Courtney Billings, the school’s director, is the third generation of the family-owned academy. “My mother used to run the Academy, and many of my students’ parents and grandparents remember taking lessons with her,” said Billings.
This year, Billings has decided to award a dance scholarship in memory of her grandmother, Mimi. Mimi, more formally known as Marion Fucci, supported her daughter, who opened the studio at the young age of 17, by sewing dance costumes and playing the piano at the studio. The scholarship will go to two children whose father is battling a brain tumor.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for these grandparents to join their grandkids in Disney World and watch them perform on the greatest stage in the country. It’s amazing for them to be able to share this moment,” she said.