Teen Trouper : Arts School Junior Is Having the Prime Time of His Life

He has danced with Paula Abdul, acted with Gregory Hines and worked with Michael Jackson.

At 16, Mark Meismer is well on his way to a professional performing career. Not only has he worked with celebrities on a regular basis, he will also be featured in an upcoming television show.

Meismer is a junior at the Orange County High School of the Arts, which is housed at Los Alamitos High School. Three years of classes have helped him to polish his dancing, singing and acting, and have taught him tips on auditioning and putting together a portfolio.

“I’ve wanted to dance ever since I was a kid,” said Meismer, who lives in Cerritos. “In sixth grade, I saw my girlfriend in a production, and I thought: ‘This is really neat. I’d like to do this.’ So I asked my mom for lessons. She thought it was only a phase and told me to wait a few years. I waited. Then, three years ago, I started taking classes.

“I took one class a week, which gradually progressed to two a week, then three a week,” said Meismer, who started lessons at the Backstage Dance Studios in Cypress. He then auditioned to study dance at the arts school when it opened in 1987 because he thought the experience would be like the television show “Fame.”

“You’ve got to work harder,” he said.

At the audition for admittance to the school, Meismer competed against the most talented dancers among Orange County high school students. He had doubts about making the cut because he “had only learned jazz (dancing) as of yet, and they wanted me to do ballet. I faked through it anyway.”

Meismer was admitted more because of his “desire and natural ability” than his ballet, according to Ralph Opacic, director of the arts school.

Ever since then, Meismer has been making inroads into the professional arena.

Turn on the TV this month and you can see him in a Dr. Pepper commercial, on situation comedies, and, most recently, in a new Walt Disney Co. production titled “After Class,” a pilot for a children’s series.

“You know on ‘The Cosby Show,’ they begin with a dance number? So, the opening of ‘After Class’ is like that,” Meismer said. “The show is about what’s in, like fashion, and what’s not, like drugs.”

Its format is that of a talk show for teen-agers. “After Class,” which will feature Meismer and three female dancers, will carry interviews and show high school students participating in activities after school.

“We just filmed another episode,” Meismer said, hoping that it will lead to a series.

Not that a television series would be a novelty for him. Meismer has already appeared as a guest star on “Mr. Belvedere” and “Free Spirit.”

Meismer said acting with the cast of “Mr. Belvedere” was the most fun because he was familiar with the show and its characters. “I had met the cast before at tapings,” he said.

On “Mr. Belvedere,” Meismer played the role of Heather’s boyfriend, and in a recent episode of “Free Spirit,” he played the new kid at school.

Meismer said he enjoyed the behind-the-scenes work on “Free Spirit,” especially the way the special effects surrounding the main character’s witchcraft were filmed.

“They really just film each scene separately and edit it together,” he said. “It kind of takes the fun out of it to see how they do it, but it’s also kind of neat to know what they did, to know their secrets.”

Another television production that exposed Meismer to the business was “Dirty Dancing ‘89,” which was “a tribute to the stars of 1989” choreographed by Abdul and Jackson.

“At the audition, Paula Abdul was cutting people right and left,” Meismer said. After he was singled out, he found himself receiving a lot of attention from her.

“She would ask me if I was OK a lot,” he said. But he was more familiar than most of the dancers with the celebrity choreographer because he worked with her on a Reebok promotion for the company’s dance and athletic wear. He’ll also tour with the former Laker girl when she takes her song and dance act to Las Vegas in April.

Although he has met many celebrities, he said it still amazes him when he meets stars for the first time.

On the set with Hines for a “Monday Night Movie” special for ABC, Meismer met pop star George Michael, “which startled me.”

“I just walked out to get a drink of water and there he was. He asked if I knew where Gregory was, so I walked back in calmly and said that George was here to see him,” he remembered with a chuckle. “He had an accent and everything.”

Meismer is a bit of a celebrity himself.

He and dance partner Jennifer Strovas, 14, who is also a student at the arts school, were named national duet of the year in an annual competition held last May in Las Vegas. The competition was anything but easy.

“Every time we compete, we see this one couple, and they are so incredible,” he said. “Well, they were there, so we said we’re just going to go out there and have fun with it and forget about the rest.

“After every couple did their piece, the judges were announcing the winners like fifth place, then fourth, and so on. Well, the couple that we thought was so incredible made second place, so we thought, ‘No way, we didn’t even place.’ We were going to leave when they announced that we won. We started crying and hugging each other and screaming. We couldn’t believe it.”

In addition to the hard work, it is also quite costly for Meismer to perform on a consistent basis. Classes cost more than $200 a month. And even with prize money (he earned a $500 grand prize for national duet of the year), he barely “breaks even.”

And it is also a matter of time. With dancing and practicing taking up most of his day (eight hours a day, six days a week), he has “no social life.”

“But what I have instead is so much more special,” he said. “It’s a high for me. I can let out worries through my dancing,”

His mother, Wilma Meismer, said, “He usually isn’t home until 10 or 10:30 at night and he’s never home on weekends.”

Meismer has devoted his life to his craft. He plans to continue his professional career, and when he can no longer dance, open a studio and teach dance.

“I’ve got a long way to go, but I live each day for the day,” he said. “I’ve learned that there is always someone out there better than you, so don’t worry about it.

“You know, I’m 16 years old, and I’ve done all that I’ve wanted to do. That’s a lot.”