Help send two aspiring young dancers to dance camp

Update and explanation:

First a clarification of the wording below the picture of both girls. Ali Nicol, mother of Mirabella; Marjorie Schreurs, mother of Naima, and Thea Huijgen, teacher of both girls, are all working as a team to organize this fundraiser. Marjorie Schreurs is the manager of the bank account, but only both girls are beneficiaries of the incoming funds! Somehow, the GoFundMe website does not allow to make that difference clear in the wording below the picture. We need you to understand that all the money you donate will benefit both Mira and Naima equally.

Secondly: a huge THANK YOU!!! to all of you who have already so generously donated to our fundraiser. We first set the bar to an amount that needs to cover the first installment of the tuition for both dance camps. Those initial tuition fees are due in early May, yes now! And you have already helped out tremendously to cover those costs. We may soon raise our goal to be able to cover travel and housing expenses for both dance camps as well. So, keep the donations coming, we appreciate all you do for us!


My name is Thea Huijgen. I teach ballet at my home studio on Lopez Island in Washington State.

Because of the Covid epidemic we have had to close all in-studio classes for many months. With some very determined students we continued classes via Zoom throughout the summer and into the fall of 2020. When we could finally go back into the studio with 2 students at a time, Naima and Mira, 12 and 13 years old, worked every weekday with much dedication on their ballet technique as well as a number of choreographies. We were able to film those dances with the support of our Center for Community and the Arts as a way to share what the girls learned in the classroom with our community.

Meanwhile, both girls also auditioned for and were accepted into summer intensive dance programs, one in New York and one in Bellevue, Washington. It is for those 6-8-week long educational programs we ask your support. The money will go toward tuition, travel expenses and housing/boarding costs.

Both of these young dancers have the passionate dream and drive to become professional Ballet Dancers. They train hard, 5 to 6 days a week to work towards this goal. Becoming a professional dancer is a long journey of many years of training, and getting accepted into these two prestigious summer programs is an important step in their development and the realization of their biggest dream.

For Naima and Mira their ballet classes have been life savers during the time they couldn't be with their school mates and friends. They have experienced how the art of ballet can bring beauty and comfort into their lives, and they are determined to learn all they can about dance as an art form to be able to share the joy of their art with the public.

You can help them in the pursuit of their goals with your donation toward their summer intensive courses.

Thank you so much for your generosity.