DANCE STUDENTS WIN SUMMER SCHOLARSHIPS.

Byline: Daily News

PALMDALE - Seven dancers from the Palmdale Youth and Community Dance Ensemble have been awarded scholarships and will attend intensive dance programs this summer.

Fifteen-year-olds Damian Rickman and Kimberly Rickman, both of Palmdale, and Caitlyn Spangle of Mojave will be studying with BalletMet in Ohio for five weeks.

Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet has offered scholarships for summer study to Paul Keim and Robert Keim, both 16, of Boron.

Christina Harris, 17, of Lancaster and Lesley Stiver, 15, of Palmdale have been designated California Arts Scholars and will spend four weeks studying with professional dance artists and educators at the California Institute of the Arts campus in Valencia. Seven dancers from the Palmdale dance ensemble have been designated California Arts Scholars over the past three years.

The state Legislature created the California State Summer School of the Arts in 1985 in response to a talent drain: Many of California's young artists and entertainers were leaving the state to attend arts training programs in other states such as New York and North Carolina and then choosing to remain and work where they had trained.

The program's goals are to enable artistically gifted and talented students to receive intensive training in the arts and to provide a training ground for future artists. To fulfill these goals the program is open to students from all states and is ``need blind'' so that no applicant is turned away on economic grounds. Admission is based on the applicant's potential for professional development as demonstrated through audition, portfolio review and teacher recommendations.

The school provides instruction in music, theater arts, creative writing, animation, visual arts, film/video and dance. The dance curriculum emphasizes classical ballet technique but instruction in modern, jazz, Flamenco, African and improvisation is also given. Dance history, composition and physical conditioning supplement the program.

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Lesley Stiver, left, and Christina Harris have been designated California Arts Scholars and will spend four weeks studying with professional dance artists.