Send Keliah to ENB Full Time

Hi, my name is Hope. My daughter Keliah has had a big dream for a long time. She's been offered an incredible opportunity to train at the English National Ballet School for the next three years in pursuit of her dream of becoming a professional ballerina. She wrote a letter that she's been emailing out and hand-delivering to local businesses where she shares her story and I'd love to share that with you all:

To all Dreammakers and Lovers of the Arts,

I like to say my ballet journey started off as an “accident”. My uncle was getting serious about the ballet teacher he was dating and my family wanted to get to know her better. So, my parents put me in her ballet class. Little did they know that this would, over time, blossom into a strong passion for the art of ballet. When I was almost 9, my ballet teachers approached my parents about spending additional time training me. They felt as though I might be gifted and have the facility for ballet. At the time, my baby brother was on palliative care which didn’t leave a lot of time or finances for extra things, so my teachers offered me private training on scholarship. I attended the Youth America Grand Prix for the first time, and felt very out of my depth, but left awestruck and inspired through the master classes and watching the other dancers. This is when I first realized that I wanted to pursue a lifetime of professional ballet. Over the next few years, I fell more and more in love with ballet, and my pursuit of a career in ballet only intensified. I’ve faced many challenges along the way, but I’ve always seen them as opportunities to learn, grow, and be creative in finding ways to continue pursuing my dream. I believe that ballet has helped me grow in my strength as a person, as well as a dancer, and given me a willingness to work hard through adversity to accomplish my goals.

After several years of YAGP master classes and spending a few summer intensives in London, I felt strongly that I eventually wanted to end up training and dancing in Europe. Since the school system in the UK is a bit different I chose to start high school the summer before 9th grade and used the pandemic to take extra classes in grades 9 & 10 (some through the Jr. College), and took classes through each summer so that I could earn my high school diploma early and be free to pursue upper education on the UK schedule. I will be receiving my high school diploma in August of 2022. This Fall, I am thrilled to share that I have been invited to join English National Ballet School in London. Amongst the hundreds who applied this year and the talented 60+ women from around the world who were invited to the final audition round, I was offered one of 16-20 spots to join ENB’s class of 2025. This is a 3 year program, which will provide me with Elite classical ballet training that will help me pursue a future position in a ballet company, as well as earn my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Classical Ballet.

When I was about 9, a boy from my ballet school was offered a scholarship to train at English National Ballet School. He graduated from the school and is now an artist for the company. Through watching his journey, I have developed a deep love for English National Ballet and its repertoire. I love English National Ballet’s strong commitment to Classical Ballet while pushing artistic boundaries and creating new, accessible versions of beloved classics. Artistry is such an important aspect of ballet for me, and seeing the way that it is displayed at ENB is inspiring. Growing into a company like ENB would be a dream come true. I left my audition with ENB hopeful, because I got a strong sense of shared values and felt ENB could be an environment that I could grow and thrive in. Unfortunately, finances are the only thing keeping this from being an easy yes. If you have any donors that are willing to invest in my future, I would be forever grateful.

Getting into ballet the way I did, my family did not know the financial toll training for a professional ballet career could take. But now, my heart is too far given to ballet to want to allow money to stop me from pursuing my goals and dreams. My family supports my dancing in absolutely any way they possibly can. My little brother has a rare medical condition, which has placed my family in a very difficult financial situation. We are so grateful for his life and the gift he is to our family, but this is why we need your help. Tuition & accommodations for me to attend English National Ballet School are approximately $40,000 USD per year (that’s not even counting my pointe shoes, haha). My home studio, North County Academy of Dance runs a Non-profit organization that helps dancers pursue a ballet education. All donations given towards my ballet education can be gifted through the non-profit, and will therefore be tax deductible. Here is where you come in! We are looking for 40 businesses and individuals who are willing to commit to a scholarship gift of $1000 per year for the next 3 years. I will be keeping all donors updated on my progress and sharing milestones along the way.

If you have ever come to watch me perform, or have followed my journey over the years, I hope that my commitment to my technique and my passion to connect authentically to my audience has been evident. I love creating art for people to watch, to take joy in, to relate to, to escape, and to connect with. I hope that your investment into these next steps in my education will be a stepping stone to my career, investing into an artist that wants to pour herself into the art of dance.

Thank you for your consideration! I hope that one day you get to travel to Europe and I get to give you tickets to see me dance professionally. I know if this happens, it will be the result of a village that banded together to help me pursue my passion and to invest in the future of the arts in a very personal and tactile way. I actually don’t believe in accidents at all. This lovely “accident” is actually what I believe I was made for and what I was meant to do all along.

With deep gratitude,

Keliah Peterson

(Continued from mom) I hope you will consider supporting Keliah on her journey to become a professional ballerina. It has been inspiring to watch her so fiercely and passionately pursue the arts. She has persevered through a lot and I am so honored to be her mom. Thank you for your time and for listening to her story. Every little bit helps.

Her ballet studio's non-profit is also accepting donations on her behalf- please reach out to [email redacted] (no spaces) for more information.