Duxbury dancer wins accolades beyond his expectations

KAREN GOULART The Patriot Ledger   DUXBURY March 8. 2005 Kyle Robinson's dance instructor, Rennie Gold, wasn't surprised when he found out that his student would be honored today at the State House for achievement in dance.   After all, the 18-year-old Duxbury High School senior has been recognized many times for his dancing prowess.   And how many teenagers do you know who have Mikhail Baryshnikov’s number in their cell phone?

"I'm not really surprised.  He's always shown a lot of potential; Gold said. "I'm thrilled for him."   But Robinson and Gold were headed for a quite a shock on Beacon Hill today.   The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts had told Robinson that he and several other Massachusetts artists would receive scholarships at the ceremony with Sen. Cynthia Creem. 'He was expecting to get a $3,000 award.   Actually, Robinson was to receive the foundation's highest honor, the Gold Award - an accolade with a $10,000 check attached.   The awards are given to one high school student in the areas of dance, jazz, music, photography, theater, visual arts, voice, writing and film and video.   Foundation programs manager Vivian Orndorff said" the Gold Award is a unique honor.   “The judges are given the choice; they don't have to give out a Gold Award.  “It's for someone within the group that stands high above the rest in excellence and art.  In film and video they did not give one this year. They all met a high standard, but no one stood out, as really;  really exceptional, as obviously Kyle did.   Robinson qualified for the prize when he was chosen from among 6,500 applicants to participate in the foundation's Arts Recognition and Talent Search Program Week in Miami .   He performed and participated in dance classes there. It's where he met Baryshnikov. The ballet legend has kept in touch, offering Robinson advice for his tryout at Juilliard, one of the schools he has applied to for the fall.   Yesterday unaware of his imminent boost in fortune, Robinson said he intends to make a career out of dancing.  My first love was acting.  But he began taking classes at the Sherry Gold Dance Studio in Brockton at the age of 10, He recalls thinking, "I can do that," after seeing a fiend’s solo performance.   He now practices 15 to 20 hours a week and teaches a class in hip-hop.   I love to perform." he said.  "I enjoy being able to entertain an audience, to really capture them.  It's a cool and different way to express yourself."   He thanked his parents, Kerri and Melbourne, and the rest of his family for their encouragement.  He said many young people who want to pursue a life in the arts aren't taken, seriously.  "My parents have been supportive in every way "he said.   Karen Goulartmav Patriot Ledger

From: National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts
Miami, Florida

Contact: Christopher Schram, Vice President, Programs

TOP ARTS STUDENT TO BE SURPRISED WITH $10,000 CHECK
Kyle Robinson, Duxbury High School, has no idea he won prize

Miami, FL (3/7/05): Move over Ed McMahon! Publisher’s Clearing House has nothing on the surprise of a lifetime the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) has in store for eight (8) high school students from around the United States who will be given $10,000 checks to put toward pursuing their dreams.

ARTS $10,000 Gold Award in Dance to Kyle Robinson, Duxbury, MA
Chosen from over 600 dancers nation-wide
Tuesday, March 8 @ 2:00 p.m.
State Senate Room A-1, State House, Boston
State Senator Cynthia Creem to present awards
Twenty-one additional awards to be given to Massachusetts students

Click here to view the Massachusetts ARTS Winners

The students received a letter in late January informing them of their award levels. Every student who participates in ARTS Week receives a cash award ranging from $500 - $10,000. The Gold winners believe they are gathering with their fellow state honorees to receive a basic award with no idea they won the $10,000 prize. Please keep this information embargoed until after the event.

The awards are cash grant scholarships that the students may use to further their education. The eight Gold Award winners for 2005 were chosen from among the 130 finalists who participated in an all-expense paid trip to ARTS Week 2005 in Miami, FL earlier this month. These students, selected from nearly 6,500 other applicants from the United States are at the very pinnacle of their young careers and were chosen to participate in ARTS Week because they are quite simply – the best

NFAA is set to distribute the 2005 Gold Awards being given in eight (8) of the nine (9) ARTS disciplines: Dance, Jazz, Music, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice and Writing. The Film & Video panel decided not to award a Gold in 2005.

Each year, the prestigious ARTS (Arts Recognition and Talent Search®) program selects up to nine young, American artists for the $10,000 ARTS Gold Awards. Chosen from among the 130 ARTS Week national finalists, up to one student in each of the nine ARTS disciplines is selected as an ARTS Gold Award Recipient. The Gold Award winners are selected for possessing extraordinary talent and promising professional potential.

The judges in each of the art forms are allowed to determine whether or not they have an exceptionally talented artist for this award each year. No award levels are announced during ARTS Week.

Since 1982, nearly 10,000 talented American student artists representing every state, the U.S. territories as well as American students living abroad have shared over $5 million in cash awards from NFAA and have been given access to $70 million in scholarships for their continued education by college, university and conservatory partners affiliated with NFAA. Of these students, 458 have also been named Presidential Scholars in the Arts. It is only through NFAA’s Arts Recognition and Talent Search® (ARTS) program that dynamic young artists are eligible for the Presidential Scholar designation

The 2006 ARTS program is open to students who will be graduating high school seniors in the 2005-2006 school year.

ARTS 2006 offers:

· $400,000 in cash awards
· (including individual awards ranging up to $10,000)
· $3 million in scholarship opportunities
· All-expenses-paid ARTS Week national finals in Miami, Florida for 130 National Finalists
· Presidential Scholars in the Arts awards for 20 ARTS Week Finalists.

Arts Recognition and Talent Search® (ARTS) is a program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA). NFAA's mission is to identify emerging artists and assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development, and to raise the appreciation for, and support of, the arts in American Society. The ARTS program is sponsored, in part, by: Carnival Cruise Lines, The Coca-Cola Company, Gibson Musical Instruments, Baldwin Piano and The Gibson Foundation, International Association for Jazz Education, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, Music for Youth Foundation, Northern Trust, PricewaterhouseCoopers and SunTrust. ARTS Week 2005 was made possible, in part, with support from American Airlines, The State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Tourist Development Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners. For more information about NFAA, visit the website ww.ARTSawards.org.

Congratulations to Student Kyle Robinson, he was among 125 top winners of the  National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in the 2005 Arts Recognition and Talent Search competition.

Robinson rose to the top of more than six thousand talented students across the nation to participate as a finalist in NFAA's Arts Week program, taking place January 5-11 in Miami, and consisting of live performances, exhibitions and workshops.

"These young artists are the best of the best", said Dr. William H. Banchs, President of NFAA. "They are our country's artistic future. Many of these young ARTS winners will go on to successful professional artistic careers," he said.

During Arts Week Kyle also had the honor to meet Mikhail Baryshnikov who took a personal interest in helping to guide him in his future plans as a professional dance artist.

Since returning home Kyle was among 50 students honored to be nominated as 2005 Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the NFAA.

It is now up to the Presidential Scholars Program, a national recognition program administered by the U.S. Department of Education, to select 20 students of the 50 to be Presidential Scholars in the Arts.

If chosen, Kyle, would travel to Washington, D.C. in the last week of June, to meet President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony. In addition, Mr. Robinson would have the chance to dance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

click for Presidential Scholars

click for NFAA