| Ballet is his passion, but he also has a thing for bass by Rick Frese Torris Cason at Caston Ballet Academie located in the Old Orchard area of Webster Groves. photo by Diana Linsley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Torris Caston, a former touring ballet dancer turned dance instructor, likens his participation in bass fishing tournaments to that of pursuing education. He looks at his guide as his "teacher." The boat is his "desk." The lake, whether it be in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, New York or parts thereof, makeup his "classroom."Through time, he has accumulated many fish stories -- from the ones that got away to the ones that he actually caught. "To me, this is like school," said Caston, who, along with his wife of nearly five years, Shannon, has owned Caston'Ballet Academie in Old Orchard in Webster Groves for nearly three years. "I like going to school. I get to travel a lot and I get to see a lot of different classrooms. I have so much to learn. I'm still learning. I have learned a lot from my guides. They don't have PhDs but they're the best teachers I ever had." Caston also caught an 8.25-pound bass while "fun fishing" in a local pond in 2003. Many of the local ponds have "monsters" in terms of size of the fish, he said. "This was a dream season," Caston said. "Everything all came together this year. I never finished in the top 50 until this year. This was definitely a dream season." Caston, an avid fisherman since the age of six when he also started to take dance lessons, first entered bass tournaments in 1997. When he began investigating bass fishing, he learned some of the best lakes were in the state of Missouri, and that some of the biggest names in the sport lived in this state. He also learned that the Central Pro-Am Association was located in Missouri, and that a top fishing magazine is published in the Show-Me State. One snowy winter Saturday Caston attended a fishing seminar. He was the only one to show up. He talked with one of the better bass fisherman and learned about the sport. "He gave me some of the best pointers," he said. "I wanted to learn more about this business. I really got hooked."Caston said fishing is just one of his "passions in life." The first is his wife, Shannon, also a former touring ballet dancer, whom he met while doing "Romeo and Juliet" at the Fox Theatre in 1995. His other passion is ballet dancing. He once toured in Europe and Russia and lived and performed in New York. In St. Louis, he danced as a soloist for the The Metropolitan Ballet of St. Louis. To find peace from the stress from performing and training, he would often fish. He has fished all over the world but found his passion to be bass fishing. Not bad considering Caston earned a master's degree from Long Island University in Anatomy and Physiology. He once aspired to do research, only to be sidetracked when he fell in love with ballet, eventually coming to study at the Joffrey Ballet school. His highlight as a professional came when he met and shook the hand of legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev in Chicago. "Fishing is just another part of my life," Caston said. "I know what my reality is. Dancing is like getting a hit like (Mark) McGwire or running the ball like (Marshall) Faulk." Caston and his wife will sometimes perform and choreograph for local ballet companies. He also teaches at McKinley Classical Junior Academy, a magnet school in the city. During the summer, he teaches a fishing class to those same youngsters. His "biggest thrill" these days is seeing students blossom and develop into top dancers. "I get an incredible rush from teaching," Caston said. "I look forward to getting up and going to work. I love to do both dance and teach." Caston is looking forward to the 2004 bass fishing season, which begins Nov. 8-9 in Kimberling City, Mo. "I'm still on cloud nine," Caston said. "My goal is to get it back to the championship level. I want to finish the year high in the points. I guess it's the competitor in me, but to come from nowhere to where I am now is something I'm proud of." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1997-2003, Webster-Kirkwood Times, Inc., St. Louis, Mo. |
| Torris Cason at Caston's Ballet Academie located in the Old Orchard area of Webster Groves. photo by Diana Linsley |
