In 2015, CVDA Alumni Dancer Amani Justin Holloway applied and received a two-year grant from Spark RVA Awards to fund a weeklong dance camp for children in foster care. Under Amani’s lead, CVDA teamed up with UMFS to make this camp happen. UMFS is a non-profit organization that champions youth and families in the community, to include children in the foster care system. During this week, children who might not normally have an opportunity to take a dance class were able to experience ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip hop dance styles ending the week with a performance of their skills learned. They ultimately learned how dance can be a way to cope with the many challenges they face. 

In 2017 when the grant ended, Central Virginia Dance Academy decided to continue the Outreach Camp on it’s own with it’s continued partnership with UMFS. Advanced dancers at CVDA volunteered to be the camp teachers and parents volunteered to donate lunch each day for the campers. The camp continued with success in 2018 and has become a yearly event at Central Virginia Dance Academy. Amani has graduated and is currently training at Joffrey Ballet in their trainee program. He is still involved in the camp and stops by each year to give the kids encouragement. 

For more information on our outreach program, please contact anne@centralvadance.com.