Local Ballerina Asks For Help Achieving Dream

Southern High School sophomore Ellie Dotson is getting closer and closer to achieving her dream of becoming a professional ballerina.

She has been accepted into Burklyn Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive Program in Johnson, VT, and received an invitation to perform in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But she needs your help to get there. The total cost for Ellie’s endeavor is $11,130.

Ellie, 15, said she has been dancing for as long as she can remember. Her mother was also a dancer and started teaching Ellie about ballet when she was young. Ellie danced at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland for ten years and now dances everyday at Maryland Youth Ballet.

“This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Ellie said. “I am glad that my life revolves around dance.”

While Ellie has always been passionate about ballet, it took a minor setback for her to realize that she wanted to dance professionally.

A year ago, Ellie had surgery to repair a broken bone in her foot and was forced to sit out and take a break from ballet for a while.

“When I had surgery and I didn’t dance, I was an absolute mess—I didn’t know what to do with my life,” Ellie said. That was when I knew. I missed it so much and I knew then I wanted to spend my life doing it. I couldn’t live without it.”

That’s when Ellie started dancing at Maryland Youth Ballet and her teacher, Robert Royce, realized just how good she was.

“He was the one who first saw potential in me and took me under his wing,” Ellie said. “He made me love ballet so much. When I found out he was affiliated with Burklyn, I decided I wanted to go there and train there.”

However, deciding she wanted to go to Burklyn, and actually getting in were two completely different things.

Ellie went through a lengthy audition process for Burklyn Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive Program as well as for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is the largest art festival in the world. Out of the hundreds who auditioned, Ellie was one of 20 dancers selected to take part in Edinburgh.

“Every ballet dancer, as they are in their teens, goes to these great summer programs, but Burklyn is really good training,” Ellie said. “To become a professional, you have to work your hardest from the day you are born.”

In order to help Ellie finance her trip to Vermont and Scotland, Ledo Pizza in Deale, where Ellie has a part-time job, is donating 10 percent of its proceeds on Tuesday night to Ellie.

“We’re calling it Eat Pizza to Support a Ballerina,” Ellie said. “I have been dancing for as long as I can remember, this is what I want to do. But I can’t go if I don’t have the money.”

The Ledo Pizza in Deale is located at 5720 Deale Churchton Rd. Ledo will donate 10 percent of proceeds raised throughout the day and Ellie will be in attendance around 5 p.m.—after she finishes dancing.

You can also mail donations to the Ellie Dotson Scholarship Fund at PO Box, 643 Tracy's Landing MD 20779.