Surrounded by bubblegum pink walls with their backwards shoes and flushed faces, a group of little girls enjoy a Monday afternoon ballet class at En Avant School of Dance. This ballet studio creates a world of enchantment with toothy smiles and twirling tutus. But like dancers from many communities, these girls have big dreams but limited means. Many ballerinas cannot afford the expensive dancewear required to dance. One girl has started a nonprofit to help with this issue.
Growing up in the dance world, Palo Alto High School junior Kennedy Do always knew about the financial restrictions that stop many dancers from continuing to pursue their passion. As the president and founder of the nonprofit Dancers Donate, she collects gently used dancewear and donations to provide to under-resourced dancers so they can continue their dreams.
Founded in 2022, Dancers Donate partners with local dance studios in East Palo Alto and San Francisco, and has expanded internationally to studios in Nigeria, Vietnam and the Philippines.
“I’m just really hoping to help dancers in need,” Do said. “I know about so many underprivileged communities that could really benefit from new dance gear as well as donations.”
Dancers Donate collaborates with studios in San Jose and San Francisco to order new supplies for studios with different needs.
“A lot of dance studios struggle to find uniforms for clothing that everyone has access to that’s also affordable,” she said. “I’ve been helping a lot with finding uniforms for everybody so that they have the opportunity to go to dance.”
She’s [Do] taken the initiative to do something where there’s an opportunity to do good where effort is required.”
— Nathan Cottam, studio director
“Every penny counts in this situation with these families; they pay about 60% of what somebody in another community would pay for ballet, which is a stretch for some of them,” Cottam said. “So if they had to buy dance clothing on top of that, it would stress them even further.”
Dancers Donate has opened up opportunities for dancers around the world, and local dancers at en Avant School of Dance. “Kennedy’s project, it’s one of the factors that helps make sure that the kids in East Palo Alto have similar opportunities as more wealthy families like in Palo Alto,” Cottam said.
Many people cannot proceed with their artistic passions because of financial means. Cottam said that it’s incredible what Dancers Donate does because they are trying to tackle this problem globally.
“What makes Kennedy’s work so special is that she’s taken the initiative to do something where there’s an opportunity to do good where effort is required,” Cottam said. “That’s the type of effort most people aren’t willing to do.”
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