help Ella's dance career!

Hey everyone! My name is Paige, and I am Ella's dance mom

i need your help with something!! please read until the end, i would seriously appreciate it

ever since ella was little, she was a natural dancer. she loved to dance with or without music. when she was finally of age, i put her in dance class and she has only continued to excel from there.

when we moved to bowmanville, i searched immediately for a dance studio she could join and that’s how we ended up at theatre dance academy.

since we moved here around christmas, she had missed registration for the current dance season and so the next option was to put her in “mini sessions” which is just classes made for kids who wanted to try it out before commiting. she attended 3 mini sessions and a week of dance camp in the summer. (which was all 2-300$ a piece)

throughout her mini sessions, i was constantly told that ella was SO amazing and a true natural, they even moved her up into the next age group because they didn’t feel she was excelling well enough in her age group. all of her teachers expressed how impressed they were by her.

before signing her up, i had a conversation with her teacher about her opportunities and the ultimate consensus was although she was good enough to join competitive, they suggested she should sign up for a “rec season” since she had no stage or recital experience and wanted to test how well she did with that sort of routine and pressure. so that is what we did!!

(and of course she crushed it)

now that chapter has come to a close as of last wednesday and thus it is time to start getting her signed up for next season. of course she’s signed up for dance camp for this summer already, but early registration has started for the fall.

i reached out to her teacher and expressed everything i just said above and followed with “as a professional, i would love to hear your opinion on what her next steps would be. do you honestly think that she could handle going into competitive dancing with only one season under her belt and do you think she could really go places with dancing” her teacher expressed nothing but excitement for ella and assured me 1000% that she would do really well in comp and grow and excel in all aspects. she is confident that ella would only go up from here and she’s never seen a kid her age with “so little experience” do this well.

so.. here we are. it’s no surprise that dance isn’t cheap. like any sport, there are a lot of additional costs on top of just registering. a normal season for me was about $800 and that was just to sign up and a deposit for her recital costume. this was excluding the registration fee which was waived due to early sign up. at the end of the year there was another couple hundred dollars added for end of season things like costume, tickets to recital, photos etc.

because she will be signing up for competitive, she is required to sign up for multiple classes (she was only in one class) and thus the cost has quite literally doubled in price, after fees, deposits and registration.

it’s no surprise that we have been through the ringer, since dylan’s been gone i’ve been doing everything i can to give ella the best life i can but being a single mom with no sustainable income after paying for our own bills, it’s a struggle and i know single moms will understand that. i am SO fortunate to have the love and support i have from family and friends who have helped me support ella the almost 3 years dylan’s been gone. i haven’t been able to get back on my feet with constantly having to deal with court and lawyers and meetings and assessments and appointments.. it’s taken over our life and hard for me to start a new job when i have to commit to all of these things first.

so, with all that being said. i was suggested possibly making a gofundme for helping ella continue to achieve and grow and fulfill her dream with dance and give her what she absolutely deserves. i have been going back and forth with this because me as a person, feels like asking for help is never an option and although i know that’s not true, it’s just who i am. but this isn’t about me. this is about my sweet ella and what she deserves after all she’s been through. she deserves HAPPINESS and excitement and to feel fulfillment in something she loves so dearly. if dylan were here, i know he would be so excited for this chapter in her life and watching her twirl around on stage would be his greatest joy like it is mine.

with the outpouring of love we recieved through our gofundme after dylan passed, i realize there is a whole army of people who feel the same as i do. they just want the best for ella and i feel this is a good time as ever to reach out again for her.

any donation big or small helps in the most amazing way possible!!

thank you for taking the time to read our journey, and we love you all endlessly.