The Performing Arts Academy in New York City recently offered a $33,500 scholarship to former Patterson resident Macye Grace Watkins-Dangerfield, a 16-year veteran of dancing.
She's a former student at Hattie A. Watts Elementary, where Nikki Fryou was principal. In 2009, her grandmother enlisted her at Dance World in Morgan City with the late Hope Johnson. At 5 years old, she moved to Lafayette to advance in dance. She attended the Dance Warehouse with Stephanie Manuel from 2010 through 2022 including The Nutcracker in 2019.
In 2020, she was invited to attend The Performing Arts Academy as a dancer for Ovey Comeaux High School receiving a four-year submission. She earned a 4.0 in six choreography classes.
In 2021 she made the Ovey Comeaux Starz Dance Team. She performed at football games, parades, drills with UL choreography teachers and summer camps with trainer Nia Pierce (UL Ragin Jazz Dancer). In her senior year she went to Walt Disney World in Florida, where the team placed second in team spirit and third in hip hop.
She was honored with a pink rope at graduation for her superior choreography four-year teacher training.
In 2022, Watkins-Dangerfield followed her dance teacher Bri Sanford to The Dance Collective. Sanford was her choreography teacher, friend, and mentor since the age of 7. She advanced with The Dance Collective and the competition team received gold, double platinum, and fourth overall in solos, and first overall hip hop in group, including rose gold in contemporary.
She also completed teacher training with The Dance Collective. After graduation she attended the National Performers Academy, home based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Over the years, The Galley in Morgan City has been her sponsor and recently sent king cakes to her dorm in New York at the four-year college.
"Knowing her was to love her!" said her mother, Janelle Nellie Fryou-Dangerfield. "I have enjoyed every moment in this journey we have traveled together."