In just six years, the Performing Arts Center of Connecticut has given over $342,600 in Scholarships to its students from Bridgeport, Trumbull, Monroe, Milford, Fairfield, Newtown, Redding, Shelton, Orange, Stratford and Easton for dance, voice, acting and musical theater. PACC has awarded $105,000 for the 2009-2010 year to its students based on talent and need.

Even though we are a new performing arts center, we believe that it is more important to give back to our community and make good on our word to support and proliferate the arts, not by just providing our students with an amazing, professional New York faculty, renowned master class instructors and 10,300 square feet of state of the art studio space and black box theater for dance, voice, acting, musical theater, theater production and musical instrumentation, but we also need to teach them how to be responsible members of their community and share what they are passionate about…the arts.

Our students have taken up where we left off and danced for the State of Connecticut and Trumbull Special Olympic Games, The Kennedy Center, the Nutmeg Games at Harbor Yard, the Senators Community Foundation for Awareness of Child Abuse, for Tsunami Relief at City Center and for Dancers Responding to AIDS (they have raised almost $50,000 in the past three years, which will increase the amount awarded back to Connecticut ). Together with Farmington Dance, we put together the first “CT Dancers For Good” benefit concert to raise funds for children and families in Connecticut affected by AIDS and other immune deficiency diseases. At this inaugural event, hosted by Stuart Scott of ESPN, we raised over $15,000 for those in need in our State. This year we again hosted CT DRA’s CT Dancers For Good at the Klein Memorial Theater and raised awareness and over $18,000 for those in need. In October 2007 and 2008 our dancers helped in the fund raising efforts for The Kennedy Center for their “Deal or No Deal” raffle at their annual Galas. In addition, they have established a performing arts scholarship in memory of Steven A. Merrihew, who passed away in August 2006. This scholarship has awarded almost $20,000 in just three years, to graduating seniors of Trumbull High School who are going on to pursue a career in the arts. On top of this our dancers have donated their time to teach ballet, modern and hip hop at inner city school, dance at multi-cultural dinners, senior centers, local cultural arts center and in-schools to educate others about the history and art of dance. Presently we are involved in a pilot program with the City of Bridgeport’s Director of Performing Arts to bring dance back into the schools.

Our Company has been invited to Dancin’ Downtown at the Joyce and to return to perform for the half time performance for opening game for the New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden. In Motion’s work has been seen at these professional dance festivals: New York International Dance Festival, CT MEETS NY, Dance Under the Stars in California. It was our honor to be one of only two non-professional companies, and the first from the State of Connecticut, to dance along side of 26 of today’s most notable professional dance companies and the casts of two Broadway shows, for Broadway Care Equity Fights AIDS and DRA. On Sunday, June 24, 2007 at Solstice In Times Square: Dancers at the Crossroads at Military Island and Broadway in New York City in front of crowds of thousands, our dance company gave of their time and talents - and raise an additional $5,000 to help those less fortunate who are suffering from disease and need, amongst some of the most notable of today’s dance companies. Whether it is dancing at the Trumbull Mall to benefit The Kennedy Center and DRA or performing at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, our dancers understand that what they do off stage is just as important as what they do on stage. This year PACC produced two new musical productions, “Songs For A New World” and “Mini Movie Musical Revue” in their own performance space. Always looking to what is new and needed in the community, PACC has added a Performing Artists Workshop that combines voice, acting and dance for those triple threats students, yoga, pilates, Zumba, Ballet-Yoga Fusion, dance composition, music lessons, voice, a song writing workshop and more to their already diversified curriculum. PACC is always striving to be on the cutting edge of what is new in performing arts for you.

We believe that our students understand that the arts should not be competitive but supportive and inspiring. We encourage them to see, that working hard, and for others, while doing something that you love brings positive recognition to you and your work. We want them to know, that our community sees them as positive and contributing members of their schools, towns and State, both artistically and civically. That you can do something you love, work hard and benefit others all at the same time. It is not enough to teach the arts, we must teach the humanities too. We invite you to come by our studios for a FREE trial class in dance, voice or acting, meet our professional NYC faculty, see our facility.