Help Freddy Get Her Master of Fine Arts in Dance!

I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO GRAD SCHOOL!!!

I have been at Dance Mission since I was 8 years old. I have watched hundreds of dance performances, classes, and rehearsals and I was in the first Grrrl Brigade company in 2004. I went to Ruth Asawa School of The Arts High School and at 15 I was dancing in professional dance companies.

By the time I was 18, I was teaching multiple classes in the youth program at Dance Mission and I was performing for Dance Brigade, Alayo Dance Company, Anne Bluethental and Dancers, and Kim Epifano. I went directly from the School of the Arts to a professional career. I am forever grateful that I had such a strong community and such a wide range of artistic connections — not to mention the many years spent in my adolescence and early adulthood at the Michigan Women's Music Festival and now on trips with Olivia Travel!

I never really had a chance to think about higher education and did not necessarily believe I was a good student. I just didn’t know it was something that was available to me. But now with the support of the Dance Mission Team and the wider community, thank you, Yayoi Kambara, I have been accepted to the University of ARTS based in Philadelphia with an abroad track to study in France! I am incredibly fortunate to be chosen since I have no previous degree to back me up. My professional training and experience sufficed. This is a rare opportunity. So this is where I am headed for the next two summers. Unreal. I will be pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Dance.

I see the UArts’ MFA program as an opportunity to intellectualize what has been an embodied practice of mine for many years. My hope is to expand my intellectual understanding of the arts, understand my cultural references and point of view, and participate in an expanded community and idea exchange with dancers and professors in our field from different cultures around the world. My essential goal in all this isn’t simply to serve myself but to go and learn in order to pay it all forward to the many young people I serve in the Bay Area; to share my new skills and insights with my current and future students and our community at large.

This is a very big step for me. I am excited and scared but know that it is the right thing for me at this time.

The curriculum spans over two summers and the tuition itself is $34,000. I will also be in classes online with travel to the east coast throughout the next 18 months and of course, continue to run Grrrl Brigade and perform and teach locally.

All told the entirety of my MFA will cost over $34,000. However, at this point, I’m reaching out to you to help support my immediate need to raise $15,000 by June 5th. I would be beyond thrilled to have this much of the tuition covered. I well know that it takes a village for us to thrive. At this point in my life and career, I can say that while this step is grand, even $5 will help me out. I am leaning on my community to help me see this opportunity through. I promise to make you proud! And with your help, I will have a MASTERS!!! - With all my love and gratitude, Freddy