Two of our students were recently honored at the 2018 Dance Innovations Performance Foundation Scholarship Awards Dinner on the evening of Wednesday, May 23rd.  Students from all over Northern New Jersey were nominated for exceptional skills in various areas from performing arts like dance, music and singing, to gymnastics, creative writing, visual arts.

The dinner and ceremony, held at the beautiful Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park, was attended by gifted students of all ages and their proud family members, caregivers, and mentors. Calais seventh grader Adriana T. was nominated for an art scholarship by our Art Teacher, Mr. Catalano while Calais ninth grader Alex D. was nominated for his musical talents by our Music Teacher, Mr. Aquino.

Throughout the evening pupils of the Dance Innovations studio performed several dance numbers in between each scholarship award announcement. The highlight of the evening, aside from seeing all of the award recipients beaming in a group photo, was watching Adriana and Alex receive their awards which were actually presented by Mr. Catalano and Mr. Aquino. Another exciting moment was Alex’s acoustic guitar solo which he performed after receiving his scholarship. Adriana and Alex will be using their scholarship funds to attend after school programs to further develop their skills in art and music respectively.

private non profit special needs school in northern new jersey

The Dance Innovations Performance Foundation (a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization) was established in 1999 in order to give back to the community. The foundation awards performing and visual arts scholarships to students who, because of special needs or special circumstances, would not be able to attend the program(s) of their choice.

We couldn’t be more proud of Adriana and Alex and we know they are appreciative of the thoughtful nominations from Mr. Catalano and Mr. Aquino!