Carnival to raise funds for aspiring dancers

By Clare Jensen

Tacoma Weekly
cjensen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: October 23, 2008

Private, professional dance instruction is key for the aspiring performance artist. While nothing can beat raw, natural talent, technical aspects gained through lessons can take a great talent to a professional level.

However, private training can be costly, meaning it is often missed for dancers on a tight budget.

That is why Jacob Rodvelt-Gamlieli, director of Action Dance Academies in Tacoma and Gig Harbor, created a way to help families foot the bill for professional dance training.

Rodvelt-Gamlieli used to work as a dance coordinator at the YMCA. When he left to take over as director at family-owned Action Dance Academy, he realized he would be leaving many of his dance students behind.

“I noticed a lot of people couldn’t afford private dance lessons,” he said, adding that the attention to detail at community center classes does not quite match the instruction at private studios.

So three years ago, Rodvelt-Gamlieli created a financial assistance program which covers up to 50 percent of a dancer’s monthly bill. There is also a work-study like option for those who can afford even less; helping out around the studio can get the dancer in for little to nothing.

“What if there is someone out there who really loves dancing, who has this great natural ability and could please so many people with this art form, but they never get the opportunity because they never have the chance to get that training and hone that skill?” Rodvelt-Gamlieli said.

In order to help cover the costs of financial assistance (currently 12 of the academy’s approximately 300 students are able to receive assistance), Action Dance holds fundraisers monthly throughout the year.

Some of the fundraisers are applied to other needs of the academy, but all the money raised at October’s third annual Halloween Carnival goes straight to the student financial assistance program.

From 2–6 p.m. Oct. 26, Action Dance Academy’s Tacoma studio will open its doors for a night of carnival games, a live haunted house, as well as a dance performance based on the bestselling Vampire series, “Twilight.”

Admission is a donation of $3, and game tickets are 25 cents a pop.

Last year the event raised about $750. That would cover about three students for one of the academy’s 10-month years.

Typically, the academy’s dancers and their friends have been the main attendance group for the carnival, and Rodvelt-Gamlieli is trying to change that by spreading the word throughout the wider community.

That way, he hopes the academy can raise more money and help even more families attend the dance programs.

And Rodvelt-Gamlieli will match every dollar raised at the carnival.

“We have 12 families right now that wouldn’t be able to dance unless we offered financial assistance,” he said. Action Dance Academy has a long list of dancers in need of financial assistance, and the academy is working to increase the number of dancers they can help.

Family-friendly games at the Halloween Festival will include a beanbag toss, bobbing for apples and fishing for candy. Two levels of scariness will be portrayed through the haunted house so that little ones can enjoy without getting nightmares, and older attendants can get a good shock as well.

The live dance performances will occur every 20 minutes throughout the afternoon.

Action Dance Academy Tacoma is located at 1010 S. 30th St., (253) 627-7837.

For more information about Action Dance Academy’s programs or other ways to help out throughout the year, visit the website at www.actiondance.com.

Carnival to raise funds for aspiring dancers

By Clare Jensen

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