Metropolitan School of the Arts to Perform Beauty and the Beast Spring Ballet

More than 40 Metropolitan School of the Arts students will perform Beauty and the Beast, including Danielle Jones, grade 12, who plays Beauty, and was recently accepted into Pace University Dance Program; the Beast, performed by Justin Roach, grade 11, will attend the MSA Summer Intensives and The Academy’s Musical Theater summer academy program; and Gaston, played by Jacob Anderson, grade 10, was accepted into the Netherlands Dance Theater Summer Intensive and received Top Six at Youth America Grand Prix in Winston Salem, NC.

MSA’s Beauty and the Beast spring ballet tells the story of Belle, one of the most beloved princesses, who finds herself on an adventure that she had only read about in books. The show is directed and choreographed by Jacqueline Doherty and assistant director choreographer, Charlie Abel. “We’re excited to bring Beauty and the Beast to the stage to tell this classic tale,” said Jacqueline Doherty, artistic director of the Nutcracker and Metropolitan Youth Ballet of Metropolitan School of the Arts in Alexandria, Va. “The costumes are brilliant, vibrant and entertaining,” said Doherty.

As a non-profit organization, Metropolitan School of the Arts relies on the generous donations of sponsors and the community to sustain operations for its Academy and studio programming.
The Academy at Metropolitan School of the Arts is a college preparatory performing arts school for emerging young artists, grades 7 to 12, who are dedicated to a rigorous academic experience in a pre-professional performing arts conservatory environment. Their cross-curricular approach to arts training fills each young artist’s toolbox with the dance, music and acting skills necessary to be a triple threat in the arts world. Metropolitan School of the Arts approach to education is designed to develop independent, self-motivated and skilled learners. The school offers a post-high school graduate/gap program as well, for those students who desire an extra year to prepare for admittance into a performing arts university.