Gabby Flanders: Dancing her Dreams
Banner photo: Gabby at the Royal Danish Ballet Summer School
Let the 2018 summer dance adventures begin ...
Dear Family and Friends,
Gabby has been blessed with a wonderful year of dance for the 2017 - 2018 school year, highlighted by dancing the role of White Swan and the Sugar Plum Fairy (see photo at the bottom of the story). Her lyrical solo this year danced her through a personal journey, while her team numbers explored new dance challenges. She has been teaching even more classes this year (at the Carmel Academy of Performing Arts ... thank you, Carol Richmond!) and is also a member of the Board of Directors for Dance Kids of Monterey County (thank you to all the board members for mentoring Gabby!).
FYI: Go Fund Me has slightly changed their format from the past: comments posted with donations are now at the bottom of the page. Sorry ...
Thank you Loose Tie Photography, April 2017 in Pacific Grove
This summer, Gabby has four new opportunities that have come her way.
June 18th - 29th: Joffrey Ballet School's Character Dance Intensive Whoops! Slight change: Joffrey called us May 31st to say that the Character program had been cancelled, and would Gabby like to try Musical Theater in New York City, still with a 100% merit scholarship to cover all tuition costs. Click here for a link to the program info. Gotta' roll with it: doing "School of Rock" and "Wicked" ... which is one of Gabby's favorite musicals.
June 14th - 17th, and June 30th - July 2nd: Broadway Dance Center in New York City, with a 100% merit scholarship to cover all tuition costs. Click here for a link to their website.
July 9th - 13th, and July 23rd - 27th: Royal Danish Ballet's Elite Women's Summer School in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a 50% merit scholarship to cover one week's tuition costs. Click here for a link to their website.
July 16th - 20th: English National Ballet School's Summer Course A in London, England. Click here for a link to their website.
This wonderful assortment of programs will enable Gabby to train a in wide variety of dance genres and connect her with possible avenues for a future career as a professional dancer and dance teacher.
Gabby at the University of North Carolina, School of the Arts, summer 2017
Summer 2018 Budget:
We have been working on paying for things little-by-little, with our own earnings and with help from our friends. Things that have been paid for are noted as such.
Fees for Joffrey Ballet School, Character Dance Whoops: Musical Theater summer intensive:
registration fee: $100 - now paid!
tuition for two weeks: normally $1650, but Gabby was awarded a 100% merit scholarship for tuition! ... so $0 !!!
performance fee: $130 - now paid!
Fees for Broadway Dance Center:
tuition for five drop-in classes: normally $100, but Gabby was awarded a 100% merit scholarship for tuition! ... so $0 !!!
Fees for English National Ballet School, Summer Course A (Age 15-19):
tuition for one week: £395 ($590) - now paid!
Fees for Royal Danish Ballet Elite Women's Summer program:
tuition for two weeks: DKK 7,020 ($1,100) ... normally, but Gabby was just (end of May) awarded a 50% merit scholarship for tuition. So we only had to pay for one week: $633 - now paid!
Passports: $350 ($175 each) - now paid!
Flights: *** all flights are now paid for :-) !!! ***
Gabby to NYC in mid-June, $226 - now paid!
Teri's to NYC end of June, $233 - now paid!
Gabby and Teri to Copenhagen, Denmark, from NYC, early July, $559 - now paid!
Gabby and Teri from Copenhagen to London, mid-July, $168 - now paid!
Teri home from London, approx. $947 - now paid!
Gabby from London back to Denmark, late July, $177 - now paid!
Gabby home from Denmark, mid-August, $510 (scored a great price!!!) - now paid!
FYI: most of these flights are during the height of the summer travel season, so there aren't many bargain priced flights available.
Gabby takes flight in the 2017 Dance Kids of Monterey County production of The Nutcracker.
Ground transportation:
NYC airport shuttles: $88 - now paid!
Metro card for New York City: $121
London airport shuttles: £60 ($80) - now paid!
London Underground card: £40 ($54)
Danish Metro: approx. $150
Housing:
New York City: We are so lucky to have made friends with Clarice and Andrew; last summer they hosted Gabby for 10 days and me for 2. They have graciously agreed to host Gabby for three weeks this summer, and me for 5 days. Budget for NYC housing: $0 !!! A true miracle!
Copenhagen: I was an exchange student in Denmark in college, and my Danish "family" has opened their homes to us. Additionally, friends from Gabby's dance "family" in Carmel now live in Denmark, with the mother working for the same exchange program that I studied with 34 years ago. Budget for Danish housing: $0 !!! Another miracle!
London: We have not had any luck finding free housing in London, so we have booked a very nice room through AirBnb, very close to the dance school. $720 for 9 nights. We have made a partial payment ($387), and the remainder ($332) is due in mid-June. - now paid!
Food, toiletries and incidentals:
Estimating $150 per week, so approx. $1200 for 8 weeks
Activities:
Shows and ballets in NYC (Swan Lake and Don Quixote with ABT, and Anastasia on Broadway): $185 - now paid!
Other NYC activities: $200
London sightseeing, shows, etc.: $200
Denmark sightseeing, shows, etc.: $400
Dance shoes and equipment:
pointe shoes and ribbons, 4 pair - paid for by our amazing "Pointe Shoe Fairy", Ingall
character shoes and ballet tights: $82 - now paid!
Total value of scholarships: $2,300 (what a blessing!)
Total estimated budget after scholarships: $8,250
Early private/ananoymous donations: $1,250
Total needed: $7,000
Carmel Academy of Performaing Arts: Bitter Earth
Gabby starts in the front, left, holding the flower.
What is Gabby doing to make this summer happen?
Gabby understands that she has a responsibility to help pay for her dance experiences. Here are some of the things that she is doing to raise money for current and summer dance expenses:
** Teaching Beginning Ballet and Jazz at the Carmel Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA): Gabby has been a student here for eight years and is now fortunate enough to pay it forward to some of the youngest dancers. This is her second year of teaching her own class at CAPA. Click here for the CAPA website.
** Substitute teaching at CAPA: ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, 1-7 classes per week, as needed, students from three to 14-years-old. All of this is helping polish her teaching style and classroom management skills.
** Rehearsal director for a small portion of Dance Kids of Monterey County's annual Nutcracker production. Click here for the Dance Kids website.
** Teaching, assisting teaching, and performing at the Reno Latin Dance Fest. Click here for the latest on the RLDF.
** Teaching private dance lessons
** Taking public transit to school and work/the dance studio, so that we can save on gas.
** Saving her dance teacher paychecks to help cover food expenses for the summer, and to cover spending money for the entire trip.
Gabby teaching and performing at the 2018 Reno Latin Dance Fest
What is Teri doing to make this summer happen?
** Applying for every scholarship and grant that she can find.
** Teaching Gabby how to apply for grants and scholarships.
** Teaching an extra class every day at Los Arboles Middle School.
** After school tutoring at Los Arboles, three days a week.
** Teaching Saturday Academy two or three times a month
** Teaching at the local Adult School ... yes, that's one very full-time job and three part-time jobs.
Gabby performing "Girl Behind the Mask" at the Reno Latin Dance Fest, January 2018.
An idea for you:
Can you help pay for just one day of this amazing summer? Or, even better: several days.
The average daily cost of this summer is $154 per day ... and that's after all of the scholarships have been factored in.
If you would like to help, we would love your support. We know that dance is a "want" and not a "need", and that Go Fund Me is full of tragic stories that are so much more derserving of funding, so we very much appreciate anyone who would like to help out.
Since Go Fund Me takes a 4% fee for all donations made through their site, you can make your donation go farther by sending any contributions directly to us, and we will manually post your donation on the website (Go Fund Me doesn't charge for that, so your donation goes 4% farther).
We would be grateful for any assistance. If it isn't in your budget at the moment, we certainly understand and enjoy updating you with Gabby's latest plans, photos and videos. Sending encouragement is free :-)
Everyone: please post and share this Go Fund Me campaign on your various social media platforms. The more that we get the word out, the better. Who knows: there may be someone with deep-pockets out there looking for a deserving dancer to sponsor.
Gabby is so excited to be going back to New York City (photo from NYC, July 2017)
The latest on Gabby's life:
School: Gabby is in 11th grade, home schooling through Ocean Grove Charter School, however, she is hardly ever at home, so this is a bit of a misnomer. She attends Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) for some classes: U.S. History, Marine Biology, Psychology, and Yoga. She enjoys the challenge of attending college as a 11th grader. She will have enough college credits at the end of high school to nearly cover the first year of college!
Dance: Gabby is taking 16+ hours of lessons per week (private, semi-private, and group lessons). She is on three dance teams and will be participating in five competitions this season. She has four solos and six team dances.
Teaching: One of Gabby's long-term goals is to be a dance teacher and own her own studio. With 4 hours of teaching and assistant teaching per week, plus substitute teaching hours, she is well on her way to making this a paying career.
Community Service: Gabby is the Student Representative on the Board of Directors for Dance Kids of Monterey County. She is learning all about fundraising, marketing, and grant writing in the world of arts related, non-profit organizations, as well as participating in many community out-reach activities. This year she was a part of Cascanueces: A Latino Nutcracker, bringing ballet to under-served youth in south Monterey County.
Cascanueces: A Latino Nutcracker, at San Lucas School, November 2017
Want to watch Gabby grow up right before your eyes? Check out these Go Fund Me campaigns from previous summers (lots of great photos and videos):
2015
2016
2017
Gabby and I are so grateful for those who have helped in the past, and appreciate so much those of you are who contemplating helping us for this summer.
much love to all,
Teri and Gabby Flanders
Gabby with the directors from the Joffrey Ballet School's Musical Theater program in NYC, June 2018.
Clips from "Wicked", the subject of week 2 of the Musical Theater intensive in NYC through Joffrey Ballet School.
Clips from "School of Rock" the subject of week 1 of the Musical Theater intensive in NYC through Joffrey Ballet School.
Gabby in Dance Kids of Monterey County's production of the Nutcracker, with her dance partner and teacher, Philip Pegler, dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, December 2017.
Gabby with the Rockettes at their intensive last summer, in New York City, July 2017