Students and Families Hope to Save the Academy

This is the part of a series of stories about Dorothy Barrett and the American National Academy of Performing Arts that has been in Studio City since 1957 and faces being closed down. See links to the other stories below, and watch Studio City Patch for more.)

Two-year-old Genesis Richards looks up at the woman in red with a bow in her hair and follows the tap-a-tap-tap that the teacher demonstrates.

"I like it," says Genesis, who is at the American National Academy of Performing Arts for the first time.

Her mother is thrilled that the 2-year-old can be captivated and interested in acting, ballet and tap for more than an hour's worth of classes by 96-year-old Dorothy Barrett. A lot of the parents are entranced with what has been going on with the Academy, and now they are trying to save it.

"I am not sure if they will be able to raise one million dollars by next month, but I hope they can," said mother Moela McCrary, of Encino. 

Her daughter, Trinty, 4, is thriving under the training she is getting at the school in Studio City. Her oldest daughter, who is 9, also took classes there.

"We don't want to see this place close, there's nothing like it anywhere," McCrary said. "We have donated to try to save the Academy. They do good here."

See the videos of Barrett and Cathy Wilkinson teaching the students above.

See also:

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* Studio City Icon Dorothy Barrett is 96 and She Won’t Leave Her Academy

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