Send Sadie to American Ballet Theatre this summer!

From Cary and Manola, Sadie’s parents:

Happy new year, family and friends!

Thank you for coming here to read about our fundraising efforts to help our dear Sadie follow her dream of attending a summer ballet program in New York City this summer.

Our daughter Sadie is ten and a half and in fifth grade.

For the past 7+ years, Sadie has been a dedicated and hardworking ballet student at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School here in our hometown.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is a world-class professional ballet company and Sadie has delighted in every moment of her ongoing ballet education there.

During her early childhood, then a pandemic, and throughout ever-busy school years, Sadie has counted the hours til each ballet class (truly!) and never wavered in her commitment or drive to dance. The joy, satisfaction, and fun she reaps from training and performing continually astounds us as her parents.

Sadie’s talent and professionalism have not gone unnoticed at PBT.

She has been handpicked to perform with the professional company in ballets that only include a small handful of children, such as Dracula and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre yearly fundraising galas (2022 and 2023), and The Pittsburgh Symphony’s To Marvin, With Love. Sadie has also performed in PBT’s beloved production of The Nutcracker for the past two years.

Sadie also chooses to spend some of her free time bringing her love of ballet to younger children by regularly volunteering as a teacher's assistant at her ballet school.

As our daughter’s training continues and her commitment to ballet grows, she feels that trying a new program outside of Pittsburgh during her summer break would be a worthwhile and exciting next step to take. The benefits of strengthening her existing technique, adapting to a new dance environment, and learning skills from a diverse range of instructors cannot be overstated.

As some of you may know, Sadie recently auditioned for the Young Dancer Summer Workshop (YDSW) at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) School in New York City. The audition and selection process is highly competitive, to say the least.

ABT is one of the finest ballet schools in the country and the world. This is a rigorous, two-week program for “serious young dancers,” aged 9-12.

Dancers in the YDSW study under ABT’s exceptional faculty, “building a solid foundation in ballet technique and educating younger dancers about related topics in the world of dance… providing a well-rounded education and facilitating future artistic development.”

Within a few days of the audition, Sadie received a letter from ABT School inviting her to attend.

SHE DID IT!

While we would love to be able to cover the costs of attending this program ourselves, we humbly invite you to consider joining us in this village-sized effort to make Sadie’s hopes of accepting ABT’s offer to spend two weeks dancing and learning there this summer come true.

We are hoping that this fundraiser will help us in covering tuition and housing costs as follow:

$1600 – ABT Young Dancer Workshop 2024 Tuition

$2800 – Housing for Manola, Sadie, and Arlo in Jersey City, NJ during the program (Cary is staying home to work!)

We appreciate contributions of any amount and thank you a thousand times over for sharing our fundraiser with your friends and family.

Again, we are deeply grateful to each of you for taking the time to read our story and consider supporting Sadie’s journey as a dancer in this way.

Wishing you and yours every blessing in the year to come,

Cary and Manola