#GetBre2AileyNYC

Hey there! My name is Breana Moore. I'm a Memphis native, who is looking to move to New York City. My goal is to bridge communities through dance, helping people to not only find their voice but also share their stories and become agents of change in their communities. This year,  I auditioned and have been accepted to the professional division summer intensive and 3-year Certificate Training Program at THE Ailey School (through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre-AADT in NYC), which is an absolute dream come true. I've always performed and danced for family and friends, reinacting scenes from my favorite movies, choreographing my own pieces, and training through various groups throughout Memphis. However, my goal in life was to fix Memphis through advocacy and policy, so naturally, dance was as a hobby aside from school and my career goals.
In my early school years, I danced with the Willow Oaks Steppers and competed with the Pep Squad at Snowden School. In my freshman year,  I saw AADT perform for the first time at the Orpheum, and I immediately fell in love. I connected with the stories that they protrayed through dance, and I had finally found a troupe of people that I could see myself in. In a small whisper, I wished to dance there one day and decided to work towards that seemingly impossible goal. During that year, I trained in African and Modern dance with Watoto Memphis (formerly known as Watoto de Afrika), and at the age of 15, I took my first ballet class at New Ballet Ensemble & School.
 As a full scholarship student, I learned the basics of ballet at NBE, and after a tough year of ballet fundamentals for teens, I was promoted to the Advanced level of ballet in my school. During that time, I struggled with my own philosophies of advocacy and helping others because I gained a new perspective as I became a follower in ballet, learning how to be vulnerable and interdependent in my community of dancers. I was so used to speaking out for those "without a voice", and during this time, advocacy seemed as a lifetime crutch for those who need the help and a spotlight promoting those looking to help. It  challenged my original career aspirations to be a politician or lawyer but didn't necessarily persuade me that dancing was ultimately my purpose. During senior year, I applied to many colleges, but only one dance school-- NYU Tisch Program. Lacking some confidence and maturity, I didn't complete the dance application and was waitlisted academically. Of the 13 college applications that I had completed, that NYU dance application continued to haunt me.  Still on the fence about dance, I bought my first pair of pointe shoes the summer after my high school graduation, and in the fall, I attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville. During that time, I continued to live this double life of community advocate/leader by day and dancer by night until I hit a breaking point. Between 2014 and 2016, 8 family members and friends passed away. Feeling as though my foundation had been demolished, I went back to dance. It was the only way I knew to express myself, and through it, I found people from all walks of life who watched dance, danced professionally, and even recreationally needing it to counterbalance and cope with the struggles of everyday life. I began to study groups like Kyle Abraham's In.Motion, Camille A. Brown, Cleo Parker Robinson, Lula Washington, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and even my distant dream company AADT. I was excited about life again. In fact, I danced, rehearsed, choreographed, and watched dance, 7 days a week without a single academic credit, but it didn't matter. Rather advocate for policy changes in DC (which I had done one summer), dance felt like the medium through which I needed to be working to bridge communities, so upon graduation, I returned to NBE. After this year of prayer, training, and perserverance, I know without a doubt that I've been given this second opportunity because I'm ready for it. I hope that you'll consider donating to my GoFundMe.