Centre News

D’Valda & Sirico Dance & Music Centre Wins “Best Studio Award” Third Year In A Row!

The D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre of Fairfield has won, for an unprecedented third year in a row, “Best Studio” at the Access Broadway Performing Arts Competition. The three day event was held in King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania and featured hundreds of performers from the top studios of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The top honor of the weekend (Best Studio) is awarded to the studio that acquires the most first place winners. The D’Valda and Sirico group won sixteen of the out of thirty one given. This prestigious award has not been won by the same school for three straight years until now. The owner and Director of Access Broadway Competition is Ron DeVito who is a veteran of many Broadway shows including “Starlight Express” and “Cats” is impressed with the work he has seen by the school. “D’Valda and Sirico is a first class organization.” Their work year in and out is consistently terrific,” offered DeVito.

For twenty one years D’Valda and Sirico have been training aspiring performers in Fairfield County. The dancers and singers that appeared in the competition were from Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, Weston, Stratford and Bridgeport. The dancers competed in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Afro Jazz. Singers performed everything from contemporary to Broadway. Director, Angela D’Valda Sirico is very pleased with the students' success. “We were thrilled and honored to win best studio again.” “The students and staff have worked so hard and it is very rewarding for them to receive this accolade.” Adds Director, Steve Sirico “these students have a real passion for what they are doing.” “We also have a lot of fun along the way while learning and growing at the same time.”

Dancers and Singers age 7 and up interested in joining the Competition Performance Groups are invited to audition on Thursday June 19th. To find out more details or reserve your spot please call the studio at 203-255-9440.

James Whiteside, former D'Valda & Sirico dancer promoted to Soloist by Boston Ballet!

James began his training at age nine at the D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre, under the direction of Angela D’Valda and Steve Sirico. At age 12, he originated the role of Edwin Booth in Kirk Peterson’s American Nutcracker with Hartford Ballet. After performing nationally and internationally with the D’Valda & Sirico Youth Dance Company, James received a full scholarship to the Virginia School of the Arts which he attended for one year before joining Boston Ballet. He participated in Boston Ballet School’s Summer Dance Program in 2002, and received an invitation to join Boston Ballet II for the 2002-2003 season. In 2003, James became the youngest dancer to be promoted to the corps de ballet and to Second Soloist in 2006. In the summer of 2007, Whiteside traveled to Germany and Poland performing with former colleague Mateo Klemmayer’s company “M and Company”. There he performed Viktor Plotnikov’s Tension and Beauty and What Would You Make of It?. Whiteside’s repertory includes the world premieres of Jorma Elo’s Plan to B, Carmen, and Brake the Eyes, Helen Picket’s Etesian, Val Caniparoli’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Lucinda Child’s Ten Part Suite, and Mark Morris’ Up and Down. He has also been seen in Balanchine’s Ballo Della Regina, The Four Temperaments (2nd Theme, Sanguinic Man), Serenade (Elegy Man), La Valse, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander), Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker (Cavalier, Snow King), and Swan Lake (Pas De Cinq), Pepita’s The Sleeping Beauty (Puss ‘n Boots), and Raymonda Act III, Jirí Kylián’s Serabande, Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew (Gremio), James Kudelka’s Cinderella (Officer), and Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena. James recently appeared in the Disney movie, The Game Plan.