Absecon Academy Dancers to Perform During 2012 Olympics

London calling—for the Olympics to boot.

will send 15 dancers to London this summer to perform during the Summer Olympics.

The Academy was invited to perform in the London 2012 Invitational of the American Alliance of Performing Arts Educators (AAPAE). The group of 15 dancers, which includes Absecon Academy of the Performing Arts Director Jennifer Graham, will perform the weekend of Aug. 4 and 5 at Warwick Castle, historic seat of the English house of White Roses, and along the esplanades on the south bank of the Thames River in central London.

The academy’s two advanced classes will be making the trip the second week of the Olympic Games.

“There’s more people there during the opening week and the closing week,” Graham said. “I thought if we went the second week, it would be easier to get around.”

The sponsoring organization of the AAPAE London 2012 Invitational, the American

Alliance of Performing Arts Educators (AAPAE), is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to showcasing youth performing arts groups from across the USA with annual invitationals at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, according to a press release provided by Graham.

For the Sydney 2000 Olympics, AAPAE hosted 25 performing groups in Australia. The London 2012 Invitational will include at least 60 groups, according to the release.

Including the dancers’ families, the Academy will bring a total of 33 people on the trip. The cost of the trip is $1,750 per person, and $1,250 for the plane flight. The Academy has been doing fundraisers since last February, when it learned it would be going on the trip. A fundraiser is scheduled for April 14 in front of ShopRite, and Graham is hoping to have a Bake Sale at Ace Hardware at a date to be determined.

Graham explained that because the Absecon Academy of the Performing Arts is not a nonprofit group, it is not permitted to hold large fundraising events for the township, but the events at ShopRite and Ace, as well as those that have already been held, are allowed.

Performers include: Heather Silver; Samantha Hickman; Taylor Celenza; Alexa Mayewski; Olivia Van Houten; Kathleen Van Houten; Katie Tilton; Emily Lewis; Christie Young; Amanda Quo; Madison Quo; Krystina Matos; Morgan Brady; and Geanna DiMauro. Graham will also perform a number.

“There’s no way I’m not going to dance in London,” Graham said, adding she will perform in order to give the dancers a break. “When you have 14 people on stage for 30 minutes, they need a break. They need someone not in most of the dances to give them a break.”

Graham’s parents were professional dancers who performed internationally before they opened the academy, originally located in Absecon. Graham went with her parents on some of their trips out of country when she was as young as three years old, and followed in their footsteps. She now runs the academy, which has been located at 540 East Jimmie Leeds Rd. in Galloway for about 25 years.

The Absecon Academy of the Performing Arts doesn’t take part in competitions primarily, although the dancers going to London this summer have competed in competitions with up to 100 people in the audience in the past.

Graham was commended by the AAPAE Selecton Committee for “choosing community education over expensive theatrics and repetitive competitions.”

The Academy has performed at , which seats up to 400 people. Graham is expecting about 1,000 people in the audience in London.

“It was nothing like what this is going to be,” Graham said.

The dancers will perform 10 routines, including one they made up themselves, and have performed at both the at and at a fundraiser at the Taj Mahal.

“Five girls made it up,” Graham said. “Three girls are seniors, one is a freshman and one is in college.”

The dancers have already performed all the routines they’ll perform in London at previous events, so they won’t have the pressure of performing one they’ve never done before in front of the biggest crowd they have seen to date. The numbers include one ballet performance, one hip hop number, one jazz and one lyrical.

“We wanted to find the most entertaining numbers so we can grab people’s attention,” Graham said. “People will be walking in and out and we don’t want to put anyone to sleep. This is not the time to be artistic. We want energy and we want to entertain.”

She said the average age of those going is 15 or 16, and the ages range from 12 to 21 years old. They will perform two 30-minute shows over the course of the weekend. They will then be allowed to tour London.

“We’ll take a tour of the castle, take a cruise on the river and go to Olympic Park,” Graham said. “There’s a lottery to see who can go to Olympic events, so I’m not sure if we’ll be able to go to any of the events.”

“The group is a lot of (high school) seniors,” Graham said. “Some of them are in college, but they graduated from the academy and they have sisters going, so they’re going, too.”

Many of the students are seniors at , and one 21-year-old going has performed in dance performances at the

“This is an opportunity to perform somewhere they wouldn’t usually perform. We’ve never even left the state. A lot of the girls have never been out of the country before. There will be another opportunity in 2016 when the Olympics are in Brazil, and I’m trying to start getting ready for that.”