The Lima Ballerina Fund

When Maria del Carmen Silva, a former professional dancer who teaches classical ballet to impoverished children in Lima, Peru, promised her dancers she would bring them to Orlando, Florida for a dance competition she knew she had a big challenge ahead of her. Many of the girls can’t afford ballet slippers let alone a plane ticket to America. Silva and her young ballerinas searched the Chorrillos neighborhood, a poor part of Lima, Peru where their dance studio is located inside a public school, for plastic bottles that they could recycle for money. After months of collecting, they managed to raise enough money for airfare to attend the 2019 All Dance World Competition in Orlando. For many of these girls this is a once in a lifetime opportunity made possible by Silva’s vision and determination. The competition will be held from November 26th to December 4th where the girls will have the opportunity to dance on an international stage and compete for the first time.

When Orlando resident, Paola Ramirez, a native of Lima, Peru, heard about Silva’s dance team she knew that she wanted to help. She contacted Silva and simply said, “How can I help you?”.  Silva explained that they had raised enough money for airfare, but some girls couldn’t afford the hotel where the dance competition was being held. Without hesitation, Ramirez offered Silva and her team her home. Ramirez’s guests arrive on the 26th, just in time for an American Thanksgiving meal prepared by Ramirez’s husband Pedro, a local neurosurgeon.

But Ramirez didn’t stop at just hosting the ballerinas. Being a former native of Peru, she knows the conditions in which some of these girls live. Many of these children don’t have running water in their own homes. Ramirez wants this trip to be magical, something they will never forget and where else should anyone who visits Orlando go for magic? Disney World!! This Go Fund Me is to raise money to send this deserving group of dancers to the most magical place on earth. These young dancers didn’t beg for money to get to America, they scoured the streets for discarded trash to recycle for money. Let’s show these girls that hard work and determination gets results. Let’s show them that we care. Every dollar raised will go towards Disney tickets for each girl and food during their stay. Any money raised over our goal of $2500 will be given to Silva for studio improvements and dance gear for the team.

Please take a look at the stories and pictures attached. Thank you for your support!



CBS NEWS ARTICLE - Ballet prepares kids in Peru for a future beyond their poor communities