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Ballet School Turns to Legislature for Help
Students dance in the Maryland Youth Ballet's Silver Spring facility. Two recent moves have left the academy financially strapped.
(Courtesy Of Maryland Youth Ballet)
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But because of tough fiscal times, lawmakers said that some worthy projects could go unfunded.
"We have a limited amount and are tightening our belts and are trying to spread the money across the state," said House Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), who chairs the capital budget subcommittee, which is responsible for allocating $12.5 million this year.
Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, said his panel considered requests totaling more than $100 million but can give out only $12.5 million in bonds.
"You see very worthy programs that are heartwrenching programs without the money to fund them, so we fund the ones that we can," Currie said.
Lawmakers said state bonds, which can be seen as a stamp of approval, can often help organizations solicit grants from federal and local governments and raise private money in their communities.
"There are a lot of really good projects that don't get any money, or much less than they'd like," said Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-St. Mary's), a leading member of the budget subcommittee. "But it's always valuable to prime the pump and help jump-start projects by attracting private and local investment."
Several projects in the Washington suburbs will probably be awarded state aid this year, including the CentroN¿a day-care facility and Imagination Stage, both in Montgomery County. In Prince George's County, lawmakers are expected to fund the Children's Museum near National Harbor in addition to several shelters and community recreation centers.
"The big things to [fund] are projects that stimulate economic development and that meet critical needs in communities that otherwise would go unmet," said Del. Melony G. Griffith (D-Prince George's), vice chairman of the capital budget subcommittee, who helped secure funding for the museum.
At the Maryland Youth Ballet, dancers, parents and administrators say they hope the state will help pay the outstanding bills for outfitting their new facility.
For dancers, the new space is breathtaking: five spacious studios, 16-foot ceilings, soaring windows and modern dance floors that help prevent injuries.
The studio even has a first-of-its-kind apparatus designed for dancers with cerebral palsy. A harness suspended from the ceiling allows children with disabilities to move freely on the dance floor.
"The studio is incredibly beautiful," said Judy Hansen, whose 16-year-old daughter, Charlotte, a sophomore at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, is training to become a professional ballet dancer. "It is really a state-of-the-art, world-class dance studio. It's unlike any other in the area, truly."
