Help Eva complete her vocational classical ballet training

My name is Eva, I am 16yrs old proudly representing the North East of England at The Royal Ballet School in London.

I am hoping to gain funding to help me complete my final 3 years of vocational ballet training to become a professional ballerina.

I have danced from the age of 2, and in a real life Billy Elliot moment at age 10 I took a big chance and auditioned for a full time vocational place at The Royal Ballet School London.

After a gruelling audition process, auditioning against thousands of other talented children from around the world, we received the life changing incredible news I was successful. I was offered a place to live and train at The Royal Ballet with the most talented ballet teachers and dancers from around the world. 

This was a huge step for me to take. I left home aged 11, right in the thick of the pandemic, somewhat terrified but determined to give it a go.

We live in Newcastle, with no contacts in the world of ballet and pretty naive to the sacrifices that would need to be made by me and all my family to keep me there.

I have now fulfilled the full 5 yrs training there, flying the flag for the north east. I was even awarded the honour of being Head Girl this year which was a very proud moment for me and my family.

Now however, I must audition again to secure my final 3 years training with national and international ballet schools to complete my final steps of my training.

Up until now we have received funding from the government through the MDS grant scheme to cover my ballet tuition and boarding.

Once I leave The Royal Ballet in July the MDS grant funding ceases, and there will be no support for my tuition and boarding costs which will mean my future training is in jeopardy.

I have already been offered at place to train at Tring School of Performing Atrs, Royal Conservatoire, and Brussels International Ballet. Canada National, European school of Ballet and Princess Grace Monaco (APG) have requested that I spend time with them this summer with a view to potentially offering me full time training. However no matter which school I chose unfortunately the MDS grant scheme is not available from the government to pay for my training, and only one school offers a student finance option for tuition fees.

An idea of costs per year:

Tuition Fees: this can vary from £10,000 to £20,000 depending on the school and location.

Boarding costs: this can vary from £8000 to £15,000 depending on the school and location.

Pointe shoes: These are £90 a pair and I will go through approx one pair a week as a minimum, so £360 per month, £3240 a year.

There are also the additional costs of travel, food, uniforms and physio care approx £3000.

All my family try and help and work all they can to help with these costs, but as you can see the figures are huge.

I am so grateful to all my family who have worked so hard to support my dreams of becoming a world class ballerina. 

We need funding to see me through 3 more years of training and unfortunately that’s too much money for my family to find, we simply don’t have access to money like this.

5 years at The Royal Ballet has taught me to be resilient, determined, disciplined and mentally and emotionally strong. I have had to deal with injury, setbacks, homesickness, and assessments. Without any doubt I am there because of my hard work, merit and tenacity, and no matter what the challenges I will never give up on my dreams.

I am writing to see if anyone can help, even in a small way to ensure I can complete my final few years of training before I can make my way in the world as a professional ballerina.

Many thanks for your time in reading this,

Eva