August 9, 2004

Fifteen years ago, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs started a week-long project that funded art programs around the city for children living in shelters. After the initial workshop ended, all of the arts programs ended along with it— with one exception. Diana Byer, artistic director of the New York Theatre Ballet, wasn't willing to let her program's commitment to homeless children end just because the funding had run out. Byer's view: "You can't give someone one week of something and then take it away because they're poor."

Today, Byer and NYTB continue to offer about 30 homeless children each year scholarships to the Ballet School New York (NYTB's school). Along with the free ballet lessons, LIFT provides ballet clothes, books, medical care and a whole support system that has evolved along with Byer's understanding of the challenges these students face.

Through the LIFT program, homeless students are integrated into NYTB's ballet program, where they take classes at BSNY and go on tour with the company. The students are accepted into LIFT following auditions at the shelter where they live, but once they join the program they are taught alongside the school's other students, who are not aware that some of their classmates are living in a shelter. Byer feels it is important that the children be allowed to escape the stigma associated with shelter living.

Children audition between the ages of six and eleven. In order to be accepted, they must express a strong desire to take ballet classes, have parents who are not abusing drugs and who are capable of getting them to the classes (Byer pays for the transportation, but cannot provide it directly—most children come by subway alone or with a parent). The program, which operates on a budget of over $100,000, is funded by the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, the Heckscher Foundation for Children, the New York State Council for the Arts and many private donors.

Because the program tries to meet so many of each student's needs, it doesn't serve a very large group of students—and that can be a problem for fundraising. Byer sometimes feels frustrated that even after all this time, she cannot afford to hire any staff beyond a part-time executive director, and cannot obtain additional studio space for teaching.

Reaching a Different Audience
NYTB is a small ballet company that brings high-quality ballet to low- and middle-income families. Because the company is small, they are able to travel places that larger companies cannot reach, and they are able to offer lower cost performances to inner city families. Through its ballet school, BSNY, the company reaches low and moderate-income students with a love of dance. LIFT, a shorthand for the idea of 'lifting children out of their surroundings,' takes NYTB's goal of reaching out to a different audience and finding dancers in different places to a new level.

Ballet Plus
Byer believes that children need to learn discipline and the courage to fight the world for what they need. She also tries to teach the children responsibility and life skills. When the company is on tour she has the children manage their own money (they are given a set amount for the week and must use it for food and fun) and she introduces them to people so they can learn how to shake hands, be polite and carry on a conversation. She occasionally takes the LIFT students out to restaurants, so they practice table manners and basics such as where to put the napkin and how to order off the menu.

Still, ballet is at the heart of the program. Ballet, Byer explains, encompasses all of the arts—music, design (sets, costumes, lighting) and literature (ballets often tell stories). Throughout the year, students are given projects such as choreographing their own pieces, designing costumes and lighting, and picking out music.

Byer also believes that the discipline of ballet -- to perfect a step, you must practice it over and over—helps counter the low expectations homeless children find in the shelters and in their schools, and sometimes from their own parents. To stay in the LIFT program, Byer requires students to maintain a B or better average, but she also provides tutoring and mentoring to those who need extra help.

Byer finds that even with her holistic approach many of the homeless children who have taken part in LIFT have struggled in life. She urges anyone interested in working with this population to recognize from the start that the obstacles are enormous, and successes will tend to be modest. But there are some notable exceptions —Steven Melendez, a former LIFT student, is now a member of the NYTB company.

For more information about Project LIFT, visit: LIFT Study Program.
If you would be interested in donating, contact Diana Byer: dianabyer@nytb.org

Diana Strumbos is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, interning at Connect for Kids for the summer of 2004. She took ballet lessons at BSNY for seven years.