Local Ballet Dancer Raising Funds to Dance with Gelsey Kirkland Classical Ballet Academy

A local 13-year-old is taking her destiny into her own hands. She's set out to raise $4,000 to help fund a summer trip of a lifetime. Sydney Azpeitia, a dancer with the nonprofit Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, was one of 75 dancers from over 2,000 who auditioned worldwide chosen to attend the Gelsey Kirkland Classical Ballet Academy's summer program in New York City. The intensive program is fast-paced, with dancers working six days a week and taking supervised weekend excursions through The Big Apple to see several landmark sites for five weeks. "It's quite surprising how determined she is to accomplish one of her many dreams," her mother, Jamie Azpeitia-Sachs, director of the Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, said. "She is beyond excited and she's doing everything she can to raise the money." The trip will cost the family $6,000 total. Her parents have contributed $2,000, and Sydney is working now to raise the rest. "She's doing her Go Fund Me campaign, asking friends and family members to contribute and she's offering to do any babysitting, car washing and more," Azpeitia-Sachs said. Sydney - following in the footsteps of her mother, who was a professional dancer with the Hawaii State Ballet, Inland Dance Theater, the Fine Arts Academy and the San Gorgonio Ballet School of Dance - has previously been accepted into the American Ballet Theater, Maples Conservatory, the LA Ballet and Disney Performing Arts. "She has gone on a few, but she hasn't gone on all," said Azpeitia-Sachs. "Her main goals were to work with Gelsey Kirkland and Arthur Mitchell, so this is a wonderful opportunity and dream come true for her." Sydney has an impressive list of talents; a dancer since the age of seven, she dances in styles including contemporary, lyrical, tap, swing, hip hop, and ballroom, but ballet is her favorite. "I was so happy," Sydney recalled of the news that she'd been chosen for the summer program. "I'm looking forward to working with the instructors and becoming a stronger dancer." She explained her ambition in life is to become a professional ballet dancer, and hopefully one day work as a principal dancer with a company like the School of American Ballet and own her own dance studio, like her mother. For her daughter, mother Azpeitia-Sachs says, "I'm hoping she will gain a sense of balancing work with her academic schedule and also learning stronger technique through exposure to different dancers. In general, I hope for her to become an overall well-rounded performer and dancer." Sydney and her fellow program members will practice several different criteria during the five-week course, including: technique, partnering, pilates, nutrition and character dancing. The young dancers will also perform, at the end of the program, with the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet Company at the Lincoln Center. "It's very rigorous," Azpeitia-Sachs feels, but she and Sydney both agreed: "It's going to be an amazing experience." Anyone who would like to contribute to the fundraiser may visit http://www.gofundme.com/SydBalletNYC.