DiscoverDance
Reaching out to the Community to . . . DiscoverDance
The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet understands the impact the Arts, and more specifically, the impact dance can have on a child. CPYB previously partnered with the General Mills Foundation to create a tuition assistance program known as the “General Mills Scholarship.” This program provided tuition assistance to 131 children in the Central Pennsylvania region until General Mills closed its local plant and funding was discontinued. At that time, CPYB decided to institute an extension of that scholarship by implementing a program that would broaden the reach to low income students in the Carlisle and Harrisburg School Districts. This program was designed to provide these students with an opportunity to learn how to dance and to further develop their artistic talents.
CPYB’s new program, DiscoverDance, gives at-risk, financially needy students in second and third grade the opportunity to study ballet, and is FREE to participating schools. This program has been divided into 4 educational outreach Tiers:
Tier I
Giving at-risk children in the Carlisle and Harrisburg areas exposure to professional, theatrical performances such as Snow White, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™, Cinderella and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in a theatre such as the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg. (August through April)
Tier II
Giving these children and opportunity to move their own bodies in small, interactive dance classes in the comfort of their own schools. (November through January)
Tier III
Bringing interested and potentially talented children into the more formal dance studios at CPYB in Carlisle for 15-week workshops of dance and ballet. (February through June)
Tier IV
Providing selected students the opportunity to study classical ballet on full scholarship in one of the finest training centers in the country, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. (July through September)
The DiscoverDance program is funded through a combination of local, state and national grants. Each year, the DiscoverDance program changes and grows with input from members of the educational community and the staff and faculty who teach its new and returning students.
