Young Ballerina Makes her Dreams Come True with Adobe Slate #madewithslate
Thirteen-year-old Isabelle Snelling discovered her life’s calling at an early age. A ballet dancer since the age of three, she attends regular public school until noon each day and does the remainder of her courses through an online virtual school so she can pursue her passion and dance with the Columbia City Ballet as well as the Columbia Conservatory of Dance. Her mother, Tara Snelling, describes Isabelle as extremely driven.
“She lives and breathes ballet and is ready to make sacrifices for it,” says Tara. “To watch her do what she wants to do, it just fills you up.”
A prestigious ballet school, and a significant challenge
In 2014, Isabelle applied to New York City’s School of American Ballet (SAB) summer program. Led by Peter Martins and Kay Mazzo, the distinguished summer faculty includes many alumni and current members of the world-famous New York City Ballet. Martins and team observe every student in class and carefully assess their interest and technical accomplishment.
Isabelle was thrilled to be one of 200 students accepted out of 2,000 applicants. But she knew that the tuition, travel and associated costs would be a financial hardship for her family. Not wanting to impose on them, she decided to raise money through a crowdfunding website. Isabelle’s mom, Tara, discovered Adobe Slate via her Adobe Creative Cloud Student Edition membership.
Isabelle decided to create a digital story in Slate to help with her fundraising campaign. She shared her Slate on social media, her ballet company drove traffic to her Slate and she even got some coverage in her local newspaper.
Isabelle shared her finished Slate via her page on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe as well as on social media. Tara believes that the combination of Isabelle’s photos, her story — told in her own words — and the beautiful, visual Slate presentation really helped her daughter’s campaign stand out and bring in donations.
“We loved the format of Slate,” Tara says. “We could integrate text and pictures and make them glide.”
“What I love is the ease of use,” says Tara. “Isabelle can do it on her own — she has the control to create photo collages and change things around, and the flexibility to add text and smooth transitions.”
Isabelle used Adobe Slate for her crowdfunding campaign
Fundraising success and a bright future
Isabelle’s fundraising campaign reached half its goal, which made it possible for her to attend the SAB program. She learned a new style of dance, Balanchine technique, and met artists and other luminaries from the world of professional ballet, including Sara Mearns, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.
Tara says that, since attending the program, “Isabelle has become a different child — she’s learned to advocate for herself and speak up.”
She’s become savvy about communication, too. After returning home from New York, she created a new Slate to detail her journey and her experiences at SAB, and to thank her GoFundMe donors for supporting her mission and her dreams..
Isabelle’s ambition is to continue on into a professional dance career. Being so young, she does not yet know what style of dance would be the best fit, so she plans to audition for several dance schools to experience everything the ballet world has to offer. She’ll use Adobe Slate to continue to share her passion and progress with her supporters.