Allisyn Paino

For someone who was told more than once that she would never be a professional dancer, Allisyn Paino has had one hell of a career in the field. With this week's production of Cinderella, Paino will cap 13 seasons with Ballet Austin, during which time she has danced the Cowgirl in Rodeo, the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gertrude in Hamlet, Painter in Cult of Color: Call to Color, the Survivor in Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project, the Chosen One in The Rite of Spring (a turn that earned her an Austin Critics Table Award), and a leading role in Balanchine's "Episodes" (set by Suzanne Farrell, no less). And this week sees her slipping into the glass slippers to play the put-upon stepdaughter with the thoughtful fairy godmother for the first time. But bittersweetly, it's also the last time Paino will perform as a Ballet Austin dancer. She's retiring from the company.

Paino has been such a major presence at Ballet Austin in recent years that it's hard to fathom no longer seeing her virtuosity and vibrant personality onstage. She's been a brilliant interpreter of Stephen Mills' choreography and, along with recent retirees Inga Lujerenko, Margot Brown, Gina Patterson, Anthony Casati, and Eric Midgley, one of the key dancers who made Mills' early years as artistic director so memorable. And like them, Paino seemed to grow in power and expressiveness with every performance. We're thankful for her hard work and that she persevered when some said she had no career in dance. She has, and it's been remarkable.

Next season Paino will move into a new role at Ballet Austin: as ballet mistress of the company, teaching and coaching younger dancers and passing on her knowledge and experience to them.

"I started at the bottom of the company, and I am ending at the top," she says. "Oddly enough, in hindsight, each time I was placed at the bottom, it was good for me. It was really the best thing that could have happened to me. It required me to dig deep every time and decide if this was really what I was meant to do. As it turns out, it always was."

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Cinderella runs May 8-10, Friday, 8pm; Saturday, 2 & 8pm; Sunday, 3pm, at Dell Hall in the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 W. Riverside. For more information, call 476-2163 or visit www.balletaustin.org.