"I remember the first show. I did a tap with jazz music, and I reallly liked my teacher. She let people learn gradually. When we were doing the show everyobody got to know each other, and we were working together and having fun with it.    —Elizabeth

 

Elizabeth mom
 

Elizabeth and Maryanne

ELIZABETH has been a student at PTW for five years. She studies voice, song interp, acting and dance.

"I remember the first show. I did a tap with jazz music, and I reallly liked my teacher. She let people learn gradually. When we were doing the show everyobody got to know each other, and we were working together and having fun with it.

Song interp was the best class. I had Jonathan as a teacher. He works with all the kids and everyone gets to know each other. He makes it really fun and he gets all these props and costumes. He teaches us a lot and we all have fun doing it.

I don't want to act just because I want to be famous and stuff. Acting brings me joy. I love to act. It's just in my blood. I like dancing and singing and acting. All those things do different things for you, and it's just all so wonderful."
 

MARYANNE (Elizabeth's mother)

"Elizabeth was in a previous school, and they only did dance. She really wanted to do singing and dancing, and maybe acting. After I met with Howard and she started her classes, I knew right away that PTW was different. I knew that she was really getting more personal attention.

What really convinced me--when I saw the first show, and I saw the students who were graduating and heard their stories, and heard them so emotionally speak about the school. When I saw their performances, I felt that it was more than just their abilities. It was also something that they really loved, and that they had been truly nurtured. They really felt that this had been such a positive experience in their lives. I said, "That's what I would like to see in my child". I don't care if she ever gets a professional job, but she loves to sing and dance and act, and if there's a school that would make her feel confident about herself and her self esteem, I was very pleased.

And I've been very pleased for the last four years. They have provided the right teachers for the private lessons as well as for the classes. And when I saw her in the show this past year, when she burst out onto the stage and was singing and surprised us with some solo pieces, I realized that it was really coming together for her. She's smiling, she's happy, she's enjoying this, and that's what a parent wants in a school and for somebody to care about their child.