Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley, Inc. announced the winners of The Marjorie B. Fink Merit Scholarships.

Each dancer will receive a half-tuition scholarship to study ballet and other dance forms in the Guild's Pre-Professional Division for the 2010-2011 school year and the 2010 Summer Dance Program.Recipients are Abigail Bleicher Healey, Jim Thorpe; Jillian Sinko, Bethlehem; Esther Martinez, Bethlehem; and Hayden Sorrentino, Allentown.The winners were chosen from auditions at the Ballet Guild studios on April 11, conducted by Suzanne Farrell Ballet Soloist, Elisabeth Holowchuk.A panel of distinguished dance educators consisting of Lisa Becker-Padula, owner/director of Northeast Theatre-Dance Academy, Dunmore, PA; Richard Fritz, formerly of the Los Angeles Ballet, CA; and Margo Ging, dance professor, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA, judged the applicants.These merit scholarships are worth a combined total of more than $4,000 and will give the awardees the opportunity to study ballet and other dance forms in a pre-professional program designed to emphasize the proper development of ballet skills, focusing on knowledge, placement, and alignment, as well as building stamina, strength, flexibility, and musicality.The Ballet Guild, a non-profit organization, is the parent organization of Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.The Guild operates its school at 556 Main St. in Bethlehem, and offers classes September through May for ages 3 through adult, and a 6-week summer intensive program, including a wide variety of community classes for children and adults.