http://www.gofundme.com/raquel-sfb-com


Ballet is my First and Best Love...a kindred spirit.  I have been hooked on ballet since the very first class, the day I turned 6. 

My name is Raquel Smith.  I am a 17 year old, mixed African-American and Filipino young lady from the Los Angeles County area and the youngest of 7 children.  I have been training in classical ballet, non-stop, for the past 11 years.  My dream is to one day become a professional ballerina, performing with one of the major ballet companies—to follow in the footsteps of Misty Copeland and other wonderful dancers.  I firmly believe this is a realistic and worthwhile goal for me...to excel in a classical and non-traditional art form and to make it my profession.  The only problem is there are no professional ballets in Los Angeles.

I have been taught that dreaming alone accomplishes nothing, so I have worked very hard at my small, local studio hoping to one day get noticed. Ballet is very expensive and my parents have sacrificed tremendously in order to support my dream, even though they were hit hard by the recession and employment environment.  I was blessed to earn a scholarship at my studio, and that helped me to continue to train while I looked for opportunities to be seen by a major ballet company. That opportunity came one day when I read that the International Association of Blacks in Dance would be holding the first ever national audition for the purpose of getting dancers of color accepted into major ballet schools and companies.  20 major companies from across the country committed to attend the audition. This was my big chance.  The only catch...the audition was scheduled to take place at the IABD Annual Conference—in Denver, CO, only three weeks away!

My parents could not afford to purchase 2 plane tickets on such short notice.  So, my adventurous dad announced the he would drive me there.  We loaded up the car on Saturday morning for the audition at 2pm on Sunday.  He drove non-stop, 16 hours, except for stopping to get gas.  We drove through ice and snow, slipping and sliding and scaring the heck out of both of us and we braved cold that we Californians are not used to.  But, my parents were determined for me to have this opportunity and we made it.

115 girls between the ages of 16 and 36 showed up for this historic audition, from all over the country.  At the end of a grueling 4 hour audition, I received offers from the San Francisco Ballet, the Houston Ballet, the Oregon Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Charlotte Ballet to attend their advanced Summer Intensives—all with full scholarships and I received an offer from the Colorado Ballet to be a member of their Studio Company. Wow...I felt so honored and my dad actually cried!!!  Like my parents always tell me, hard work pays off, but this was only the beginning--I was not quite there yet.

I chose to attend the San Francisco Ballet advanced Summer Intensive (with a scholarship for full tuition and full housing) because they are one of the 3 best ballets in the United States and the world, they are on the west coast and because the summer intensive is how they go about selecting who they will invite to attend their school year round.  We trained 8 hours a day for 4 weeks.  I worked my butt off.  Four weeks after the summer intensive started, the San Francisco Ballet offered me a spot in their year round school.  I was so excited and my parents are extremely proud.  This is a major step toward my big dream.

And now, the reason I am here. I am so close to my dream, but I really need some help to make it a reality. I am trying to raise the money to pay for the portion of the SFB expenses that my parents cannot cover. Specifically, the money will be used for tuition, housing, mandatory uniform tutus, mandatory uniform leotards, mandatory uniform tights, and the item that is the greatest expense in ballet--Pointe Shoes.  In return for your much appreciated assistance, I commit to working harder than I ever have, and to keep everyone regularly updated on my progress, and to invite everyone who's interested to come and see the student performances.  I commit to being focused and to work diligently so that at the end of the year, if all goes well, I will be offered a spot as a Trainee at the San Francisco Ballet.  Thank you very much for your assistance and for sharing in this dream with me.

Raquel Smith