Rising up, Olivia Cece had huge aspirations for her profession, however Broadway wasn’t one in every of them. For one factor, she didn’t sing or act. The truth is, she didn’t know something concerning the world of musical theater. However when her shot at profitable Season 11 of “So You Suppose You Can Dance” slipped by her fingers, her dance instructor Bette-Ann Rossi used the loss as an opportunity to mild a brand new fireplace. “I do know that is your dream, however I actually assume you’re going to be on Broadway sometime,” stated Rossi, whom dancers affectionately known as “Miss Bette.” Because it seems, she was prophetic. Cece has gone on to have a thriving profession on Broadway. The truth is, you possibly can catch her in Coronary heart of Rock and Roll on Broadway proper now!
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Cece spent the vast majority of her coaching at Atwood Performing Arts Middle. There, she met Rossi, a girl who would turn into an important instructor in her life. After recognizing Cece at a center college expertise present, Rossi invited the 7-year-old to bop at her studio. “It was an ideal college with superb coaching,” Cece says. “Miss Bette [was a ballroom dancer known for her old-school jazz classes. She was phenomenal.”
During her senior year of high school, Rossi told Cece she had cancer. “She told me to meet her at the studio early so it would be just us. Then, she showed me her hair falling out and said, ‘Miss Bette’s got a little bit of cancer.’ ” It was stage four, and just four months later, Rossi passed away. “She told me that I was one of her proudest accomplishments—it was one of the last things I remember her saying to me,” Cece says. Before her passing, Rossi gave Cece a necklace with a small bird on it. “She said I was her free spirit. She told me to go off and fly and do all the things that she and I had planned. I got that bird tattooed on my hand.”
And fly she has. Cece earned her BFA in the commercial dance program at Pace University. While there she expanded her training to singing and acting, and built relationships with major choreographers in Los Angeles and New York City. Through her senior showcase, she signed with Clear Talent and started working straight after graduation. Her first job was American Dance Spectacular, with Al Blackstone, followed by dancing on “Saturday Night Live” with Miley Cyrus (choreographed by Nick Kenkel). “Those jobs felt like gifts to me as I crossed the bridge from student to pro dancer,” Cece says. From there, her career took off. Her film and TV credits include Disney’s “Better Nate Than Never” and Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Big City Adventure,” and her theater credits include Kaylee in the first national tour of The Prom, the 5-week workshop of Andy Blankenbuehler’s Only Gold, the first national tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway. “I was asked to come in and do [Moulin Rouge] for a fast three weeks in December 2022, and I simply by no means actually left.” That’s, till February 2024, when Cece booked her present job within the unique solid of Broadway’s Coronary heart of Rock and Roll.
On reserving Coronary heart of Rock and Roll: “My whole audition was finished in someday. They’d us do a full ’80s jazz approach combo with some stepping in addition to some improv earlier than they made a minimize. Then they requested me to remain for partnering earlier than they made one other minimize, and I used to be requested to remain and sing. I sang some Stevie Nicks for them and left feeling actually nice about all of it. I even wore garments from my very own ’80s-inspired dancewear line with Ilogear: a high-cut leotard with a bandeau-style sports activities bra and flared pants over it.
“I didn’t hear something for 4 weeks earlier than I received an e-mail from my agent saying I used to be nonetheless within the combine. My mother stated she would pray for me, and if it was meant to be, it will be. The next weekend, I received the name from my agent. The workplace was about to shut, however she didn’t need me to have to attend. ‘You’re going to be within the unique solid of Coronary heart of Rock and Roll,’ she stated. I used to be completely thrilled.”
On the influence of Rossi: “Miss Bette will at all times maintain the most important place in my coronary heart and in my life for a lot of causes. I spent extra time on the studio than I did at house. My household was going by completely different challenges at one level, and the studio was my rock. Miss Bette was a powerful, stable determine in my life, and the studio was the place I felt most seen and comfy. She not solely educated me and gave me the whole lot I may need as a dancer, however she was a job mannequin to me as a girl. We had a gorgeous friendship. If I might have one individual on the market watching me proper now, it will completely be her. I keep in mind, whereas doing Moulin Rouge, I might look out to the viewers and sing “Come What Might,” and I might get emotional picturing her there, seeing what she envisioned, come to life.”
On her desires for the longer term: I might like to proceed to be a part of new reveals and processes in theater. I really like the inventive collaboration that I’ve discovered on this present, and hope to do extra of that. I’d additionally like to originate some type of principal monitor that basically highlights dancers. Past performing, I’d love to make use of my management and enterprise expertise to direct or run a program. I’ve my diploma, and I’d like to return and get my grasp’s. I might see myself operating a college like Tempo or one thing sometime. It will be so cool to provide again and share the issues I want I had extra of once I was in class.”
