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Profile of Dante Sciarra
by Don DiMuccio
 It is truly a blessed individual who has the ability to pursue their lifelong passions as a career path. It is rarer still for one to not only aspire to greatness, but to actually achieve a high level of excellence in their chosen discipline, standing out virtually peerless within their field. When you add the performing arts to this mix, success is infrequent and often fraught with bitter failure.
And that's what makes Rhode Island's own Dante Sciarra's journey so extraordinarily remarkable. A success story personified, the Johnston native's exalted career has included dancing and acting in countless live performances, chief among them a role in the Broadway production of "Chicago", working alongside Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday.
What may at first blush seem like overnight success was truly anything but for Dante Sciarra. At the tender age of nine, the young Sciarra began to take up dance, an activity for which his sisters had already got a head start on him, working out of a small studio in Johnston. However unlike his siblings who would soon quit to pursue athletics, Dante's passion for the discipline began to take roots and grow stronger each day.
After several years of honing his abilities through study and the obligatory recitals and competitions, an impressionable teenage Sciarra would see masters of the art form up close and personal. One specific trip to New York would leave an indelible mark on the burgeoning dancer, attending a performance of Bob Fosse's "Dancin'", starring famed-choreographer Anne Reinking. "That was probably one musical I saw several times simply because of how striking and how beautiful this woman was. And I literally remember sitting in the orchestra seats just starring at this woman ... just gorgeous"
From that moment on, the groundwork had been laid for what would become Dante Sciarra's complete life path. Firmly ensconcing himself in the world of dance, Sciarra would frequently move between his home in Rhode Island and his career in New York (a pattern which continues to this day). Early professional experiences included dancing at the preeminent Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater under the auspices of Jose Meier.
While many at that age are barely able to make it away from the security of home and family for the first time, in stark contrast Dante was learning the harsh realities of life in real time. One early blow was the loss of his father when he was only seventeen. As hard as that was, he was also losing compatriots around him at a disturbingly rapid rate, due to the onset of a then-new disease known as HIV Aids. "That was difficult - there was a whole generation of people - dancers, choreographers, up-and-coming choreographers, that this whole HIV thing just wiped clean unfortunately." Sciarra recalls, "I've had several friends who were just gone - and it was THAT quick, just gone."
In between working the odd jobs to make ends meet, and going on endless auditions throughout the city, Dante decided to return home to the Ocean State to regroup. This sidetrack was to last over nine years! And with timing being THE most essential element in any pursuit, Sciarra's timing couldn't have been any better. He immediately met the entrepreneurs FourQuest Entertainment and got himself on the ground floor of their latest endeavor, Matunuck's Theatre By The Sea. Sciarra boasts having spent over nine seasons with the playhouse, working in just about every regional production imaginable.
In 1998 Dante went on what seemingly was just another open call audition, this time for the first national tour of "Chicago". However the repercussions of this event would loom large in Sciarra's unfolding story. Out of hundreds of hopeful applicants, Dante Sciarra was indeed chosen for the role of what is known in the world of theater as "swing". This person is an understudy of sorts, usually for several chorus and/or dancing roles. Though not technically part of the cast, it is indeed a grueling task, one which requires knowledge of several characters' parts. Additionally, Dante learned that his childhood hero, the aforementioned Anne Reinking would play a pivotal role in the production. For these complex reasons, Dante was to surprisingly turn down the offer. "I felt that here is this woman who I idolized and looked up to for years... Every one of us performers are perfectionists to a fault and to a degree. I felt that I was gonna do the show and myself an injustice because I wasn't gonna be able to be perfect in not ONE role, but you have to know several roles... I was afraid of failing that way. And I was afraid of not making Anne Reinking happy."
Dante Sciarra describes this decision and the emotions that followed as a professional breakdown of sorts. He felt that he had disappointed not only himself but more importantly the people around him, simply out of a fear of failing. He made a pact with his Higher Power to never again make the same mistake. Accordingly he was soon offered and accepted yet another swing role, this time covering not one but NINE different male tracks in a production of "Sunset Boulevard" with 60's pop icon Petula Clark.
While on the road with the show for over a year, opportunity came knocking a rare second time. Once again it would be for "Chicago", the role which now haunted him like a professional albatross. "I thought to myself - opportunity is not going to knock that many times. So for me to say no would have been the biggest slap in these people's faces who were giving me a second chance." This time Sciarra took full advantage of his fortuity, successfully closing the tour. In the interim, a major motion picture version of the show was made starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, thus breathing new life and garnering a whole generation to see what the original stage production was all about. Sciarra would ride that wave well into 2005 as a full-fledged ensemble member, all the while garnering praise in the press for his comedic and acting skills.
But Dante Sciarra is more than Broadway, more than acting, more than a dancer. In his 44 short years he has been around the world living his dream, fulfilling his passions and achieving more than the average person does in three lifetimes. Whereas many people would rest most comfortably on those past laurels and meld easily into a "do you know who I am?" mentality, Sciarra continues to be a work in progress. In recent days he's decided to switch gears and begin a career in medicine, currently completing his second semester towards a nursing degree. "The body has always been a passion for me. Medicine has always been a passion for me. And I'm hoping that I will be the first one in my family to go on to a Bachelor of Science."
Despite new and varied interests, Dante Sciarra is now and will forever be a performer. He continues to pass his vast wealth of knowledge and experience onto new generations by teaching dance throughout Rhode Island. "To let go of any creative artistry that I've been doing since I was 9 is to crack my soul and die." Indeed, with his world-class resume looming large, Dante Sciarra can only be described as a true Rhode Island success story.
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