Hello! My name is Eliza and my family as well as my academy, Looking Glass Dance Academy, was unfortunately affected by Hurricane Helene. I moved here in 2010 and fell in love with this community. I work as a full-time dance instructor and my husband is a musician. We have a three-year-old and like many others, we live pay check to pay check with a fair amount of debt that we’ve been slowly chipping away at with the hopes of one day being free from it. It has been a dream of mine to open my own dance school and after many years of planning, working extra jobs, and finding the right location, I was finally able to do so. We were almost a whole month in when Hurricane Helene hit. I decided to wait to see what financial assistance I could receive before starting this fundraiser because I truly hate to ask right now. I know so many people were devastated by this catastrophic event.

My goal for starting this fundraiser is to be able to make up for lost income (a whole month lost for Looking Glass Dance Academy) as well as be able to potentially offer a few scholarship opportunities to students who were devastated by the storm but are still able to return to dance. My dance school is located in Swannanoa and it feels important for me to provide dance to students as a way to cope with what has happened. To be able to provide that outlet to the community is what I want to do most. Dance is my passion. If you can, please help me to keep my school going strong. This will not only help my family, but others as well. Help us get through this tough time as we are struggling to get through this month.

Here is a little bit about Looking Glass Dance Academy:

Founded in 2023 and finally opening in 2024, Looking Glass Dance Academy offers recreational dance to the community. There is a strong focus on ballet and contemporary dance. We have a dance troupe that performs several times around the community during the school year. These dancers consist of students who have had at least one year of dance experience and just want more opportunities to perform. The current dance troupe members have all been dancing for several years and I'm very excited about working with this group. Currently, there are three dancers receiving scholarships.

If you'd like to see more about LGDA, click here.