Evan Kinnane's Highlights at Boston Conservatory
Evan Kinnane, now an 11th grader from Tiverton, RI, is our newest 2011 scholarship recipient to be featured on the blog. Evan is well established in singing, dancing, and acting. He attended the Boston Conservatory Music Theater Dance Intensive this past summer in part with help from the scholarship he received from the foundation. Evan took the time to share his experience and thanks the Anthony Quinn Foundation for giving him this opportunity. Singing and acting have been an almost daily part of my life since I was 6, and dance was there if I needed to learn a bit for a show, Two years ago I was advised that if I was seriously going to pursue the arts as a career when I got older, which I was, I would need to know how to dance in order to be cast in roles in Musical Theatre and my ultimate dream, Broadway.
Walking into my first dance class in a pair of soccer shorts and t-shirt, without one dance shoe to my name, I never would have thought that I would be as passionate about dance as I am today. Dance has changed my life, my world and my dreams for the better. No matter what anyone says behind my back about me or even to my face about who they perceive me to be, it won’t make me stop dancing. It couldn’t. The feeling I get when I am up on that stage performing for a crowded room, the feeling I get being able to tell a story to them without speaking a word, the feeling of being able to take people on a journey outside the theatre’s walls, even if just for a moment, away from their busy lives and hectic schedules, to hopefully make them forget their troubles, that feeling will always overpower the people who try to take me down. Of course it will never stop the hurt I may feel, but I take that emotion and put it into my dance, I take it and I use it to become a better performer.
This summer I was given the opportunity to solidify my love for dance when I received an Anthony Quinn Scholarship. The Foundation's constant encouragement helped me begin the search for a program that would challenge me. A few weeks later, I found the Boston Conservatory's Summer Dance Intensive. The three weeks spent there provided me a countless number of opportunities, both personally and professionally. I took classes in Ballet, Jazz, Voice and Acting on a daily basis along with master classes and guest teachers. I made friends that I know I will have for a lifetime. I gained confidence in myself and for all of these things, I am thankful.
Dancing has brought new goals into my life and made so many of the ones I had more possible to reach. My biggest goal in life is to inspire people. I want to be a role model for the younger generation. I want to show people that dance can be daring and masculine. I want to make a change. I want to move people through dancing, to send a message across to them.