WISH LIST $450: supports a ballet student on scholarship for half of 1 semester; $900 supports a student for an entire semester; $1500: funds dance attire, classes, and field trips to performances for 1 year in the outreach program

When Fabian Barnes retired from the Dance Theatre of Harlem he had two important things in his possession: a $7000 pension and the desire to give back to others what dance had given to him. Barnes’s dream was to offer year-round, high-quality, pre-professional training to Washington DC teens – regardless of their ability to pay.Today, DIW’s Senior Youth Repertory Ensemble performs regularly in the greater Washington community –at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap. One hundred percent of DIW seniors graduate from high school and continue on to college or professional careers in dance at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey II and San Jose Ballet – perhaps because DIW is committed to the personal growth of its students, providing everything from literacy classes (based on the stories told by famous ballets, of course!) to workshops on conflict resolution. For this, DIW and its founder have been honored with the prestigious American Heroes, and Points of Light awards, and with Oprah’s Use Your Life award. And DIW continues to grow: last year, the organization moved into a new state-of-the-art facility in Columbia Heights, complete with four studios and a study center where students work on homework between classes. Philanthropy is the force that drove DIW’s founder and allows the Institute to light up both lives and stages in DC: won’t you be part of the illumination?

Fabian Barnes, Founder & Artistic Director 3400 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20010 202-371-9656 www.danceinstitute.org