Dance - The Next Generation 

 
Dance - The Next Generation is a seven-year full-scholarship program for at-risk children. With an annual enrollment of 100 students, the goal of Dance - The Next Generation is to prevent children in the Sarasota Community between the ages of 8-18 from dropping out of school. Children who complete the rigorous seven-year training may qualify to receive a four-year college scholarship (two years at Manatee Community College, and two years at University of South Florida, Sarasota) to study any subject of their choosing. Additionally, the Ballet provides transportation, instruction, and dancewear at no cost to the student’s family. The program provides a safe haven for these children and a way to improve their self-esteem, to learn responsibility and discipline, to gain confidence and, above all, to learn that regardless of their socio-economic status, they can achieve anything they want in life. Before entering the program, the children are faced with a great deal of social, cultural, and academic challenges, but as they progress through the program they learn the skills that are needed to become well rounded, productive and involved members of the community. Dance - The Next Generation prides itself on being the only program of its kind that takes at-risk children and nurtures them for seven years while, at the same time, preparing them to take on the role and responsibility of becoming productive citizens. We have found that as the students progress, most of them become honor roll students and maintain between a 3.7 and a 4.0 grade point average. Students have also been recognized in the community and have received awards such as the Rotary Club's award for Outstanding Young Citizen in Our Community, accepted into the Black Achievers Program and have been valedictorians of their graduating class.

 
Each year selected students from the Dance - The Next Generation program are promoted and granted scholarships with the Sarasota Ballet School. This provides additional opportunities for those students who are deemed by the faculty, through assessments and regular observation, to possess the ability and desire to increase the amount and intensity of their dance training.

 
Performance opportunities happen with the Company, Dance - The Next Generation. Performances and community events are also integral parts of their education. We see them grow artistically as dancers but, of equal importance, are their poise, expression and stage presence. In 2006, Dance - The Next Generation received a grant from the Sarasota Council of Concerned Citizens that enabled us to hire Javier and Isabel Dubrocq to choreograph the student's end of year performance and purchase new costumes. The students performed before a full house of family, friends, teachers and community members at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts (488-seat capacity). A highlight of this performance was a piece entitled Beginning of the Beginning that was conceived, choreographed, directed and presented by six graduating students. Subsequently, the students also performed a piece choreographed by Michelle Teyke in 2007 and, as a result, having the graduating students choreograph and perform their own dance is now a permanent part of the curriculum.