Almost from the time he was old enough to want anything, Kyre Ambrose wanted to dance.
The form of it barely mattered to him. He was just as happy in a ballet class as he was performing in “The Urban Nutcracker” at the Shubert Theatre.
“I always make the running joke that even when he was in my stomach, once he developed feet, if there was a beat, he had to move,” said his mother, Rina Ambrose. “And unfortunately, he didn’t get to fully meet his dream.”
Ambrose was a star student at Boston Arts Academy, the performing arts high school in the Fenway, and graduated in 2023. He chased his dream all the way to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in dance.
His dream was taken from him in the early morning hours of Jan. 4, 2025.
On a holiday break from college, while visiting his mother at her new home in Brockton, he was stabbed to death by an intruder. A suspect was arrested the next day and is awaiting trial for first-degree murder, according to a spokeswoman for the Plymouth district attorney’s office.
But this story isn’t about Kyre’s death. It’s about the legacy of his life, a topic that began to consume his mother in the weeks after his death.
She quickly launched a $5,000 annual scholarship in Kyre’s memory. It is awarded to a student at Boston Arts Academy who plans to study dance in college, to pick up the baton Kyre left behind. The scholarship will be awarded for the second time later this week.
“It was established as a legacy to make sure that other dancers had that opportunity to experience what he started to experience,” Kyre’s mother told me.
You could say that it is intended for aspiring dancers who face obstacles, as Kyre did himself as a young Black man immersed in a field where he could feel like an outsider.
“He received a lot of criticism from people, from other Black males, you know, trying to say, that’s not what you’re supposed to do,” Rina Ambrose said. That criticism never stopped Kyre.
He took his first dance class at 18 months, and studied every form of dance he could after that. From the moment he knew Boston Arts Academy existed he wanted to go there, his mother said. The close-knit community he found at the school shaped his young life.
His death rocked that community. He had made an unforgettable mark there, both with his talent and his joyful personality.
“He was the showman of the school,” said Denella Clark, the longtime president and CEO of the Boston Arts Academy Foundation. “He wasn’t a hidden figure, because he lit up every room he was in.”
Ambrose has put up her own money to help pay for the scholarships for the first two recipients. Her goal is to raise $100,000 to endow the scholarship in perpetuity. (The website for the scholarship is here.)
She has a dynamic ally and advocate in Clark, a deep believer in the importance of the fund’s mission. Clark knows many students scuffle to scrape together the money for college, even after receiving financial aid. She said this money will make a difference in helping the school’s lower-income students make the leap to college.
“Whereas in some places, $20,000 over four years may not seem like a lot of money, it could mean the world between a kid actually being accepted [to college] and completing,” Clark said. “So it means a lot, not only to the students who benefit, but to their families.”
Rina Ambrose is resolute about keeping her son’s memory alive in the healthiest way she can imagine: by supporting the passion of other young people. She’ll never forget how that passion radiated from her son.
“Every time he danced, he wanted to show people more about the dance world,” she said. “It’s about portraying images, emotions, feelings, stories. It is an art form, and so much more than someone just moving across the stage.”
Her son’s life was about telling those stories through dance. His legacy is giving that opportunity to others.
Article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/29/metro/dance-homicide-scholarship-boston-arts/
