For Marie Caruso, 24, ballet has been a passion from a very early age. The native of Rural Valley, Armstrong County, began studying dance for fun but, by the age of 10, it had become a therapeutic aid that helped her cope with the breakup of her parents' marriage.

By 13, she started to dance more and more, putting in 10 to 12 hours each week and attending a summer dance program. Two years later, after Ken Nickel, a former principal dancer with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, started a dance program at La Roche College, Caruso got the approval of the college's dean and enrolled in the program. To get her back and forth to class, her mother drove more than 700 miles a week from their home in Rural Valley.

As Caruso approached her late teens, her body started to mature and she began to wonder if a curvaceous physique might pose a problem in ballet, which favors ethereal, slender bodies. Her fears were reinforced when she was removed from the cast in a production of "Swan Lake" at Florida State University, where she was enrolled as a performing arts and dance major.

"At 105 pounds and a double-D cup, I was told I didn't have the 'right look' for ballet," she said.

After graduation, Caruso moved to New York to pursue a career in ballet but was told by company directors there that, although she had excellent technique and artistry, she didn't fit physically into the corps of dancers.

"It was then that I decided that I had to either get a breast reduction, look for a modern dance company, or start a ballet company of my own," she said.

At the same time she was being discouraged by other company directors, she began meeting dancers with problems similar to hers. She said that some of her friends and dance colleagues were actually dying of anorexia and bulimia, eating disorders brought on by their desire to fit the balletic mold.

"That's when I decided to found a company of dancers who don't have ethereal bodies but would be capable of performing all genres of movements with a balletic foundation," she said of Bodiography, the company she created in 2000. "I wanted a contemporary company that would express the beauty of the body in its diversity and focuses on contemporary themes, ideas and music."

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Caruso will bring her company of six dancers to the Olin Fine Arts Center at Washington and Jefferson College. The program includes two works: "The '80s Rock Ballet" and "Living Successions," a collection of vignettes about personal relationships set to the music of Pearl Jam.

In addition to the dancers, four actors will be featured in "The '80s Rock Ballet," described as a fairly complex story with quite a few musical selections by artists such as Duran, Duran, Madonna and Talk, Talk. The ballet is set in a nightclub, and the actors play nonspeaking roles, such as the bartender, to augment the choreography on stage.

Beginning with four girls growing up in the 1980s, the story line follows them through high school, then several years later, when they get together and explore various love triangles.

"We're only doing the first act of 'The '80s Rock Ballet' because I wanted to showcase the diversity of our dance palette," Caruso said. "So it doesn't include the entire story line, although it remains very enjoyable."

For the Olin performance, Caruso is bringing in works she calls "movement tapestries," pieces that don't necessarily have a story line. Even those few that do have a story line are still less about plot and more about movement.

Although Bodiography started as a touring company with excursions through New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida, the company is based in Pittsburgh. "The '80s Rock Ballet" premiered in March 2004 at the Byham Theater, Bodiography's home and where the company performs twice each season, with additional performances at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood.

"We're really excited about coming to W&J," Caruso said. "The performance will be our last of our current season, and we want to end our year with a bang."

Bodiography Contemporary Ballet will be performing in the Olin Fine Arts Center, 228 E. Wheeling St., Washington, on the campus of Washington and Jefferson College. Tickets cost $15, or $12 for seniors, W&J alumni and non-W&J students. For reservations, call 724-223- 6546.