Ida Saki 20 ~ Calloway & Jerry Cochran Scholarship

Ida Saki, originally from Dallas, Texas, is attending her second year at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University as well as touring with the world-renowned Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Company. Ida has created a name for herself within the dance world and continues to inspire audiences with every performance. She was awarded by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts YoungArts, named a Texas Young Master in dance, Iran’s Person of the Day, and received five national titles, including Distinguished Performer of the Year and Outstanding Dancer of the Year. Ida has graced the cover of the prestigious Dance Spirit Magazine, Parastoo Magazine, and has appeared within the magazines numerous times. Beyond her dancing, Ida was selected to present her choreography in Miami, Florida, as a part of the National High School Dance Festival, where she received the Outstanding Choreography Award and was able to perform in the festival’s gala. Ida’s most prized honor was performing at the Kennedy Center and meeting President Obama after being the only female dancer to be named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Ida has also performed throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, and France. She recently performed alongside Gallim Dance in Grand Central Terminal in a Lacoste Fragrance Launch, danced apart of benefits for Ronald McDonald House and Japan Relief Benefits, as well as performs nationally and internationally in Canada, Italy, and France.

Because I will be graduating within the next year, I am trying to eliminate any and every boundary I have. It is common for dancers to get “stuck” in their training and development, but I plan to never face this dilemma. I would love to travel abroad this summer in order to expand my dancing and choreography even more, in order to implement the European culture and lifestyle in my dancing. I plan on dancing in Europe in the future, and because I will be graduating so soon, I would love to begin my exposure now. I plan on attending the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance this summer in Austria, which is dedicated to helping students abolish boundaries in order to allow them to grow creatively and individually in a physical and choreographic manner.

In the next two years, I plan to graduate NYU and enter my dance career with a strong start. I am reaching for a company that will challenge me, such as Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in NYC or Batsheva in Tel Aviv, Israel.