Onstage, the intense lights glared and the five seconds seemed like an eternity. My body tingled. I was nervous and perspir- ing from the hot lights. Glancing to my left and right, I saw the girls I had practiced with for the past week. I was anxious, and wondered, "Will I remember the dance?" When I heard the first note of the song -- "Musicology," by Prince -- all my nervousness evaporated, and

They practice so much that they often have to give up outside activities. Their coaches are demanding and expect a lot out of them. They perform under hot lights for audiences who sit comfortably in air conditioning. And they love it. They are members of the Indianapolis Children's Choir, whose goal is "to provide quality music instruction while attaining the highest level of artistic excellence i

To figure out the 14th letter of the alphabet, most of us would have to recite it from the beginning while counting on our fingers. Instead of reciting, some of us would sing the alphabet in the tune we learned as children. But what makes the tune stick in our minds years later? Penny Dimmick is an associate professor of music at Butler University. Debbie Friedman is a musician/songwriter who teac

Dancing is a highly competitive activity that requires great amounts of physical and mental stamina. Young dancers in particular have to make many sacrifices in order to pursue their goals. Y-Press interviewed six young dancers from Ballet Internationale to find out what they have gained and lost in pursuit of their passion. They are Simone Boos, 10, Christ the King School; Brandon Moore, 14, home

What do a group of Indianapolis boys and Wade Robson have in common? The answer is dancing. (Wade Robson is the guy you see on Gap commercials, and he has worked with such stars as Britney Spears.) Y-Press recently spoke to members of Dance Dogzz, an all-male dance group that practices at Dancedreams School for Performing Arts on the Southside. Scott Powell, 17; Matt Miller, 17; Andrew O' Farrell,

"T his whole experience has given me the confidence that what I'm doing is actually good," said Ben Clark. Ben, 15, is a Project XL winner. He received best of show and first place in original music for his song "30 a Day," about gun violence in the United States. "I wrote the whole thing in about a half an hour," said the student from Floyds Knobs. Project XL, a statewide high-school competition

B right lights, challenging scripts, lavish costumes, an empty stage -- a lot of kids like to act, but not everyone gets the opportunity. VSA arts of Indiana tries to give everyone a chance at being center stage, especially people with disabilities. With flexible weekly classes, which are expanded in the summer, students ages 7 to 75 can get involved in drama, music, pottery and visual arts. VSA s

When you skip a rock across a lake, the rock creates small ripples each time it hits the water. The rock gets the ripples started, but each ripple that is spawned goes farther from the original point of impact than the one before it. For the past 30 years, photographer Wendy Ewald has had a similar effect on children. She has encouraged children's creativity all over the world by using photography