We are honored to share the results of the Music Center Spotlight Awards Finalists’ Performance which was held at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Music Center Saturday night!

We had 2 DKCBA students who made it to the “Final Round” out of hundreds of competitors from Southern California!

We are pleased to congratulate:

Nicole Ishimaru, age 14, 1st place in Non-Classical Dance and received an award of $5,000!

Nora Clemente, age 17, Runner-Up in Classical Dance and received an award of $4,000!

Nicole’s choreography for Lore was by Jessie Riley, who is a contemporary instructor in our Academy Division at DKCBA and Director of the Westside Dance Project.

Mr. Dmitri and Miss Jennifer were the coaches for Nora Clemente’s variations from Paquita and Le Corsaire (choreography by Marius Petipa).

You can read about all of the Finalists on the Spotlight website here.

Much more than a competition, Spotlight is a FREE scholarship and training in the arts program, which encourages personal and artistic growth, while exploring new possibilities in the arts! High School students of ALL talent levels apply or audition.

The Spotlight performance categories are ballet, non-classical dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental music, and jazz instrumental music. The visual arts categories are two-dimensional art and photography.  This year, over 2300 students throughout Southern California auditioned.

Our 2 finalists were selected out of a total of 6 DKCBA students who had made it to the Semi-finals in February.

Spotlight Ballet Semifinalists (announced in February):

Bryce Lee, Diego Altamirano, Nora Clemente, and Sage Humphries.

Spotlight Non-Classical Dance Semifinalists (announced in February):

Nicole Ishimaru and Alyssa Allen.

In addition to Spotlight, our DKCBA students have had a wonderful season of success at competitions in the Classical and Contemporary Divisions of YAGP Regionals and International Finals as well as various variety arts dance competitions throughout Southern California. We will be sending you the results of YAGP and our other competitions soon!!