þÿ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Diontey McDonald Essay</title> <meta name="keyword" content="Friends of City Dance"> <meta name="keyword" content="Richmond"> <meta name="keyword" content="Virginia"> </head> <body style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: white;" alink="#330000" link="#330000" vlink="#330000"> <table valign="center" style="width: 800px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="center" valign="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <img alt="" src="73008_0948_donnie_leap_151.jpg" style="width: 151px; height: 154px;"></td> <td> <img alt="" src="banner3.jpg" style="width: 492px; height: 154px;"></td> <td> <img alt="" src="IMG_2162_TwoBallerinas_w_sm.jpg" style="width: 151px; height: 154px;"><br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top; height: 306px; background-color: rgb(149, 183, 211);"> <table style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="index.html"><big style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><small><small><big>H</big>OME</small></small></span></span></big></a><br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="AboutUs.html">A</a><small><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="AboutUs.html">BOUT <big>U<small>S</small></big></a><br> </small></span></span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="CityDance.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">A<small>BOUT <big>C<small>ITY </small></big><big>D<small>ANCE</small></big></small></span></span></span></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="PhotoGallery.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">P<small>HOTO <big>G<small>ALLERY</small></big></small></span></span></span></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(109, 160, 202);"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="ScholarshipFund.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">S<small>CHOLARSHIP <big>F</big>UND<br> </small></span></span></span></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="Links.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">L<small>INKS</small></span></span></span></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="ContactUs.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">C<small>ONTACT <big>U<small>S</small></big></small></span></span></span></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br> <a href="Index.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(211,229, 243);"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"><br> <table style="width: 90%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"> <h1><small><small><small><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: helvetica; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: helvetica; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><big><small><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">T-D feature story about Diontey McDonald</span><small><big><small><big><small><big><small><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"></span></small></big></small></big></small></big></small></small></big></span></small></small></small></h1> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: helvetica; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><big><small><small><big><small><big><small><big><small><big style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><small><span style="font-family: helvetica neue;"> <P> <B>TEEN STEPS TOWARD GOALS / ART CENTER IN RICHMOND FOSTERS STUDENT'S LOVE OF DANCE, HOPES FOR COLLEGE</B> <P> Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va.<br> Author: LINDSAY KASTNER<br> Date: Jan 9, 2006<br> <P> Last summer, Diontey McDonald had dreams, ambitions and plans. Now he has technique too. <P> During a summer writing workshop, 15-year-old Diontey wrote about his plans to attend college at The Juilliard School and then become a choreographer. <P> Annette Holt, director of the dance program at the city's Pine Camp Arts and Community Center, read Diontey's essay in The Times- Dispatch last fall and had one thought: "We need to offer him a space here." <P> The newspaper published the essay in a story about the workshop for youth from a high-poverty city school. Diontey's essay won second place at a banquet held for the young authors. <P> Holt said she called Councilwoman Delores L. McQuinn, who helped organize the writing workshop. <P> "She [McQuinn] had already given him our number." <P> Holt offered Diontey a scholarship. He's been taking classes since November. <P> Without the $360 scholarship, Diontey's mother, Wanda McDonald Cooper, said she would not have been able to pay for his lessons. <P> In a modern-dance class last week, Diontey practiced a piece called "Strange World." Diontey and his partner, a girl named Olivia, held hands and leaned away from each other. Diontey lifted the girl onto his shoulders and spun her around. <P> At the end of the piece, they put their hands on each other's faces and then broke into laughter, prompted by four giggling girls in leotards, watching from the side of the room. <P> The second time around, they got it right. <P> "I just do it," Diontey said later. "I haven't thought of any meaning for it, but I know it's supposed to be full of enthusiasm." <P> Holt said Diontey shows promise, though these are his first formal dance lessons. "He is a natural," she said. "He has a gift for this. He has feeling for this, and I think it's because he wants it." <P> Holt is also Diontey's ballet teacher and said 15 is not too late for a male dancer to begin training - if he works hard. <P> Diontey does. <P> "One night Rodney [Williams, the modern-dance teacher at Pine Camp,] and I heard music coming from the studio," Holt said. She looked in the room to find Diontey dancing alone. <P> "He was practicing everything he had learned that day." <P> Diontey takes classes five days per week in ballet, jazz and modern dance. Hip-hop classes are also available, though they aren't in his regular schedule. <P> "I think hip-hop just comes natural," Diontey said. "But these classes help me in developing the skills." <P> Jazz is his favorite. <P> "They do some African dance as well," Holt said. "They're versatile dancers, a very multitalented group." Holt said there are several young dancers waiting for scholarships. Diontey received the last one. She said she has no regrets about offering the scholarship to him - sight unseen. <P> Because the city's Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities funds Pine Camp, Holt said the public doesn't think to donate money to its programs. <P> But Holt said the dance program is worthy of philanthropy. In addition to fostering an appreciation for the arts, she said it encourages teamwork, keeps kids off the streets and stresses the importance of college. <P> Thomas Ragland is a former Pine Camp dance student who is now an apprentice with the Richmond Ballet. He said Pine Camp provided a good foundation for him, and he appreciated that the center offered tutors for its young dancers. <P> Ragland recently returned to Pine Camp, this time as a teacher. His advice to Diontey is simple: "Stay focused." <P> In addition to dancing at Pine Camp, Diontey is also captain of his school's step team, though it is just his first year at Armstrong High School. <P> He also dances with the City Dance Theatre, a group of teenagers that competes and performs locally and out of state. He is one of the least experienced in the 16-member group, but said the intimidation he at first felt is gone. <P> Williams said his new student is dancing well. "He wants my job?" Williams said when he heard Diontey plans to become a choreographer. <P> From now on, Williams said, he'll be staying on his toes. <P> Diontey will be right on his heels. <P> INFORMATION For information about the Pine Camp Arts and Community Center, call (804) 646-3677. <P> 'PROVE THEM WRONG'<br> An excerpt from Diontey McDonald's award-winning essay:<br> "When people look at me they think I am going to be such as a 'thug' or a 'gangsta.' Many of these people are just stereotyping. But I'm going to prove them wrong. That's why when I get older and finish college I will be a choreographer, and become the best one there is. I would like to study at Juilliard College because that is one of the best dance schools in the United States. It is known for its style of different dances and great teachers, and I think that I would get a lot out of going to school there." <P> <A HREF="ScholarshipFund.html"><IMG SRC="return.gif" ALIGN=left</A> </span><br> </small></big></small></big></small></big></small></big></small></small></big></span> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"></small> <div style="text-align: right;"><small style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: tahoma;"> </small> <small style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: tahoma;"><br> </small></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: helvetica; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"></span></div> </div> </td> <td style="background-color: rgb(149, 183, 211); vertical-align: top;"><br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom"> <img src="2324_FourInPink_w_sm.jpg"></td> <td colspan="1" style="background-color: rgb(149, 183, 211); vertical-align: top;"><br> </td> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><img alt="" src="51708_7097_Courtney_151.jpg" style="width: 151px; height: 154px;"><br> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </body> </html>