Metropolitan Ballet Company Announces Audition For Free Boys' Scholarship Program Dance Classes

Metropolitan Ballet Company (MBC) will hold auditions for its renowned Boys' Scholarship Dance Program on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at 9:00 am, at the studio of Metropolitan Ballet Academy, 700 Cedar Road, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Boys ages 7-18 are eligible to receive free, weekly dance classes plus performance opportunities from September 2018 through June 2019. Boys should arrive ready to dance at 9:00 am in gym clothes or dance attire. No prior dance experience is required.

The MBC Boys' Scholarship Program provides tuition-free dance training in all-male classes designed to enhance athletic skills, motor intelligence, balance, flexibility and strength. More than 55 boys ages 7-18 enroll each year to study beginning, intermediate, advanced ballet and partnering with distinguished male dancers who serve as teachers and role models, while addressing boys' unique movement and learning styles.

Metropolitan Ballet's Boys' Scholarship Program faculty includes Bolshoi-trained Sergey Pupyrev, a former principal dancer with the Russian State Ballet in Moscow, and Zachary Hench, former principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet. Boys in the Scholarship Program also enjoy classes in contemporary, jazz and character dance styles, and diverse performing opportunities with Metropolitan Ballet Company, the pre-professional performing company affiliated with Metropolitan Ballet Academy. Metropolitan Ballet Academy, named in 2011 by POINTE magazine as one of America's top seven ballet studios "cultivating top talent" (2011), has also been recognized four times with the Youth America Grand Prix's Outstanding School Award (2018, 2017, 2015, and 2012). The Program has provided over $1,300,000 in scholarship awards to the over 300 boys who have participated to date.

The Program was created by MBC Artistic Director, Lisa Collins Vidnovic, in 1999 as a way to make classical dance training accessible to boys in the greater Philadelphia region. Vidnovic, a former Pennsylvania Ballet dancer and Ballet Mistress, founded Metropolitan Ballet Academy in 1996 and Metropolitan Ballet Company, its affiliate 501(c)3 nonprofit pre-professional performing company in 2001. More than 300 boys have participated in the Boys' Scholarship Program to date, and many have been accepted into prestigious summer and year-round dance training programs both nationally and internationally, including American Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet School in London, National Ballet of Canada, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Juilliard School, The Ailey School, Harid Conservatory, Kirov Academy, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Colorado Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Orlando Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet.

A remarkable number of Program alumni are enjoying professional careers in dance, performing professionally with companies nationwide including New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet and Joffrey Chicago Ballet. Whether boys are bound for a career in dance, musical theater, team sports, or training just for fun, all enjoy the opportunity to study dance in an all-male atmosphere from truly great teachers.

The Boys' Scholarship Program, an outreach program of Metropolitan Ballet Company, is proudly supported by grants from the Loeb Performing Arts Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation and by many generous gifts from individuals. For more information about joining the program, or for information about how to support this program, please call 215-663-1665, email collinsvidnovic@verizon.net or visit http://www.metropolitanballetcompany.org.

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