Help Zoe go Dance in France

Hi everyone :) My name is Zoe Thornton and I’m a 22 year old aspiring professional dancer. I have danced since I was 10 years old in classical ballet and contemporary. I decided at 13 to pursue dance professionally. Since then, I have worked hard for a career that I truly love. I trained in professional dance programs until I was 16 and then with Citie Ballet’s artistic director (now Ballet Edmonton). It was my first experience in a professional setting taking company class daily and the experience confirmed that dance is exactly what I want to do with my life. It became my goal and dream to dance professionally in a company just like the artists I was surrounded by. I have been pursuing dance professionally ever since in Edmonton and Montreal. I graduated from Ballet Divertimento’s Collegiale program and most recently I completed a professional contract with Ballet Ouest. In May 2022, I was accepted to Elephant in the Black Box’s Junior Company in France and have been working hard to make it possible to attend.

Last season, a dance teacher from my school encouraged me to apply to Elephant in the Black Box Junior Company in France and seek out more dance opportunities similar to it in Europe. Following her advice, I auditioned for the Junior company and another professional program in Italy and I was accepted to both. I chose the Junior Company because it is designed to help dancers in exactly my position post graduation to complete their professional training and facilitate employability. The opportunity to dance in Europe with a Junior Company would offer me the professional experience and training I need to prepare me for a career in dance. It is every dancer’s dream to go to Europe because there are so many more opportunities for work in dance that do not exist in Canada, and I get to be in the heart of it all! As I get older, I realize that a dancer's career is short and opportunities like this only come once. I know that the time for me to go to Europe and take advantage of this opportunity is now.

Since I was accepted in May, I have worked two to three jobs at a time as a waitress, bartender and house cleaner to save as much as I can while continuing to train full time. While working and training full time, I have been doing my very best to find time to complete my visa and make living and travel plans. I have been doing all this by myself to move to a foreign country for the first time to pursue my dream and it hasn’t been easy.

Training in France is extremely expensive not just because of tuition, but living expenses, rent, flights, supplies and visa fees all add up. I calculated that I needed $20,000 to pay for a year in France. A director at my school knew that I had no family support and generously offered that I stay in her spare room rent free for the summer so I can save more money. I left my home, rented out my room, left my cat with my old roommate, sold my furniture and many belongings to use the funds for France. I applied for a merit scholarship with the school in France and was awarded one. Given I had no savings left from training full time last year, and even with a scholarship, living rent free, working full time and the funds from selling my belongings, it was largely unrealistic for me to reach my goal of $20,000 over the summer. I applied for grants, and a bank loan, still hoping to attend in September. Unfortunately, neither were successful. Despite all my efforts and the generosity I had received from my Director, it was not possible for me to go to France in September due to lack of funds. I asked the Artistic Director of the Junior Company if I could come in January for six months instead of a year to allow me more time to save and prepare. He kindly agreed and let me keep the scholarship. I was extremely sad to delay my plans and go for less time, but I still felt that there was so much to gain from this opportunity in France, even if just for 6 months.

In early October my restaurant suddenly closed permanently due to damage in the building and I was let go without notice. The restaurant was my main source of income for over a year and although I continued cleaning, my savings plan that was already tight, was now short. I again decided to delay my date of arrival to France to two days before the program. I was able to start working full time in another restaurant two weeks later and have worked full time since then.

In the last two weeks, I have had unforeseen difficulties obtaining my visa. My student visa was unfortunately denied because it is not a university I am attending, therefore I am not considered a student. I applied for a visitor visa but was denied, and I required a new passport. I had to suddenly purchase travel health insurance for the change of visa type, pay for a rushed passport and a second visa appointment - which is only available in Toronto. This is yet another financial surprise to my plan to travel from Montreal to Toronto so suddenly on top of the unexpected visa and passport fees. Restauration is slow around the holidays, and my restaurant notified me this week that they have changed my hours from full time to part time for December. I am working on finding another job on top of the two jobs I already have in order to make as much money as possible to afford France in my remaining 3 weeks in Canada.

When I was 16, I experienced a severe family conflict which left me estranged from my immediate family, and I have been financially and fully independent since I was 18. From ages 16 to 18 I lived with a friend's family to graduate high school and was able to continue dancing until graduation because of significant support from my Aunt and Uncle, and other extended family members. Since graduation, it’s been a struggle to continue dancing and fund it myself. Last year was my first year returning to dance full time in 4 years. It’s been an extremely difficult journey emotionally to be on my own before I was even of legal age and to get back to dancing. The closest family member I have is my Grandma who is unable to financially support me or lend me money. I have researched extensively for scholarships and bursaries and applied to the few I could find. However there are very few resources for the arts and the grants that do exist are highly competitive due to its rarity. I have looked into various amounts and types of loans, and potentially raising my credit limit, however due to the fact the arts are not considered education, the only options are high interest personal loans which I am not eligible for.

With all my efforts since May, and despite the bumps in the road, I managed to make $10,000 that has been put towards my apartment in France, more than half my tuition, a flight, a new passport, a visa, travel health insurance and a visa trip to Toronto, but I am still $3,400 short of paying my tuition. I am supposed to leave for France on Dec. 30th but I cannot go if my tuition is not paid in full before. This means I must make $3400 in 23 days. I have done everything I can to make France possible and I have done it all by myself. I am so close to finally being able to go after months of hard work and delaying my plans by a semester.

I believe that people make a resonating difference when they are passionate about what they do. I want to reach others with my dancing the way other artists touched me, by not only inspiring me to follow my dream, but allowing me to be motivated by the good that my passion has to offer. More than anything I want an opportunity to go learn and grow in France to one day inspire others the way I was to chase after what I really loved no matter how challenging. Life is challenging; but as long as I’m doing something I love, it will be worth it. The experience of making it this far in my goal of dancing in France has taught me many things, but most importantly, I have learned that sometimes we can't do everything by ourselves. Although I've gotten myself this far, I need some help to take this next step. If you can, please consider donating or sharing this to help me get there.

I’m so grateful.

Zoe