CAREER TRANSITION FOR DANCERS AWARDS FIVE RECIPIENTS $10,000 TO SUPPORT THEIR EDUCATION TO PROGRESS THE NEXT STEPS OF THEIR CAREERS
New York, NY (October 11, 2022) – The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), the national human services organization supporting the needs of those working in performing arts and entertainment, is proud to announce five recipients of the 2022 Alex Dubé Scholarship Program. This year, the Entertainment Community Fund will award $10,000 scholarships to David Gonsier, Himerria Wortham, Matthew Walsh Bade, Theodore Watler and Yayoi Kambara.
Through The Alex Dubé Scholarship Program, Career Transition For Dancers supports the education of dancers to build their next professional platforms. These one-time awards of up to $10,000 are distributed annually to dancers enrolled in accredited graduate degree programs to assist in tuition payment. For more information on the Alex Dubé Scholarship Program, please visit: Alex Dubé Scholarship Program.
The 2022 Alex Dubé Scholarship Recipients:
David Gonsier is a Classical American modern through Euro-contemporary dancer attending Brooklyn Law School. Discovering his love of advocating for dancers and artists through his experiences as a delegate for the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) at the Metropolitan Opera and as a member of AGMA’s Board of Governors, Gonsier is applying his passion toward his studies and a fellowship with the Peggy Browning Fund. He hopes to help artists find security, safety and stability in their professional artistic lives through work with arts labor unions or in a specialization in labor-side representation.
Himerria Wortham is a student at University of Münster-WWU Weiterbildu pursing an MA in Visual Anthropology, Media and Documentary. A dancer finding her passion in self-expression through movement, Wortham began to explore other mediums for storytelling during the pandemic. She plans to create connections with artists and anthropologists around the world through collaborations in film and other ethnographically influenced art.
Matthew Walsh Bade is pursuing a career as a social worker through his Masters program at Pacific University. A former contemporary dancer, Bade’s search for community connection and support has shifted his career goals toward serving those not supported by current systems. He is engaged in local activism, runs a small non-profit in Ethiopia and hopes to provide peer-based support to LGTBQIA2S+ and immigrant communities, as well as those facing houselessness and substance abuse issues.
Theodore Watler is a former ballet, contemporary and modern dancer studying at Yale Law School. While ballet provided a space of self-reflection and freedom, its rigidity and historic exclusivity inspired him to fight on behalf of Black artists through work with AGMA’s member-led Black Caucus. By studying law, he aims to become a stronger supporter of workers and performers as an attorney to help build a more just world and work against forces of pervasive racism both on and offstage.
Yayoi Kambara is a contemporary and aerial dancer working towards an MFA at University of the Arts. After retiring from ODC/Dance after a 13-year tenure as a full-time company member, she formed KAMBARA+ to produce work and served as rehearsal director for AXIS Dance Company. She is pursuing a career as a dance professor, an avenue within which she hopes to increase visibility for dance works by BIPOC artists and continue interrogating the intersection of movement with cultural movements and identities.
ABOUT THE ALEX DUBÉ SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
The Alex Dubé Scholarship Program is named for former dancer, dance advocate and President of Career Transition For Dancers Alex J. Dubé, whose deep commitment to the well-being of dancers expanded over the course of his 30-year career. Mr. Dubé began his professional experience with dance as a tap dancer before studying modern dance and ballet at the Robert Joffrey School. He later founded the first agency dedicated to representing dancers, before becoming the Administrator of Dance for the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Mr. Dubé’s final career move in 2001 was as President of Career Transition For Dancers where he spearheaded fundraising and distribution of scholarships to thousands of dancers nationally.
ABOUT THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND
Supporting a life in the arts
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a national human services organization that addresses the unique needs of people who work in performing arts and entertainment with services focused on health and wellness, career and life, and housing. Since 1882, the Fund has sought to ensure stability, encourage resilience and be a safety net for those who shape our country’s cultural vibrancy. Learn more at entertainmentcommunity.org.
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