Two dancers have new honors

Lafayette — Two students of Branchville Dance Company have recently achieved recognition in the dance world Emma Matthews, 12, a seventh-grader in Vernon, has been accepted to attend the Kirov Academy’s summer ballet intensive program this summer in Washington, D.C., for the second time. Emma has been intensively studying dance with Branchburg Dance Center for the past seven years. She will also be modeling for the Curtain Call dance costume catalog, which is distributed to dance studios all over the United States. Emma auditioned for this opportunity and was chosen based on her technical dance abilities. The catalog will be produced in the fall of 2010. Shaina Wire, 14, has been accepted to attend the Houston Ballet summer intensive program in July. She was accepted from her audition to this nationally acclaimed program into Level 7 and given a substantial scholarship. Shaina, who lives in Frankford Township, is a student at the Branchville Dance Centre in Olde Lafayette Village under the direction of Kim Falvey. She currently attends the North Carolina School of Performing Arts in Winston Salem, where she is pursuing a career in ballet. She began studying ballet intensively at the age of 10 and continues to strive for reaching her professional goals.