SCVTHS Dance Student Marissa Lazovick of Branchburg Wins 2024 NHSDA Award

BRIDGEWATER – The National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) has chosen Marissa Lazovick of Branchburg, a student in the Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program at Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School (SCVTHS), as the recipient of the 2024 NHSDA Artistic Merit, Leadership and Academic Achievement Award and Scholarship. The Award is given to the high school student who demonstrates outstanding leadership, overall academic achievement, and artistic and technical excellence in dance.

Marissa satisfied the academics portion of the competition through a combination of excellent grades earned at SCVTHS and Ridge HS, and two essays she submitted as part of the judging process. She demonstrated leadership through her volunteer work with Special Olympics Marissa satisfied the academic portion of the competition through a combination of excellent grades earned at SCVTHS and Ridge HS, and two essays she submitted as part of the judging process. She demonstrated leadership through her volunteer work with Special Olympics as well as her dedication to increasing equity for people who are deaf through membership in the American Sign Language Honor Society and through teaching ASL to elementary school students.

For the artistic element of the competition, Marissa choreographed a performance that combined modern dance with a highly personal story. Marissa was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at a young age. “Being diagnosed was helpful in a way because I was struggling with the tics but didn't know that it was Tourette's” she said, adding that her dance shows the journey she has been on ever since. “I choreographed it based on my struggling, and kind of having an unknown element to my tics, throughout the beginning of my dance. And then it kind of changes into me embracing it and understanding it more.”

The dance, entitled “(TIC)kled” is available for viewing at www.ndeo.org/nhsda/scholarship. It features a soundtrack with a persistent “tick” noise. Marissa’s movements are timed to coincide with the sounds, representing the tics associated with Tourette Syndrome. As the piece progresses, the ticks/tics decrease in frequency, representing Marissa’s growing ability to come to terms with her condition.

Marissa hopes that her dance helps raise awareness of the syndrome. She hopes that educators will understand the challenges faced by children with Tourette’s, such as the loss of focus and feelings of being different that come with the tics they experience. She also hopes that making her experience public will help others to come to terms with their experience with tic disorders. “I feel like the more you talk about your personal struggles, the more everyone around you will understand. When I was diagnosed with Tourette’s, I shared it with my team in my studio, who are like my family, and when I did, it made me feel a lot more comfortable with my surroundings because then they were not only able to ask me questions about my Tourette’s, but I also could tic without feeling like I was being judged.”

“We congratulate Marissa on this amazing accomplishment and are really proud of her for using dance to tell her story" said SCVTHS Dance instructor and Chapter Sponsor for NHSDA Maureen Glennon Clayton.

Marissa will take a short break this September, at the start of her freshman year at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, to fly to Seattle to perform her dance at the National Dance Education Organization National Conference.

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