AKRON, Ohio — Ballet Excel Ohio encourages dancers from underrepresented populations to live their dreams.
They've been providing a way for dancers to train and perform at no cost for the past 26 years.
Madison Epps has been dancing with Ballet Excel Ohio in Akron for the past five years. She remembers the first time she saw them perform. She was in the 6th grade and the show was "Peter Pan."
Epps is one of 25 dancers under the Reach Out And Dance program (ROAD). It's a scholarship program that provides free dance training. Her dance teacher, Mia Klinger, says the program is essential to give those in underserved or underexposed communities an opportunity to dance.
"First outreach program in the state of Ohio," said Klinger, the artistic director at Ballet Excel Ohio. “And what we try to do is we bring in kids that are ignited about dance and maybe don't have the opportunity to either pay for dance or even see dance.”
Students get introduced to the program after participating in classes at their schools, by word of mouth or by seeing a show. Once students are interested the requirements are simple. Practices start at twice a week then increase to nearly every day, there is also an intense six-week summer training. A year-long scholarship can be worth upwards of $6,000.
Once a student is accepted, they can go through the program until they graduate high school. The scholarship is open to Akron and surrounding area students aged 8 to 18. The program is created to build up dancers and give them the confidence to not only perform in front of people but also perform in life.
“I also feel more confident in my turns because I watch myself grow every day with dance, and it just makes me feel more confident every time I see myself get better," said Epps, a ROAD scholarship recipient. “If I get three turns instead of two one day, it just makes me feel really good about myself.”
For Madison, this scholarship has helped her with her dream — a dream that she’s been working on since she was 3. Now, in her last year, she stars as Peter Pan in "Peter Pan," the show that brought her to Ballet Excel.
“I am just able to reach a higher level of excellence and what I like to do in my dreams," said Epps. “A big goal of mine is to live in New York and be dancing every day, and to be sharing dance with the world, just like I am now.”
Tickets are on sale now for "Peter Pan." The show will be at the Akron Civic Theatre March 15 and 16 at 2 p.m.
For more information on Ballet Excel Ohio or the ROAD scholarship you can click here.
