Once a year, during the Christmas holidays, children come from homeless shelters to the New York Theatre Ballet, a professional dance school and performance company. Every day for 1 week they get a hot breakfast followed by ballet classes, a hot lunch and open reading time. At the end of the week, children who show a particular interest in continuing are given full scholarships to attend Project LIFT. Of the children who receive scholarships, generally half become consistent students and are integrated into the dance classes as regular participants. "Dance is the hook in this program," explains Director Diana Byer. "These children have no real opportunities in life, and through LIFT, we can instill the values of self-discipline, teamwork and respect for others, which helps to keep them motivated to stay in school. All of the scholarship students have made vast improvements in their school work, and one of the little girls received a certificate for academic excellence at her sixth grade graduation." The scholarship students, who have to keep their grades up in order to participate in the program, receive not only free ballet classes, but also all necessary dance clothes, transportation money and books which they can keep. Additionally, they are provided with school clothes, winter coats, toys, special things for the holidays, emergency medical care and help for their families in budgeting money if they move out of the shelter. After 1 full year of classes, the children can perform with The Dance Ring DBA New York Theatre Ballet company in a performance of The Nutcracker. "Through dance, the children learn to care for each other. The Nutcracker gives them something to look forward to, and they begin to understand that through hard work they can achieve their dreams. We show the children that it is not where you come from that determines success, but how hard you work," explains Byer.