking with Manarino, it’s easy to feel the passion she has for her students’ wellbeing.

“Some are visual learners. Some need to hear me say the steps. Some need to watch me do the steps. Some need to repeat the step. It's repetition for them. Some will learn with me facing them, and I have to do it opposite. Some need to be behind me and mimic me and mirror me,” Manarino said. “It's really the kids.”

She said, “You can tell good days/bad days, loving something/not loving something, practiced/not practiced.” Or “ ‘I know so and so for 15 minutes gets a little bored, and when they get bored they always wander to the wall towards the bathroom.’ Well, I'm going to make sure if they're wandering to the right, that in the classroom they're on my left-hand side so that, when they wander, I'm more their focus versus staring at a wall.”

“It's not even like I'm teaching because, ‘I want them to be good like I was. I want them to exceed what I was doing at a certain age tenfold.’ It's not about that,” Manarino said. “No matter what, it all, to me, breaks down on the inside – and I carry it with a lot of things in life: If you love it, it doesn't seem like it's a job. If you love it, you don't mind learning. If you love it, you don't mind failing. Everything about loving something allows the good times, the bad times, the growth to happen.”

Manarino said she’s proud of her staff, and grateful to have watched so many children come in “as a seed” and “leave a flower.”

“We are blessed with these kids from usually around age 3 till they graduate (high school),” she said. “We literally see every chapter of their childhood.”

Praise for Adell

16-year-old student Eliana Higgins said, “I have been dancing at Adell’s School of Dance since I was 3 years old, so ASD has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I love dancing at ASD because it brings me so much joy. Walking into the studio and being surrounded by such a loving and supportive dance team is something I look forward to every week. If I had a bad day at school, it would be fine because I had dance later that day and got to see my friends and do what I love.

“All of my teachers have always been there for me and supported me through every decision and challenge. Now that I’m one of the older dancers at the studio, one of my biggest priorities is being someone the younger dancers can look up to. I want them to feel the same love and support that I have felt throughout my years at ASD. Adell’s School of Dance has been such a special part of my life, and I will always cherish all of the memories and experiences I’ve made here. Being at ASD is so much more than just dancing – it’s also a family and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”

Molly Kennedy, whose daughter, Mackenzie, is an ASD student, said, “Twelve years ago, I brought a shy, adorable little 4-year-old girl to dance class. Little did we know it would become so much more than that. 

“Mackenzie is 16 now and, for the last 12 years, Adell’s has been her second home, her happy place, her safe place. She has grown up there, not just as a dancer but as a person. Adell and her staff have watched her grow, encouraged her when she doubted herself, celebrated her victories, comforted her through disappointments, and have loved her like she was one of their own.”

Kristy Cavanagh has been on staff at ASD for 10 years. She grew up dancing with Manarino at Miss Bev’s Dance Studio in Niagara Falls.

“I love teaching for Adell because we both believe it is not about the trophies we bring home. It is about doing your best and improving,” Cavanagh said. “We love to see our students grow in the classroom, on stage and offstage. Being a part of their lives is amazing. Adell and I both believe that we are not just dance educators, we are life educators. We are always pushing our dancers to be good humans – use their manners, be good friends and respect others. We want them to take more than just dance home with them each day. We love to see them do well on stage, but we also love to see them make friends and memories off stage.

“When you grow up in a dance studio you become part of what we call your ‘dance family.’ Adell and I have been in our ‘dance family’ since we were kids. At some point it no longer becomes ‘dance family’ and just becomes family.”

Fellow instructor Kaitlin Principe said, “For 20 years, Adell has poured her heart, time and passion into creating so much more than a dance studio. She has built a place where every dancer is challenged, encouraged and trained to become the best dancer and person they can be. Her lessons extend far beyond the studio, teaching dancers about discipline, confidence, perseverance, kindness and believing in themselves. As someone who has been taught by her in my young adult life to then dance alongside her, she pushed me to succeed as a dancer. 

“But beyond dance training, she always made sure I knew I wasn't alone for the unexpected moments and challenges life brings. Over 20 years later and this all still holds true but, instead of the student/teacher relationship, it is friendship. The late-night laughs over costume decorating, the excited phone calls over finding a good piece of music to choreograph to, and supporting whatever insane prop ideas we both have, the studio has always felt more like fun rather than work. Getting to work with kids from a young age and watch them grow and move onto their adult lives is truly what makes being a dance teacher special. Having Adell's School of Dance where the kids and their families become our family is truly magical and unexplainable. I am so proud of Adell for making her studio what it is. She is there to listen, encourage, guide, and remind us all that we never have to navigate life alone.”

Dance mom Erin Higgins said, “What I appreciate most about Adell is that she has always been able to create an environment where dancers can grow while still feeling like they can truly be themselves. As a teacher, she brings a high level of technique and expectation, but she does it in a way that still feels personal and family-oriented.”

Higgins added, “She has given both of my daughters a space where they can be themselves, and a second home where they’ve made some of their most meaningful connections with both friends and adults – all while being pushed to create exceptional dancing. They are learning to be strong, well-rounded dancers, but they are also learning about confidence, commitment and friendship.”

Miss Gracie Schupp taught Manarino and said it’s “very special” to see her student become a teacher.

She said, “As a young child I could see that there was something special about her. I had the privilege of watching her grow as a dancer. As a student she was not just interested in learning new steps but she wanted to understand them, feel them, and always wanted to become better. Her determination and passion were essential to helping her advance to classes with dancers older and more advanced than she was. She held her own in these classes. Adell became a teacher at a very young age and worked for numerous dance studios. 

“This year, she is celebrating 20 years of teaching in her own studio. Adell understands that teaching dance is so much more than teaching technique to her students. It is about building confidence, creating memories, and helping all her dancers to believe in themselves. She knows when to push, when to let go, and when to just stop and listen to a student who just might not be having a good day. To Adell, all her students are family.

“The little girl I once taught has become a teacher who has the ability to make her dancers feel like the studio is a second home to them, and they know Miss Adell will always to there for them. I am incredibly proud of the teacher she has become, and the person she is today.”

Adell’s School of Dance is located at 2420 Military Road, Town of Niagara; and online at https://dancewithadell.com/.