Hi, my name is Rory Shirley and I'm a current freshman at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. I'm a Musical Theater and I plan to get an Emphasis in Directing and Choreography my junior year. I've been performing since I was three years old. More specifically, I've been dancing since I was three years old and I've singing and acting since I was eight years old. I love performing. I love storytelling whether it's with dance, acting, or a song. I get to bring people joy, awareness, sadness, happiness, etc. Since I can remember, performing on Broadway has always been my dream. As I got older, my love for musical theatre has only grown. I discovered that I love to direct and choreograph. I still want to perform but being on the other side of the stage is so fascinating to me. I want to be able to take past works and make them my own and updated them for the times. I also want to create my own dance pieces and set them on different dancers and companies. I love dancing but seeing your work interpreted by someone else is so fascinating to me. Like the dancers are telling my story but they're also telling their own. Being a performer and creator gives me so much power to teach my generation and other generations about our history, our mistakes, our triumphs and so much more. Art has always had an impact on how people think and live. It's integrated into our everyday lives. We now have plays, musicals, movies, and tv shows that really speak about important issues, past and present, and that's what I want to do with dance. I want to make dance mainstream so that I can show my works and shine light on important issues in our world through movement. Actually, I feel like dance is probably the last art form that integrates anything new. We're so behind especially, in ballet. Most ballet pieces performed right now are super aged and not inclusive and most are about princess' and swans. Right now, I'm about to start my sophomore year at BoCo and I've been working with my ballet professor on a new contemporary ballet piece. It's a ten-minute piece set in the 80s and all of the music is by the band, Supertramp. "Child of Vision", the name of my piece is 38-minutes and it's about the devastating (and still extremely relevant) indictment of the two-party system in the United States and the duplicitous character of its campaign politics particularly. The music I chose actually has excerpts from George Orwell's "1984" and I think it's just so fitting. All of the songs included in my piece are, Child of Vision, Cannonball, Better Days, and Brother Where You Bound. I feel so strongly about this piece and I really want this to be set and performed for the world to see. This is the first time that I'm choreographing for my enjoyment and not just as part of a class assignment.

Hi, my name is Rory Shirley and I'm a current freshman at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. I'm a Musical Theater and I plan to get an Emphasis in Directing and Choreography my junior year. As a DJ, you never want stuck or limited. You have all of these brilliant ideas that you just want to put out there. Well, it's also like that for me as a performer. I want so many things in my career. My biggest ambition would probably have to be bringing modern dance to the forefront of the art industry. It's underappreciated and it holds so much African American history in it. I want to educate my generation about the language and power of modern dance. Now, we do have quite a few modern dance companies but I feel as though people don't focus on them as much as they focus on ballet companies like the America Ballet Theatre. With that all being said, I want to create my own company and choreograph for it. I love dancing but seeing your work interpreted by someone else is so fascinating to me. The dancers are telling my story but they're also telling their own. I've already started on one of my first big dance pieces. I've been working with my ballet professor on a new modern with a hint of ballet piece. "Child of Vision", is 38-minutes and it's about the devastating (and still extremely relevant) indictment of the two-party system in the United States and the duplicitous character of its campaign politics particularly. The music I chose actually has excerpts from George Orwell's "1984" and I think it's just so fitting. My piece's songs are, Child of Vision, Cannonball, Better Days, and Brother Where You Bound. Receiving this scholarship would help me continue my education and it would also allow me the resource to start the process of creating my dance company. I'm so grateful for this scholarship. There are so few scholarships that cater to the arts so thank you for this. As you can see, I feel so strongly about this piece and I really want this to be set and performed for the world to see. I feel as though our generation is constantly stuck performing the same 'contemporary' or ballet number. I really really really want this. Artists influence so much our world, from politics to the economy. We have so much power so we have to use it wisely and responsibly. I want to use my power as an artist to open doors for my generation and influence and teach other generations.

I’m not diagnosed with any mental health disease but I have watched one of my oldest brothers battle against it for almost 10 years now. He was first diagnosed when he was 17 years old. He turns 27 in June. Right he’s in a really good place that I hope is permanent and he’s even started looking for jobs. He really wants to get better and it’s really inspiring to see. It wasn’t always nice like that though. My family has been through some things to get to this place. My brother’s mental illness has taken such a huge toll on my mom, a single mother of 4 and because of that, I am as well. My brother and I used to have this really close relationship but after he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, we drifted apart. He had these really bad episodes where he’d actually get physical with the family. It was heartbreaking to watch and hear. Especially after he physically hurt my mom and then had no recollection of it the next day. I hurt for them both but watching my mom cry and have to call the police and hospital, I felt like that was the first straw for me. After that, he would stay in a facility for a few months and we’d visit him there. We’d always receive good reviews on his behavior and improvement and he’d be allowed to come back home. It made me so happy to see him actually getting better. Unfortunately, he kept having these angry altercations with us and we’d have to go through the same process of being scared for our safety and having to call up the police again. We hate having to call the police because we live in suburban Georgia and we know that’s he’s not in the right state of mind. The police on the other hand don’t know that. When you call them on the phone and tell them the situation, their first thought is about our safety, which is great but my brother is aggressive right now this moment and he doesn’t really have a recollection of what’s going on and the police might hold that against him. We’ve seen so many stories of this happening so we were scared for him but we were also scared for ourselves. We had to make a decision. We wanted the police to just take him to the hospital. There were times when we’d call and they’d show up but they said, “we cannot take him to the hospital unless you press charges because then he is a threat to your safety”. It just felt like a trap. Because jail is not where he needs to be. He needs to be in a hospital where he can focus only on himself and getting better. A lot of this happened in my senior year of high school. I’m supposed to be worried about college applications and who to go to prom with Instead, I was still worried about all of that and stressed about if my brother would become another sad tragedy in America for the black community. I’m not grateful that my brother has Schizophrenia but I am grateful that it has allowed me to see life in a new light. For a really long time, I was a selfish, closed-minded little girl. Everything had to be about me me me. Me not getting into one of my dream colleges isn’t the end of the world and neither is having Schizophrenia but mine will pass. My brother’s mental illness is something that he’ll probably have to deal with for the rest of his life. I love Ridge, my brother, and nothing will change that and now I understand from my mom‘s perspective that even if he has these episodes where we’re really scared of him, he’s still her son and she will always love him and he is still my brother and I will always love him and look out for him and hope for the best. As of right now in the present time, My brother is living in a facility and he’s made friends and he’s been consistently on a good path. Now, I am a freshman in college for a BFA in Musical Theatre. I know that it’s nothing like being a lawyer or a motivational speaker but it’s something that I’ve been doing since I was 7 and I’ve seen Broadway performers use their platforms to raise awareness for all kinds of issues and problems and that’s what I want to do. I want to be able to host foundations and fundraisers to raise awareness for Schizophrenia and really just all mental illness because I feel like people brush it off as something little and something that you can control. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t. I just really want us to be aware of everything going on outside of our tiny little bubble. It is so much is going on and we need to be aware of it and we need to know how to approach these situations.

Dance is my first love. Before I even realized that I want to perform professionally in musical theatre, I was dancing. Dance is my everything. I'm a performer, specifically in musical theatre but with all the time in the world right now, I've been listening to tons of different artists and just start freestyling. I'm learning that my body can move in ways it never has before. I never realized that there is so much that I don't know. I genuinely feel joy when I'm dancing. I feel complete when I start to dissect someone's music and start communicating with my body. I feel as if I'm talking to myself but still someone who is so not me. It's so fascinating. There's just so much that dance allows me to explore. I want to make dance mainstream. I want modern dance and all of its different techniques to come to light. In high school, I learned the deep history of modern dance and the birth of jazz (I went to a performing arts high school). I want my generation to know about this history. It's so fascinating, it's like a wormhole. You're looking for something but you find something else and it's amazing. I'm currently about to start my sophomore year of college in the fall and I plan on getting an emphasis/concentration in choreography. I've already started on one of my first big pieces. I've been working with my ballet professor on a new modern with a hint of ballet piece. "Child of Vision", the name of my piece is 38-minutes and it's about the devastating (and still extremely relevant) indictment of the two-party system in the United States and the duplicitous character of its campaign politics particularly. The music I chose actually has excerpts from George Orwell's "1984" and I think it's just so fitting. My piece's songs are, Child of Vision, Cannonball, Better Days, and Brother Where You Bound. I feel so strongly about this piece and I really want this to be set and performed for the world to see. I feel as though our generation is constantly stuck performing the same 'contemporary' number. I also think that this is just a great way to educate an audience. This is the first time that I'm choreographing for my enjoyment and not just as part of a class assignment. I really want this piece to be successful, actually, I just want it to be seen because I worked so hard on choreography and I've even written an essay explaining what the music means. I really just enjoy the process and working with my teacher on this piece. It's something that I definitely want to do and hopefully, when I do it again, the world will be in a better place where we can do live in-person performances.

Hi, my name is Rory Shirley and I'm a current freshman at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. I'm a Musical Theater and I plan to get an Emphasis in Directing and Choreography my junior year. I've been performing since I was three years old. More specifically, I've been dancing since I was three years old and I've singing and acting since I was eight years old. I love performing. I love storytelling whether it's with dance, acting, or a song. I get to bring people joy, awareness, sadness, happiness, etc. Since I can remember, performing on Broadway has always been my dream. As I got older, my love for musical theatre has only grown. I discovered that I love to direct and choreograph. I still want to perform but being on the other side of the stage is so fascinating to me. I want to be able to take past works and make them my own and updated them for the times. I also want to create my own dance pieces and set them on different dancers and companies. I love dancing but seeing your work interpreted by someone else is so fascinating to me. Like the dancers are telling my story but they're also telling their own. Right now, I'm at the end of my second semester of freshmen year and I've been working with my ballet professor on a new contemporary ballet piece. It's a ten-minute piece set in the 80s and all of the music is by the band, Supertramp. "Child of Vision", the name of my piece is 38-minutes and it's about the devastating (and still extremely relevant) indictment of the two-party system in the United States and the duplicitous character of its campaign politics particularly. The music I chose actually has excerpts from George Orwell's "1984" and I think it's just so fitting. All of the songs included in my piece are, Child of Vision, Cannonball, Better Days, and Brother Where You Bound. I feel so strongly about this piece and I really want this to be set and performed for the world to see. This is the first time that I'm choreographing for my enjoyment and not just as part of a class assignment. I really want this piece to be successful, actually, I just want it to be seen because I worked so hard on choreography and I've even written an essay explaining what the music means. I really just enjoy the process and working with my teacher on this piece. It's something that I definitely want to do and hopefully, when I do it again, the world will be in a better place where we can do live in-person performances.

I went to a performing arts high school and I was a part of a group called ComPAny. In this group, we perform songs and dances at different venues around the metro-Atlanta area. In this photo, I'm between two boys and we're doing a move called a 'coffee-grinder' it's a breakdance step that is typically done by men but I was the only girl that could do it, so they made an exception for me. I was able to teach my classmates how to do it and I got to perform doing them front and center at a big pageant.

This isn't a conventional answer but what if I said that dance is my everything? I'm a performer, specifically in musical theatre but with all the time in the world right now, I've been listening to tons of different artists and just start freestyling. I'm learning that my body can move in ways it never has before. I never realized that there is so much that I don't know. I genuinely feel joy when I'm dancing. I feel complete when I start to dissect someone's music and start communicating with my body. I feel as if I'm talking to myself but still someone who is so not me. It's so fascinating. There's just so much that dance allows me to explore.

My name is Rory Shirley and I'm a college freshman. I currently attend the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. I'm studying to attain my B.F.A. in musical theater. Musical theater has been apart of my life for a long time. Almost about 12 years now. My mom went to school for acting and she would always read me plays and we would watch so many movies and just critique them. I do musical theatre because it's my way of communicating when I can't with words. I sing, dance, and acting. Dance was my first love. I always thought I'd be this big professional ballerina. That all changed when I saw my first musical, West Side Story. I instantly fell in love with the aspect of doing everything I love all at once. I thought it was genius. I still do actually. I'm practically an adult now and I'm thinking more about what I want for myself in life. I want to be on Broadway. I want to be in movies. I want to be able to make people feel joy and magic like I felt when I saw my first musical. Every time I perform, it's always exciting, even when the storyline is sad. I'm always having the best time on stage. In my first semester of college, woo hoo, I started taking an interest to sketch comedy and playwriting. I never thought I'd want to work behind the scenes but in college, they make sure you know how to do more than just that one thing you came in with. So, I've started drafting my first play. It's a dramedy. It's nowhere near finished but the fact that I'm actually doing this is making me smile right now. This is a really big step for me and I'm really proud of myself. Obviously, I'm not perfect or ready to perform professionally yet but that's what college is for. It's for me to really find myself and refine my talents. I've been looking at art with a more critical eye now. I'm trying to take note and learn everything that I can from Choreographing, directing to playwriting. I even have. a subscription with Masterclass. In my free time, I'm just trying to better myself while still having fun with what I do.

Art is so subjective, that's why I create it. When I make art, I go into it thinking "I don't have the answers but I do have some questions". I'm an actress. I'm an actor. I play. What I do is fun. I'm never bored. There are so many possibilities and opportunities in acting. I love acting in plays, musicals, and I hope to act in films as well. The first time, I saw a live production of any kind was when I saw the musical, Rent. I was 8 years old. It's not typically a show a kid should be seeing but I did and I loved it. I instantly fell in love with musical theatre. After that, I started taking acting classes, dance, and voice lessons. I was obsessed. Actually, I still am. But as I grew older, I was able to see so much more art that made me think. I was able to plays and movies based on books and true stories and I wanted to immerse myself in that world. I'm inspired by the fact that the entertainment world is so limitless. I'm in my freshman year of college right now and I've just started taking an interest in playwriting. It may seem as if I'm all over the place, that my attention is easily drawn, but that's not the case. Musical theatre is what I'm going to school for, it's my first love. I've wanted to be on Broadway since I could remember. I just feel like the older you get, the more you're able to really appreciate the art that you do and see. First of all, there aren't too many scholarships catered to performing arts, so thank you for that. Second of all, it would help so much with my tuition as you'll already know. My total cost of attendance is $64,970. This year has been crazy with Covid-19, the Presenditial election, and so many other life-changing moments. Because of all this, both of my parents have been out of a job for the entire year. We've been living off of savings and unemployment checks but that can only take you so far. I was always scared that I would be able to afford college when I was a kid because we were never rich. We've gone through so many financial situations, I'm actually proud of myself for making it this far. I did get a pretty good scholarship from my school, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, but it's still not enough. $500 won't necessarily cover it but it would help greatly. I'd be one more step closer to getting what I need. If I were to receive this scholarship it would not only help me financially but it would also show me that my art matters. I know it does and I don't need it to be validated but it does feel nice and it still means something. Getting this scholarship shows me that the world is on my side.