2012 Dance Council Scholarship Recipients


Lauren Gifford - Point Park University International Summer Dance Scholarship


Lauren is a junior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and she also studies with Taylor Dance Center and Dance Industry Performing Arts Center. Last year, she was awarded DCNT’s Joyce Seaborne Bader Scholarship to attend the Texas Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive. Lauren's goals include graduating high school with honors and acceptance into a university with a distinguished dance program.


Meredith Miller Darryl Sneed Scholarship


Meredith attends the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts and is a member of their Academy Dance Company. In addition to her training at school, she takes classes at Ballet Center of Fort Worth. She has attended Joffrey Ballet School’s summer intensive in New York City. Meredith hopes to continue training in classical ballet and to continue learning many different styles of con- temporary and jazz to expand her artistic boundaries.


Holly Seeley Artful Dancewear Teacher’s Scholarship


As the owner, director, and main teacher at Preston Hollow Dance, Holly is responsible for everything from artistic direction, instructing technique classes, choreo- graphing, coaching, administrative duties, customer service, and even cleaning the studios daily. She received a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied Spanish language and dance. Holly is pursuing a graduate degree in dance from Texas Woman’s University and she hopes to implement a unique bilingual program at Preston Hollow Dance.


Cheryl Callon Margaret PutnamScholarship for Dance Writers


Cheryl is a contributing dance writer for TheaterJones, an online performing arts news website serving North Texas. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in dance from Sam Houston State University. In addition to writing for TheaterJones, she is an adjunct dance professor for Collin College, Richland College, and Eastfield College. Cheryl’s goals are to con- tinue exploring the area between the artistic and the intellectual and to further contribute to the body of liter- ature on dance.


Breanne Granlund Gloria Ziaks and Caryn HalpernBallet Scholarship


Thirteen-year-old Breanne studies dance at the Ballet Academy of Texas where she is a company member of the Ballet Ensemble of Texas. This summer, she attend- ed American Ballet Theatre’s New York summer inten- sive. Breanne placed third in the YAGP Junior Classical division during competition last year. Her goals for bal- let are to continue to gain strength and flexibility with her training and to increase her knowledge of ballet terminology.


DANCE! NORTH TEXAS a publication of the dance council of north texas vol. 15 •


Rachel Kivlighan Nathalie Krassovska Memorial Ballet Scholarship


Rachel currently studies at Texas Ballet Theater School with Jan Miller. In past summers, she has attended Texas Ballet Theater School’s Summer Program, American Academy of Ballet and Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet. Since graduating high school this past May, Rachel hopes to continue her training and dance in a professional company.


Claire Boren Nathalie Skelton Tutu Memorial Scholarship


Fifteen-year-old Claire studies at the Ballet Academy of Texas and is a member of the Ballet Ensemble of Texas. She has attended American Ballet Theater’s New York summer intensive for the last three summers. This sum- mer, she was chosen as a National Training Scholar for the summer intensive and chosen by Melissa Bowman as the Isabelle G. Goldberg scholar. Within the next two years, she hopes to look at second companies to join and to become a stronger and more powerful dancer with precise movement and quick articulation.


Durante Verzola George Skibine Memorial Scholarship


Durante studies at the Kansas School of Classical Ballet. In 2011, he attended the School of American Ballet’s Summer Program for five weeks. This summer, he attended Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Summer Program on full scholarship. Like SAB, PNB is a Balanchine-based school, the style in which Durante excels. His goal is to attend a year round training pro- gram associated with a classical ballet company.


Courtlyn Hanson Fred Kelly Scholarship


Fifteen-year-old Courtlyn Hanson studies at the Ballet Academy of Texas with Lisa Slagle. She dances 30 hours a week, which includes a pre-professional program in the morning, regular classes at night and rehearsals on the weekend. In the summers, she has studied at American Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancer’s Workshop, Steps on Broadway, Joffrey Midwest and American Ballet Theatre’s NYC six week intensive. This summer, she returned to American Ballet Theatre in New York City where she would love to dance professionally.


Cally Skalnik Denton City Contemporary Ballet Scholarship


Calley attends the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education. Trained extensively in the Vaganova tech- nique, she has been privileged to study under Luidmela Polonskaya, Vladimir Stadnik, Sarkis Kalkachin, Stephanie Murrish, and Daniil Gaifullin. Over the sum- mers, she has attended the Harid Conservatory for the Arts, Boston Ballet and the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute on scholarship. This summer, Calley attended the Houston Ballet Summer Intensive.


no. 3 www.thedancecouncil.org August 2012 page 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32