Thursday with LHPAC: Hip-hop (class) hooray!

Hip-hop HOORAY!
HO!
HEY!
HO!
-- Naughty by Nature, "Hip Hop Hooray," 1993

Okay, enough time spent in the Way-Back Machine. Let's go back to the future of hip-hop: a weekly dance class for kids at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.

Every Thursday evening, kids ages six to twelve can take lessons from Simon Komphadith, Kohei Takahira and Anna Nagy.

Some kids, like Aiyanah (the one in the pink hoodie above) found their way to this class the easy way: they saw the sign...

... and stayed for more. Like Aiyanah, Chloe and her brother Ethan (below) also plan to come back in the following weeks now that their mom's found a gender-neutral activity both kids like.

But not all the young dancers live in the LHPAC neighborhood.

Eleven-year-old Xzavier and his mom make the half-hour trip from Mill Creek to Seattle -- specifically for this class. Details:

WHEN: Tonight and every Thursday night, 5:30pm-8:30pm
WHERE: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Seattle
COST: Free!
MORE INFO: LHPAC event calendar

Break out the breathable clothes -- the kids will be working hard! But they're having fun waving their hands (and feet) in the air.

FTC disclosure: I'm partnering with the LHPAC on a series I call "Thursdays with LHPAC," generally published on Thursdays. I am being paid an honorarium for my work. However, all opinions and views expressed in this series are my own.

Thursday with LHPAC: the arts gift that keeps on giving

Imagine being a teen with more talent than money for arts education. Now imagine what you'd do with a scholarship that recognized your gifts as well as your parents' thin wallet.

The Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (LHPAC) provides exactly those kind of opportunities in its summer teen musicals and other youth programs. But even a relatively low program fee can be too much for some families. So the LHPAC is spreading the word about scholarships offered by the Anthony Quinn Foundation. 

Created by the late actor and arts education advocate, the foundation's scholarships provide funding for pre-college, after-school and summer programs. Here's a glimpse of what the scholarship did for one of the 2011 winners, Megan Lee.

The competitive application process grants awards between $1000 and $3000. And no -- the money doesn't go to the student, it goes to the arts program to pay the kid's fees. Details:

WHO'S ELIGIBLE: High school students nominated by a teacher, advisor or non-related adult

FOR WHAT: Scholarships to study performing arts, visual arts and design, media arts or literary arts

BY WHEN: Application deadline is midnight on Tuesday, January 15, 2013

MORE INFO: Anthony Quinn Foundation Scholarships application form

If you'd like to nominate a student, you and the student have about three and a half weeks to pull the application together and submit it. Who knows? You might keep a kid from having to give up music lessons, like Niela Hampton had to -- twice. 

Imagine being a patron of the arts for the holidays. Wouldn't that be an awesome gift for you and your artist?

Thursday with LHPAC: Welcome home

Congratulations -- you made it home for the holidays! Now that you've hugged your favorite relatives (and avoided a few others), who else are you getting in touch with while you're at home?

The woman in the center of this photo is Lauren Dupree, who's currently a cast member of "Dreamgirls" at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. She's also an alumna of productions at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.  Ten-year-old Lauren was cast in "Grease" and other LHPAC summer musicals. She later attended a performing arts high school, and became a regular cast on the BizKids public television show. Welcome home!

Did you participate in any LHPAC programs? Get back in touch and tell them which ones you were in:

• Comment on the LHPAC Facebook page
• Talk to us on the LHPAC Twitter feed
• Call the LHPAC at 206-684-4758 and talk to Jacob Galfano. 

If you're an LHPAC alum, there have probably been a lot of changes since you last entered its doors. 

Lauren visited the LHPAC in September 2012, and said, "There's always something going on and something for everyone, whether you like music or dance or spoken-word performances." Go find out for yourself!