NEW CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and DancePlace, the official school of North Carolina Dance Theatre (NCDT), have formed a partnership to offer college students the opportunity to continue rigorous dance training while pursuing a college education. The program enables students to receive advanced-level ballet training with performance opportunities while earning a university degree. Dancers registered at UNCC will be awarded a Professional Training Certificate in Dance that is equivalent to sixteen elective credit hours toward a degree by simply continuing their ballet training at NCDT and DancePlace.

Early college credit is also available to high school students who are enrolled at DancePlace.

"We have had a wonderful response so far," says DancePlace Director Darleen Callaghan, "with inquiries coming from all over the United States and Canada. Dancers can audition at any of our national summer audition sites. We have been contacted by several performing arts high schools interested in the program for their graduating seniors."

North Carolina Dance Theatre is the only professional dance company in the southeastern United States with an affiliated school that offers this kind of certification with a major university. NCDT's artistic director, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, was for many years the chairman and artistic director of the Ballet Department at Indiana University after concluding his dancing career with the Paris Opera Ballet and New York City Ballet. Sybil Huskey leads the University of North Carolina Charlotte's dance and theatre program.