Modernettes’ Winning
Streak Continues
AFTER NEARLY 60 YEARS, THE MODERNETTES ARE
STILL RAISING THEIR BATONS IN VICTORY.
BY W.B. FRESA
I
n the city of Pittsburgh, it’s not difficult to find stories about
champions. For decades, Pittsburghers have reveled in
championship football, hockey and baseball.
But there’s another sports team, outside the confines of
Pittsburgh proper, that’s also been winning championships since
1967. They’ve won national and world titles by kicking, spinning
and twirling their way
around the globe, bringing
home trophies coveted by
their competitors. They
are the Modernettes.
“My mother, Ruby
Daugherty, started
Modernettes in 1959,”
says Sherry Vignoli-Parisi.
“I was a Modernette
and, in the early days, we
marched in fireman street
parades. A few years later
we became a competition
corps team and attended
our first national
competition in 1967 at
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the University of Mississippi. To date, Modernettes have won 38
Grand National corps titles.”
In 1978, Sherry Vignoli-Parisi joined her mother as Director
of the Modernettes at Ruby Daugherty and Sherry School of
Dance in South Park. She facilitated their continued success with
the same passion for dance and baton. In 1990, the Modernettes
won the right to represent
Team USA at the first
World Championship.
As a member of
the 1990 World
Championship team,
Kristen Kiesling
remembers her experience
well.
“Being a Modernette
isn’t just about tossing a
baton into the air. It takes
athleticism. Everyone
on the team has to take
a lot of dance lessons,
along with skill classes,
to compete on a national