World Dance Foundation A program of World Dance Foundation
Fund a dancer
Talent is everywhere. Money isn’t.

Thousands of young dancers stop every year for a reason that has nothing to do with how they dance — the lessons, the entry fees, the shoes, the travel. The Ballroom Scholarship Fund pays for those, so the answer is yes.

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A season costs more than a family thinks.

Lessons, a coach at the competition, entry fees for each event, a dress or a suit, shoes that fit this year, hotel and gas. It adds up quietly until a family does the arithmetic and a child is told to stop. That is the moment this fund exists for.

$38a month is roughly one private lesson — every month, for a dancer who could not otherwise afford one
$1,500covers a full competition season: tuition, entries, a costume and travel
2×a year we award, with deadlines on 15 March and 15 September and decisions within thirty days
A dancer practising alone at the barre in a dark studio
Every award starts as someone’s gift
Three ways to
Give
Name a scholarship
$5,000 / cycle

Funds one dancer’s season in full and carries the name you choose — your studio, your family, someone you danced with — on the awards page and in the letter the dancer opens.

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A full award
$1,500

One competition season for a young dancer: tuition, entry fees, a costume and the travel to get there. The most common request we receive.

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A lesson a month
$38 / month

Roughly one private lesson, every month, for a dancer who could not otherwise afford one. Cancel any time; every dollar is designated to scholarships.

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Fund a dancer — any amount, one-time or monthly→
Two cycles a year  ◆  Every applicant gets an answer  ◆  The rubric is published in full  ◆  $5,000 names a scholarship  ◆  $1,500 funds a season  ◆  $38 a month is one lesson  ◆  Two cycles a year  ◆  Every applicant gets an answer  ◆  The rubric is published in full  ◆  $5,000 names a scholarship  ◆  $1,500 funds a season  ◆  $38 a month is one lesson  ◆ 

How a gift
becomes an award

The published rubric, word for word
01

Apply

One application per dancer per cycle. A parent or guardian applies for anyone under eighteen. A coach’s note or a video link is welcome.

02

Scored out of 100

Financial need 40 · commitment 30 · passion and story 20 · community 10. A dancer who has shown up for two years on a tight budget outscores a trophy shelf.

03

Committee

A Foundation officer, an independent coach or judge, and a community member score independently. No one scores a dancer from their own studio.

04

Board decision

Scores are averaged, the board signs off, and every applicant receives an answer within thirty days: award, decline or waitlist.

Totals awarded are published every year · recipients’ personal and financial details never are · awards are made on an objective, nondiscriminatory basis
Who the money reaches
Dancers
A large group of young dancers laughing as they dance together in a ballroom
She has been on the same competition team for three years. Her mother runs a fundraiser at the studio every season to keep her there.
The kind of dancer this fund is for
Two sisters in one household, both dancing, one family income. Every season the parents decide which of them competes.
The kind of decision a scholarship ends
A studio that rebuilt after a flood and still carries three dancers who cannot pay their entries.
Why studios name scholarships
For studios and organizers

Your studio’s name on an award a dancer keeps.

A named scholarship from a studio is $5,000 a cycle. The studio is named on the awards page and in the award letter, and carries the Scholarship Partner mark on its listing in the Studio Atlas.

Name a studio scholarship →