photo by Dominique Hildebrand 
A corkboard of photographs of Ron Tassone displayed by the elevator on the first floor of the George Rowland White Dance complex.

In the summer of 1975, Doug Bentz noticed a jazz dance class being taught by Ron Tassone. He introduced himself and began an association lasting forty years. 

Sarah Tilko knew from the moment she saw his work that she had to take his class. 

Another young dancer, Keisha Lalama, studied with Tassone, who was first to hire her as a dancer and made possible her first positions as choreographer and educator. 

On Feb. 24, 2015, four decades of changing lives and training young dancers at Point Park came to an end with the death of former Broadway dancer, beloved teacher, mentor, colleague and friend, Ron Tassone. 

Tassone died of natural causes at his home in Shadyside. He was 76 years old. 

“Ron’s presence, his credentials, his Broadway musical theatre savoir-faire (ability in social situations to act and speak accordingly) and his knowledge of that and his work with the student to instill a performing style and a love of dance, that’s a hard thing to lose…to suddenly have it not be there anymore after 40 years, it’s just a huge hole right now,” said fellow jazz dance professor Bentz.

Ron Tassone was born in Cardale, Pa., and reared in Fairbank, Pa. He began dancing at the age of 7, entered The Julliard School at 16 and, upon graduating, made his Broadway dancing debut in “Gypsy.” He went on to perform in seven other Broadway shows and appeared in the films “West Side Story” and “Hello Dolly.”

He also performed for several years on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as a member of the Peter Gennaro dance troupe, and danced in network television specials such as “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” and commercials for products such as Coca-Cola, Fresca and Alka-Seltzer. 

Ron Tassone established the jazz dance major within the dance program at Point Park in 1974. As a professor, Tassone was able to incorporate the many facets of his dance career into his teaching style at Point Park.

He taught a Broadway style of jazz; the style of jazz that he learned from the different major choreographers that he worked for, Tassone said in a video interview on the University’s website.

It is exactly this style that Sarah Tilko, a sophomore jazz dance major, remembers which made such an impression on her during a campus visitation day that years later, she can still vividly recall all the details. It is what made her want to study dance at Point Park.

“It was entertaining, it was alive, it was theater, it was jazz, it was fun. I just wanted to get up and dance; I wanted to do it,” Tilko said.

Professor Tassone’s style of dance, while exciting to observe, is also very demanding. His approach with students was to impress upon them that performance does not begin when they step onto a stage, but when they enter his classroom. To this end, he expected his ladies to wear their LaDuca dance heels in class and for classroom routines, which he choreographed daily, to be executed as a performance.

He also adopted the practice of giving his dancers distinct nicknames that captured some characteristic unique to them. In Tilko’s case, prompted by a sweatshirt she wore to class one day, her nickname became “Miss West Virginia.”

Tilko explains that most dancers favor one side of their body over the other-for her, she favors her right. While working in class on a combination that required a high kick of the left leg she didn’t do the kick. 

She laughed as she recalled that moment and emulated Tassone’s voice.

“Now, Miss West Virginia, a battement is not a tendu…get-your-leg-up!”

Keisha Lalama, associate professor of dance at and education director for Pittsburgh CLO, met Tassone when she auditioned for him as a student in 1991. She credits his interest in her development for her success.

“As special as our relationship was…he did that for everyone,” Lalama said. “Ron had this magic about him; that if he saw potential in you and you wanted something…then he always took that extra step to make sure that he could lead you down the path for whatever success you wanted for yourself.”

In his professional performance career, Tassone met and worked with a variety of renowned artists such as Barbara Streisand, Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins.

“Dancers are very dedicated, but we do get tired sometimes,” junior jazz dance major Carly Wood.

In those moments, students would urge Tassone to share stories about his life experiences, shows that he had been in and the celebrated artists he worked with. He would share these stories not as nostalgia for his own career, but as learning platforms to illuminate important points for his students. 

For Michael James Brown, a senior musical theatre major, how Tassone met and eventually worked with famed choreographer Bob Fosse “kept me in check with being a good person and also a good dancer as well.”

“He showed me I could be iconic in my own way too,” junior jazz dance major Caroline Loeser said about the stories Tassone shared. “I think that he was on this earth to dance and to teach dance and to inspire people and that’s exactly what he did.”

Wood a slow deep breath in order to gain control of the tears that well up in her eyes and threaten to spill down her face.

“His legacy is going to be here forever. It’s [going to] be through us, the students he had and the teachers who worked with him …he’s never going to be forgotten here,” Wood said.

What students, past and present, and faculty who knew Ron Tassone all agree upon is that he genuinely cared about people and that his life was dedicated to being a positive influence in helping his students identify and develop their abilities and talents.

“Ron was completely selfless. All he wanted was for all of us to be better at what we were pursuing,” said former student Colleen Dunn, who studied at Point Park in 1985 while still a high school student, and has since gone on to perform in numerous shows on Broadway, in films and on television.

“The legacy that I see unfolding of all the people he touched makes me want to be supportive of other artists and nurture people the way he did,” she said in a phone interview.

His dedication to his students and their success extended well beyond graduation dates and he was a valued and trusted friend and mentor for Gabrriella Sorrentino, a 2001 alum, especially during a particularly difficult six-month period when she was not able to find work. 

“He was always supporting and encouraging me; he was a beacon of light, everything that I needed, that’s what Ron was,” Sorrentino said in a phone interview. “His students were his family. The school really was his family.”

From Las Vegas, Nev. to New York City’s Times Square, and as far as Tecma, Italy, hundreds of dancers are featured performing the “Ron Ron Ron Tassone” signature step in video posts on two memorial Facebook pages.

Megan Manahan, Point Park alum class of 2013, said in a phone interview that she set up the Facebook page as a means of celebrating the life of her teacher and mentor and of uniting his students throughout the four decades of his teaching career.

“Ron was just one of the most tender, magical human beings…he gave so much to his students, and we would do anything to give it back for our own students,” Manahan said.

A memorial service to remember and celebrate Tassone’s life, legacy and love for dance is being planned; details are set to be released at a later date.