Scholarship Teams
Scholarship Teams are advanced dance training programs. NDI’s multi-year continuum of advanced dance training includes the Jacques d’Amboise RISE Teams, the Celebration Team, and the Irene Diamond Summer Institute.
Advanced Dance Teams
Each year, talented and exceptionally motivated students from the In-School Program are offered full scholarships to engage in advanced training outside of school. Children from all corners of New York City come together to work as an ensemble, celebrating each other’s achievements and forming lifelong bonds.
NDI’s multi-year continuum of advanced training includes the Jacques d’Amboise RISE Teams, the Celebration Team, and the Irene Diamond Summer Institute.
Jacques d’Amboise RISE Teams (Reach for Inspiration through Scholarship and Excellence)
NDI’s JdA RISE Teams (formerly the SWAT Team, or Scholarships for the Willing, Achieving, and Talented) are composed of approximately 100 dancers selected from NDI’s In-School Program each year. In the 2025-26 school year, RISE Team dancers will gather in two locations—at NDI’s Jacques d’Amboise Center in Central Harlem and at Pearl Studios in midtown Manhattan—for intensive instruction every Saturday from January through June. JdA RISE dancers perform in NDI’s annual Event of the Year, a series of professional-caliber public performances that feature original choreography, live music, and professionally designed sets, costumes, and lighting.
Dancers from the RISE Teams are invited to join NDI’s Celebration Team, an ensemble that learns more challenging choreography. Celebration Team dancers remain with NDI through the end of middle school. In addition to performing in NDI’s annual Event of the Year, these dancers have regular opportunities to perform at prestigious events and venues, including the White House, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York City Center, Symphony Space, and NYU Skirball, and in international venues such as the Shanghai Grand Theatre in Shanghai, China and at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Irene Diamond Summer Institute is NDI’s month-long arts intensive held in July at the Jacques d’Amboise Center for Learning & the Arts in the Arnold S. & Madaleine & Penner Building. Approximately 100 children selected from the JdA RISE and Celebration Teams receive full scholarships to attend. The dancers participate in a rigorous schedule of dance technique classes, music, and choreography. This enriching program deepens our dancers’ experience in the arts, instilling in them increased self-confidence, stage presence, and a solid foundation in technique.