People have said that I have been too silent, that I need to use my platform to stand up for the racial injustices in ballet and so on… It has been an exhausting war on social media and I am not going to defend myself. I have been a champion for dancers of color since the beginning of this blog and have provided scholarships and financial assistance to over 10 dancers of color who could not afford to dance. But in this intense, and much-needed reform in dance, there is a lot of information circulating around. There are those dancers of color speaking out about their experiences in companies, there are white women championing for race and throwing virtual bricks at every company under the sun, and there are those who are ignoring the problem.

Truth: This past month has been overwhelming for me. Emotionally the toll it took on me was devastating. 

But, through this pain, anxiety and depression, A Ballet Education has been able to produce five amazing scholarships.

Our first program is for dancers of color ages 7-11 in the Arizona area. If you can not afford to dance, but would like to, this program is completely free for families who can not afford ballet. This program is offered through the Ballet Clinic. No questions asked.

Our second program is also through The Ballet Clinic, the ballet school that we own. This second scholarship program offers 3 full-tuition scholarships in each of our names. This program was introduced in August of 2019. Ashley Baker, Eric Hipolito Jr. and I were all scholarship kids in dance and want to give back. Click here.

The Third scholarship program is for dancers who are ages 12-14 and can not afford tuition. Through this program we offer a sliding scale tuition based on taxes. 

The fourth program is open to anyone. We will be offering give $1,000 scholarships for dancers who are looking for financial assistance. Details will be announced at the end of July. This program is funded through the sales of A Ballet Education’s Planners.

Our final scholarship program is for dancers of color who show exceptional potential and need professional mentoring, career advice, and preparing for auditions. This fellowship program helps you curate your resume, audition videos, photos, and more. This program is completely free. 

Additionally, we have been offering talks on ZOOM and Instagram Live. Our next talk is tomorrow, Monday, June 22 @ 4:00 PM PST. You can join us on Zoom or Instagram Live here.