Whiz Kids: Melissa Aliotta and Melissa Marino Dance for Charity

As Long Islanders gathered at Lord & Taylor’s Garden City store on April 12 to shop for charity, Rockville Centre students Melissa Aliotta and Melissa Marino put their ballet skills to work to provide entertainment at the day-long event.

Aliotta and Marino were selected to be members of the junior company representing the Eglevsky Ballet at the Charity Day shopping event, where customers were offered discounts at Lord & Taylor in exchange for contributing a donation to the charity of their choice.

“The most exciting part of Charity Day was dancing at a place that you would not normally dance at,” said Aliotta, a fourth grader at Wilson Elementary School who's been dancing since she was three years old. “I was happy that one of the directors asked me if I would like to participate after my ballet class.”

Throughout the course of the day, Aliotta and Marino, along with other dancers, performed variations from Cinderella and The Nutcracker as well as original choreography set to the music from La Molinara. 

Marino, a freshman at South Side High School who has been dancing for ten years, said, “It was exciting to learn a new piece of choreography and get to perform it in costume.”

Aliotta and Marino, both of whom also study at the American Theater Dance Workshop in New Hyde Park, attended several Sunday rehearsals over a period of six weeks to prepare for Charity Day. Christine Aliotta, Melissa’s mother, said, “It is wonderful to see such young, dedicated students learning to give back to the community.”