Standing onstage together, they covered their eyes with their hands at different points and looked away from the camera bashfully while muttering sentiments like “Oh my God” and “wow” and “unbelievable.”
Then they took a long pause, as if trying to decide who should speak first — joint Tony Awards are very rare — and then went on to thank their parents and siblings and school and dance teachers.
“And we want to say to all the kids out there who might want to dance, never give up,” Mr. Kulish added.
David enrolled in the 92Y School of the Arts in the Fall of 2006 at the age of 11. The following year he was selected as a recipient of our Recanati-Kaplan Merit Scholarship. David was referred to the Y by the American Ballet Theater, where he was dancing in their Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School program. They felt that he needed to study an instrument to feed the musicality of his dancing and David chose to study piano. For three years now his teacher at 92Y, Sachiko Kato, has been working with David in regular lessons.
Recalling the first day David came to class, Sachiko said: “He was very focused, very disciplined, very shy.” After the first lesson, she knew: “this was not a normal kid. I could tell immediately this is someone who is very special. I walked back into Anthea [Jackson’s, Director of the School of Music] office and said, ‘who is this boy, where did he come from?’” Fast forward three years later, and David was accepting a TONY Award. He’s only 15! We imagine we’ll be writing about David’s accomplishments for years to come.
