Help Jonah Get to The Rock

Jonah has been dancing ballet since age 8.  After his first lesson, it was clear that ballet would be a passion.  He came out smiling from ear to ear, after trying lesson after lesson and sport after sport and finding it frustrating, ballet was exactly what he needed to thrive.  Since then, he has found a home as a danseur at the Ballet Conservatory of Asheville, where he has been training since we moved to AVL in 2014.  This past summer (2017), Jonah decided that he wanted to pursue ballet as a career.  This spring, on a whim, Jonah auditioned for the summer intensive training program at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, PA.  We had saved up for him to attend his home studio's summer intensive, but were worried due to some conflicts with dates that he might not be able to attend.  The Rock School is one of the top twenty ballet education programs in the nation, and we had no idea that Jonah was at such an elite level.  We thought: this will be great auditioning experience.  

To our surprise, Jonah received a FULL tuition scholarship to The Rock for their five week summer intensive program.  This is a huge compliment for such a young dancer and we were floored.  His teachers at BCA said they weren't surprised: Jonah shows amazing promise in the ballet world.  Training at this age is hugely important. We don't want to miss out on this opportunity.  

Unfortunately, The Rock School, due to Jonah's late audition, is unable to help us with his room and board fees.  We have the money that we saved for his summer at BCA and a little more from odd jobs and selling items, but we are still short a pretty huge amount, as you can see from our ask here.  His teachers here in Asheville feel that if he is going to attend, staying in the dorms will be best for him socially and emotionally so that he can get to know other dancers at his level, particularly other boys who are serious about ballet.

Now that we know Jonah's level as a ballet danseur, we can be sure to save appropriately and audition in a timely fashion in the future, but this year, we hate for him to miss this amazing opportunity, so we are asking our friends and family for help.  Would you be willing to give a little to help fund this young danseur and his dreams of greatness?

Thanks so much in advance.

~ The Bells