Nick Mishoe dancing as a member of the two-person Blue Journey in the ‘America’s Got Talent’ quarterfinals earlier this month, and in his Red Bank studio, below. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
School may just be getting back in session, but the young dancing students of Red Bank’s Academy of Dance Arts will have a good excuse for staying up late on Wednesday night.
Their instructor, Nick Mishoe, is half of a dancing pair called Blue Journey that has made it to the semifinals of NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent.’
For the uninitiated, AGT is “a giant talent show in which we’re competing against acrobats, magicians, jump-ropers, musical groups” and more for a grand prize of $1 million, Mishoe tells redbankgreen.
Six acts remain, and to keep Blue Journey’s chances alive, choreographer David Middendorp crafts high-visual impact dance spectacles like the one in the video above, said Mishoe.
“They’re as elaborate as he can manage to make them” in the intervals between the shows, which are aired live nationally, said Mishoe. “As the show goes on and you advance, you have to keep upping yourself.”
Mishoe, 33, of Chapin Avenue, grew up in West Virginia, and later danced in the Dutch National Ballet, where he became friends with Middendorp. When the choreographer landed an opportunity to put together a team to compete on AGT, he called Mishoe, and paired him with Rachel Kivlighan.
The two had never before danced together, though their routines require not only an exacting physical interaction, but the ability to convey intimacy. That adds pressure that other acts may not face.
And talk about pressure: among the show’s judges is the acerbic Howard Stern. But “I love him as a judge, because he’s so straightforward,” Mishoe said. “As an artist, you want straightforward feedback.”
The next performance comes just as Mishoe and his wife and partner, Shayne Mishoe, are planning to relocate their studio from a former factory building on Chestnut Street to 70 Apple Street in Tinton Falls. A victory in the finals would give that effort a big financial boost, said Nick.
Shanye grew up in the Red Bank area and was a student of the academy under founder and former owner Jennifer Church. The Mishoes danced professionally for about 10 years before settling in Red Bank a decade ago. They bought the academy from Church around 2008.
With Blue Journey having made it to the penultimate round, Mishoe said the school’s students, not to mention their parents, “are like, beyond amped” about his involvement.
“They see me in class, and they see me on TV, and they just love it.”
He’s even been recognized, once, while out shopping recently, though, to be fair, it was by someone who was familiar with his face before the show, he said. “But I’ll take it,” he said.
