NYCDAF awards $275k to 30 dancers

The New York City Dance Alliance Foundation (NYCDAF), a forward-thinking charity committed to shaping the future lives and training of young dancers, celebrated fireworks of their own on July 3 at the organization’s 23rd Annual National Finale. An applicant pool of over 200 young dancers seeking scholarship funds for further education participated in a National College Audition at the Sheraton New York Hotel, nestled in the heart of Times Square. The audition consisted of a ballet class taught by New York City Ballet Principal Ballerina Tiler Peck and a contemporary class taught by Martha Graham Principal Dancer Lloyd Knight. NYCDAF awarded a total of $275,000 to 30 recent high school graduates already committed to a college program from September 2017.

The goal of the NYCDA Foundation College Scholarship Program is to award multiple four-year college scholarships, primarily with total values of $5,000-$25,000, to recipients committed to pursuing a performance based major. These scholarships are awarded as tuition payments and can be used at the college of their choice.

“To date, the foundation has awarded nearly $2 Million dollars with over 200 Foundation scholarship recipients represented in over 30 of the most prestigious dance programs in the country,” accounts Joe Lanteri, executive director and founder of NYCDAF. “We proudly make this investment in their education, giving these dancers the opportunity to reach their fullest potential and develop into the artists that will shape the industry in years to come.”

Kele Roberson of Austin, TX and Nina Bartell of Denver, CO were each awarded a $25,0000 scholarship to The Juilliard School.

Joseph Harrington of Cincinnati, OH was awarded a $15,000 Adele Astaire Scholarship to Pace University.

Next $10,000 scholarships to Pace University were awarded to Lill Jacob (Simsbury, CT), Madison O’Connor (Delray Beach, FL), Tanner Frisbey (Independence, MO) and Olivia Speno (Scottsdale, AZ). The same amount went to Mackenzie Meldrum (Chesterfield Twp, MI); Michael Garcia, Todd Baker and Ricardo Hartley III (all Dallas, TX); and Kaylin Maggard (Columbia, MO) for The Juilliard School. Then Matthew Perko (West Chester, PA) was awarded $10,000 to the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance; Emily Brennan (Wesley Chapel, FL) to Marymount Manhattan College, and Kiera Dorman (Millbrae, CA) to University of California, Irvine.

Plus Londyn Alexander (Mckinney, TX) was given $10,000 towards the University of Southern California, Justine Hannan (Tucson, AZ) to University of Arizona School of Dance, and Samantha Doyle (Allen, TX) to Point Park University.

Finally, $5,000 scholarships to Pace University were awarded to Aiden Pressel (Brighton, MI), McKenna Wolf (Parker, CO), Stephanie Godsave (Allen, TX) and Lauren Hanle (North Andover, MA). Kira Shababb (Fairfield, NJ) was awarded $5,000 to Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Alexander Zitofsky (Fanwood, NJ) to Chapman University, and Brenna Sautter (Cranford NJ) to Marymount Manhattan College. Maya Addie (Mesa, AZ) was also given $5,000 towards tuition to Fordham University, Maria Pacos (Depew, NY) to University of Alabama, Cali Poole (Marana, AZ) to University of Arizona, Kaylin Thistle (Clemmons, NC) to Connecticut College, and Jessica Lancisi (Centennial, CO) to University of California, Los Angeles.

An additional 75 dancers were awarded $7,560,000 by NYCDAF’s college partners, who include Marymount Manhattan College (NY), Point Park University (PA), Mercyhurst University (PA), Pace University (NY), Southern Methodist University (TX), Montclair State University (NJ), The Hartt School (CT), University of Arizona (AZ), and University of the Arts (PA). These prestigious college programs attend the NYCDAF National College Audition, offering substantial scholarships to recruit rising high school seniors for their college freshmen class of September 2018.

Visit www.nycdance.com for more information.