In the ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel just north of Times Square, dozens of dancers draped their legs over the backs of chairs and stretched on the carpeted floor for their shot at a college scholarship. With chairs used as barres, dancers culled from New York City Dance Alliance’s 24-city tour performed for representatives of dance departments from Marymount Manhattan, Pace University, Point Park University, Mercyhurst University, Dean College, and Chapman University.
“The colleges will really focus on even how someone handles a ballet barre, which is a big part of being in a four-year program,” said Joe Lanteri, executive director of New York City Dance Alliance, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. “It speaks a lot to your training, so they’re going to pay meticulous attention to even how [dancers are] handling that, and then they’ll be broken down into smaller groups and they’re going to see their performances.”
This year’s auditions, which took place July 3, saw $3,875,000 in scholarships awarded to high school junior and senior students. In addition to auditioning for financial aid, the dancers were required to participate in the four-day workshop
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