Dance Sponsorship for Kaitlyn!

I’m living the life of a “starving artist.” I’m loving the artist part, but not so much the starving. If you are someone who feels strongly about supporting young artists, ballet, Christian arts or you're just someone who knows me and loves me, I would greatly appreciate some help!

My name is Kaitlyn King, and I’m halfway through year-two of a wonderful ballet trainee program at Ballet 5:8 in Chicago. I moved here from the Kansas City area when I was eighteen, the summer of 2013, after being accepted into the program.

Besides dancing, I work a part-time job 10 to 25 hours per week. The problem is I really need to work 25 hours to pay for my rent, gas and food and scheduling can be pretty erratic. I have used my savings to supplement my income on slow weeks, but after a year and a half, the savings account is empty. I am living paycheck to paycheck … and, unfortunately, falling short.

I love the training and performance opportunities I am getting, and I have improved so much as a dancer and performer. We have ballet classes (technique and pointe) and rehearsal every day and also have other classes like modern, stretching and strengthening, and variations. 

We usually have an academic class each semester like dance anatomy, history of ballet or acting. We start at 9 a.m. and dance until about 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and often have performances on weekends.

So far this year, we have had a lot of performance opportunities. The trainee company has performed an original ballet "Abundant Grace" at area schools and churches. We also sometimes have the opportunity to go on tour with Ballet 5:8's professional company. So far this year, we have performed with them in Chicago and Iowa. Other performances this year include a Christmas-time ballet “The Carpenter’s Son” and the spring ballet “Racham" that the trainees will be performing along with the Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts students.

I decided that if I am going to ask for support, I may as well ask big. So I have set my goal for $6,800. This would pay for my dormitory (trainee house) for this year and next year. However, anything will help! I will be thrilled if I can cover all of next month’s rent, at this point, so little amounts make a big difference to me.

I am also offering some fun incentives. I will be making pointe-shoe door hangers as thank you’s for those supporting me with $100 or higher donations. These will be made from one of my old pointe shoes, spray painted and accompanied with a sign to put in the shoe that says “Dreaming of Dancing! (Please do not disturb.)” on one side and “Entrez! (The prima ballerina is in.)” on the other side. The shoe can be tied to a doorknob with the pointe shoe ribbon. For those contributing $150 or more, I will send a Ballet 5:8 T-shirt along with the pointe shoe.

Thank you for reading my story and for considering supporting me!

Dance on,

Kaitlyn