Rahway Dance Theatre CONTINUES Support Fund
Donation protected
Rahway Dance Theatre had humble beginnings in '96 in the basement of the Second Baptist Church. With the support of dedicated dance families, RDT grew and landed at 1439 Irving Street. Our founder, Mrs. Jay Skeete-Lee, created a vision for the school to bring quality ballet education to the community and to serve populations viewed as the "minority" in the ballet world. Thanks to her, there are successful professional dancers, actors, vocalists, and many more artists who can forever trace their roots back to Rahway.
2020 has been a tumultuous year for our school. Ms. Lee passed away January 8th of Multiple Myeloma cancer. She powered through a long, difficult fight with the same grace she had always carried. The future of the school falls in the hands of Armanii Saahd-Tann, the Artistic Director. There were many things left unsaid and matters left unresolved, making this a challenging transition overall.
We found out in March that our lease would be ending June 30, 2020 with no option to renew. This was devastating enough to believe that this would be the end of Rahway Dance Theatre. It was impossible to share this news with our students, we knew this would be too big an emotional toll on our young dancers and pre-professional students who have dedicated much of their lives to RDT. We instead worked tirelessly to find solutions and a new building ASAP.
* COVID-19 forced us to close mid-March indefinitely and has severely impacted our options to move forward. We're experiencing a steep reduction in monthly income & the resources we would normally access to raise funds. Talk about timing!
* * BY THE GRACE OF GOD - We have a new (bigger!!!) location in the works that is currently pending. When the time comes to move forward, we need support in equipping our new studio space with the safest materials. This includes:
- Marley floor
- hardwood floor
- sub flooring
- permanent & portable barres
- floor-to-ceiling mirrors
- constructed walls
- sound system
- moving trucks
* * * We would be so appreciative of any amount you can spare to help us relocate. I feel that we have strong roots in Rahway and it is important for us to stay here - but we can't do it alone. Here are some of the ways we have given the arts back to the community:
- "A Rahway Nutcracker" Production-December 2018
- Pop-Up Dance Classes at Rahway High School-2019
- Rahway's Culture Crawl-September 2019
- Rahway's LiveWell - Thriller Lessons and Performance -October 2019
- NAACP Rahway Kwanzaa Celebration-December 2019
- The Downtown Bohemian Festival-January 2020
- Rahway Academy's Black History Month Celebration-February 2020
- Unbound: Culture Crawl Dance Series-March 2020
If you cannot support financially but would like to help, please SHARE this with your networks. Also if you have any expertise, we could use the help of anyone willing to donate or discount the cost of their time. Thank you so much for your consideration!
Armanii Saahd-Tann
Artistic Director
Rahway Dance Theatre
2020 has been a tumultuous year for our school. Ms. Lee passed away January 8th of Multiple Myeloma cancer. She powered through a long, difficult fight with the same grace she had always carried. The future of the school falls in the hands of Armanii Saahd-Tann, the Artistic Director. There were many things left unsaid and matters left unresolved, making this a challenging transition overall.
We found out in March that our lease would be ending June 30, 2020 with no option to renew. This was devastating enough to believe that this would be the end of Rahway Dance Theatre. It was impossible to share this news with our students, we knew this would be too big an emotional toll on our young dancers and pre-professional students who have dedicated much of their lives to RDT. We instead worked tirelessly to find solutions and a new building ASAP.
* COVID-19 forced us to close mid-March indefinitely and has severely impacted our options to move forward. We're experiencing a steep reduction in monthly income & the resources we would normally access to raise funds. Talk about timing!
* * BY THE GRACE OF GOD - We have a new (bigger!!!) location in the works that is currently pending. When the time comes to move forward, we need support in equipping our new studio space with the safest materials. This includes:
- Marley floor
- hardwood floor
- sub flooring
- permanent & portable barres
- floor-to-ceiling mirrors
- constructed walls
- sound system
- moving trucks
* * * We would be so appreciative of any amount you can spare to help us relocate. I feel that we have strong roots in Rahway and it is important for us to stay here - but we can't do it alone. Here are some of the ways we have given the arts back to the community:
- "A Rahway Nutcracker" Production-December 2018
- Pop-Up Dance Classes at Rahway High School-2019
- Rahway's Culture Crawl-September 2019
- Rahway's LiveWell - Thriller Lessons and Performance -October 2019
- NAACP Rahway Kwanzaa Celebration-December 2019
- The Downtown Bohemian Festival-January 2020
- Rahway Academy's Black History Month Celebration-February 2020
- Unbound: Culture Crawl Dance Series-March 2020
If you cannot support financially but would like to help, please SHARE this with your networks. Also if you have any expertise, we could use the help of anyone willing to donate or discount the cost of their time. Thank you so much for your consideration!
Armanii Saahd-Tann
Artistic Director
Rahway Dance Theatre
Organizer
Armanii Saahd-Tann
Organizer
Rahway, NJ