A local dance school with a 30-year history has found new ways to support developing talent.
Listen to the report below or read the full story:
After three decades in the Valley, Star City School of Ballet has begun expanding their offerings to help prepare their students – and anyone in Roanoke with a passion for dancing – for the stage.
Kayla Dixon, Commercial Dance Director for the school, is the co-founder of the Star City Dance Collective, a non-profit formed earlier this year to help connect young dancers with performance and scholarship opportunities.
She says the non-profit was born out of a desire to provide young dancers, looking to begin their commercial dancing careers in Roanoke, with world-class training opportunities. “Do they want to be totally involved, like, in the community? Great, we have a path for you. Are you a competitive dancer that wants to still, like, have those moments to compete too? Great, you’re gonna be on our community and competitive program. Or, this year we have just started a pre-professional track.”
Dixon says students must be at least sixteen to be a part of that track, which features intensive mentorship opportunities with faculty whose resumes’ closely match the student’s career goals. “We have an incredibly faculty that have had so many different professional careers, and so many, like, vastly different careers too. So, if you have a path that you want to go on, we have mentors that can help you, to be like, ‘Hey, we know exactly how you’re feeling. We’ve been there.’”
She adds that the Collective’s mission goes beyond the Star City School of Ballet, though. The non-profit will also continue to put on public events – like last month’s National Dance Day Celebration at the Grandin Theatre – that allow anyone in the community to take to the stage.
Click here for more information about the Star City Dance Collective or here for more information about Star City School of Ballet’s offerings.
The post Star City School of Ballet is Offering New Ways to Support Developing Talent first appeared on News/Talk 960-AM & FM-107.3 WFIR.
