This past week I received a comment here on this blog from a mother who fears her daughter will have to drop off her dance team due to the fact that the family has encountered some financial hardships this year. The economic recession has been tough on many people. We’ve felt it, too. My husband’s business has just been sold and, although he has consulting work for a few months, we don’t know what the future will hold work-wise for him after that either.
This mother asked me if I knew of any dance scholarships or grants for which she could apply to help pay for her daughter’s dance fees. She’d already fallen behind in payments and feared she would soon be asked to pay up or remove her daughter from the team. I don’t personally know of any scholarships or grants for dancers in financial need. However, I think it would be super to provide a list of this type of resource. Not only are there many kids in the same financial straights right now as this little girl, but there are other children who would love to dance more seriously but who can’t afford to do so. (Those of us with boys often find them being offered scholarships…or given them if we ask. Girls aren’t so lucky.)
So, if you know of any such financial resources for dancers, please post them here as comments. That way dancers who need financial help will be able to seek it out in the appropriate places. If you send me enough resources, I’ll compile them into a blog post.
Thanks!
The one scholarship program I do know about is Nigel Lithgoe’s Dizzy Feet Foundation. One of Julian’s friends from the ABT summer intensive, who was offered a spot at the JKO School, got a Dizzy Feet scholarship, which made it possible for him to attend the ballet school. You might look into this.
Good luck!
please advise on how I can get help for my daughter. She got accepted to go to the Alvin Ailey Dance school in NYC and Don’t know how Ill be able to pay.
Please advise.
Thanks
Please try the Dizzy Feet Foundation. I really don’t know of anything else at this time. Sorry and good luck.
(submitted on the old blog by ptovalle@msn.com– Parker) As a guy dancer, and at age 17, I have been searching for scholarships so that I may go to college. Many of my friends have had similar problems paying with dance teams and other things, so my advice to whoever would be ask the studio owner if there is any other way to pay it off, such as, cleaning up studio spaces twice a week, or working the front desk. Also, many states have programs such as in Florida they have, Florida Dance Masters, which allows students to audition for scholarships awarded to most students.
Gook luck!