By: Fabian and Sebastian Garcia
April 8, 2016
Fabian and Sebastian are 10th grade students at Inwood Academy. This is their blog post about what they’ve been doing outside of school and a huge honor they recently received. Read on.
Ever since we were young children we have dreamed of going to a famous dance school and training to be professional dancers. We want to tour the world and touch the lives of audiences who might also want to become dancers.
We are so happy to be one step further to reaching our goal. We were accepted to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Attending the ABT program is an amazing opportunity but very pricey. One of the Inwood Academy teachers helped us to set up a fundraising page and now the school has given us the opportunity to write this blog post so you can learn a little bit more about us and help us raise $15,000. This will cover the tuition for both of us to attend, which is more than our family can afford. We need to decide whether or not we will be able to attend the school by May 1st.
Our interest in dance started when our mom placed us in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater summer camp. From there we started to take dance classes and began to love the technical dance. At the Harlem School of the Arts we have been trained by amazing dancers from Alvin Ailey, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem and more.
During our journey as dancers, we have been granted many important opportunities from amazing schools. We have been guest dancers for well-known dance programs, opened for some of the best companies in New York, and have taken classes with inspirational choreographers. For example, last spring we performed in France with Aubrey Lynch and also at Lincoln Center with the Alvin Ailey Company as part of Ailey Camp. This past summer we took classes in the Joffrey School of Ballet’s summer intensive. This March we were part of the cast of a production of West Side Story produced by Carnegie Hall and the Somewhere Project.
This ABT program aims to provide dancers with a rich knowledge of classical technique and the ability to adapt to all styles of dance. Some of the classes include ballet, pointe, partnering, men’s class, character, modern technique, variations and Pilates. We will be in level 5 taking classes between 4:30 and 7:00 p.m. and be working not only with ABT faculty, but Alumni students from the past years.
By supporting us you will be helping two Latino twins succeed their dreams as being professional dancers in great companies. As Latinos, we will stand out in the crowd and raise awareness to Latinos in the ballet world. Let’s face it. Have you ever seen a Latino dancer play the part of the king in the ballet Swan Lake or play the prince in Sleeping Beauty?
We only began dancing when we were 13, which is very unusual in the world of professional dance. The hardest and most intimidating part of dance at first was that everyone else had been dancing for much longer and had an advantage in classes because they were more advanced. Our schedule is also difficult because, as a charter school, Inwood Academy’s school day finishes later in the day, but our dance classes go from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. every night. By the time we get home it is about 9:00 p.m. and we have to do homework and study. We travel six days a week and spend about 18 hours a week in classes, apart from the time we spend stretching and rehearsing on our own. We also help with the middle school kids in dance classes on Saturdays.
We would appreciate dearly if you can support us in funding the amount of money needed for this amazing experience at the ABT.
https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/help-sebastian-and-fabian-attend-abt
P.S. Thank you Ms. Laughner for helping us with our fundraiser and granting us the opportunity to tell our story here.
