BRIDGEWATER – Students enrolled in the Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program at Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School (SCVTHS) are benefiting from an artist residency program through a partnership with the New Jersey Ballet. Throughout the 2025-2026 school year, NJ Ballet artists will work directly with SCVTHS students, providing them with access to the knowledge and experience of professional dancers.
The program at SCVTHS is celebrating 40 years of educating future artists. Sheila Sullivan, Dance Department Chair at SCVTHS, noted how excited the staff and students are to partner with NJ Ballet, and stated her belief that “this residency is a testimony to our continued leadership in vocational arts training, and we are grateful for the support of our administration in allowing us to expand in this dynamic way.”
The first artist to come to the Bridgewater campus is Zack Grubbs. After studying dance at the University of Utah, with an emphasis on performance, Mr. Grubbs has spent decades as a dancer and an educator, working with institutions such as the Boston Ballet and the Cincinnati Ballet. While in Cincinnati, he helped to create a trainee program to guide new dancers as they hone their craft. When asked about the benefit of a collaboration between SCVTHS and NJ Ballet, Mr. Grubbs said “I think that, if at any point, you can make, a connection or somehow facilitate a collaboration between organizations, it benefits everybody” adding that by exposing students to different teachers and artistic influences, they will gain an “outside perspective to help things click and move them along.”
"New Jersey Ballet is thrilled to partner with Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School's Dance Department,” said David Tamaki, Executive Director of New Jersey Ballet. “We look forward to inspiring the next generation of dancers through this meaningful collaboration.”
Other NJ Ballet instructors will work with students during the residency, culminating in a Summer Dance Intensive in August 2026 that will be open to dancers throughout central New Jersey.
For more information on the Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program at SCVTHS, please visit the school website at www.scvths.org. To find out more about New Jersey Ballet, visit their website at www.njballet.org.
For more information on this story, please contact Steve Philip at (908) 526 – 8900 x7267 or sphilip@scvts.net.
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