CCBC Dance Student Wins Scholarship to Julliard

CCBC Essex student Morvarid Shahbazi has won a full scholarship in dance to the internationally renowned Juilliard School. In fact, the18-year-old Towson resident won scholarships in both voice and dance but opted for dance. She is one of only 238 women and 238 men from throughout the world selected to attend this prestigious school in Manhattan, N.Y.

A scholar as well as a musician, Shahbazi was a National Merit Scholarship finalist as well as a Maryland State Scholarship winner. This fall, she took courses at CCBC Essex and Johns Hopkins University. She also taught dance at the Beth Forward Dance Studio on Joppa Road.

According to Shahbazi, "I come from a very musically talented family. My brothers Arman and Iman have an international band called The AVA Band, which plays in the Washington D.C. area. My father, mother and older sister are also musically talented."

Shahbazi performs exotic Persian dance, including belly dancing, as well as ballet. She has been teaching dance for four years. A pragmatist, Shahbazi has a backup plan if she changes her mind about Juilliard. She has been accepted at George Mason University in Virginia, where she would like to study law.

Shahbazi, who was born in Tehran, Iran, immigrated with her family to Belgium at age five and to Maryland when she was seven. Fluent in several languages including Farsi, Arabic, Afghani, French and English, she is learning Italian to help her with performing opera. She starts her courses at Julliard in the spring.