DANCE
the chance
to dance
HACKENSACK’S
BLOSSOM SISTERS DANCE
KEEPS UNDERPRIVILEGED
CHILDREN ON THEIR TOES
G
rowing up poor in Harlem, sisters Shatanya
Shaw and Shama Elliott watched other little
girls take the dance classes they couldn’t
afford. It left a sadness that they still recall
now, from their Hackensack-based dance
studio, and it’s a feeling they hope other little
girls are spared.
When they realized how many children in their own community were missing out on dance lessons for financial reasons,
they turned their school, Blossom Sisters Dance & Performing
Arts, into a nonprofit organization, and offered every child –
with or without means – an opportunity to dance.
“We opened our doors as a traditional dance school in 2006,
but in 2008 we started offering reduced tuition privately to
parents who struggled to pay,” Elliott says. “But with so
many students’ families being low income, we knew becoming
a 501(c)(3) charity would let us help the greatest number
of children.”
36
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 | (201) FAMILY
THE FOUNDERS Shatanya Shaw and Shama Elliot created a
nonprofit studio so that all kids can have a chance to take dance
classes.
201magazine.com
TOP: CHRISTOPHER TRENTO; LEFT: COURTESY OF BLOSSOM SISTERS DANCE & PERFORMING ARTS
WRITTEN BY
JACQUELINE GOLDSCHNEIDER