All the Right Moves

MARIE HETHERINGTON DIDN’T DISCOVER DANCING as much as dancing found her. It was after a chance audition for a group of students she was teaching that Marie was hired to perform shows across the country.

Referred to as a “sophisticated support act” with a “keen knowledge of show business and a winning personality” in reviews, her signature upside-down twist made Marie a sensation during a time when war efforts dominated the news.

It all started when she was 4 or 5 years old and her mother signed her up for ballet and acrobatic lessons. Every Saturday, she would accompany Marie to a studio and write down all the steps the teachers taught. Back at home, she would have Marie practice the steps every day.

“It was interesting, and I wanted to learn something,” she recalls. “I was good at it, as my teachers said. They moved me up with the older girls. I just kept doing it.”

She never considered pursuing dance professionally but did end up teaching it. When her school was contacted by someone hiring dancers and entertainers, she accompanied a group of her

students to an audition. She later returned to the audition site to collect money, and the recruiter said to her, “I heard you were very good at dancing.”

“They said they wanted to put me in some shows,” Marie recalls. “I said, ‘I’ll try it.’ They told me where to go, and I ended up across the United States, mainly down south.”

For the next 10 years, under the stage name Marie Leslie, she opened for acts ranging from dancers to musicians. Her routine included tap and acrobatic dancing and singing. Marie’s signature “upside-down twist” was highlighted in all the promotions for her shows (of which she still has many copies).

“People didn’t know what it was and wanted to see it,” she said. “I’d stand on my head and bend my knees and go back and forth with my legs.”

One of her most memorable performances was in New York when she opened for Frank Sinatra.

“I saw him, and he saw me,” she recalls. “We waved at each other.”

attended her shows whenever possible.

“My mother had taken me all over the place. She was so happy because I was doing all this,” Marie said. “She was so proud. She wrote down all my performances.”

At age 40, Marie retired. As much as she loved dancing, traveling alone was challenging. She introduced her two daughters to dancing, although she encouraged them to stay close to home.

Marie’s hidden talent didn’t remain hidden for long after she moved to Masonic Village at Sewickley in 2018.

“They found out everything I could do, and now I’m doing it here,” she said. “I have a few costumes I saved, and I’m going to wear a red one with fringes to the 60s event. I love it here. It’s the people who are friendly, and you can talk to them. There are so many things to do. I can stay in my apartment, or I can go walking or to the swimming pool. You can do anything.”

She might not be performing the upsidedown twist anymore, but being a dancer will always be part of Marie’s life story.