Scholarship Spotlight: Dreams En Pointe

Many little girls are asked what they want to be when they grow up, and "ballerina" is a fairly common answer.

It was indeed Aaliyah Tidmore's answer when she was 3 years old. While many other girls' aspirations change over the years, a decade later Aaliyah's answer remains the same but with a focus: professional ballerina.

Though Aaliyah's dream of being a ballerina started young, her journey didn't. Aaliyah didn't start dancing until she was about 9 years old, spending her time on other athletic outlets like soccer. But when she decided to start dancing, she knew: This was what she loved.

But several years in, Aaliyah dislocated her knee. She wasn't able to walk – and definitely not able to dance – for months. It was an injury that set her back for a time, but now, at 15, Aaliyah is working her hardest to make her dreams come true. She dedicates 25 to 30 hours a week in the dance studio and spends her summers participating in intensives, or multi-week training programs designed to rapidly improve technique.

Last summer, she attended a summer intensive at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, a prestigious ballet company in Seattle, with the help of a scholarship from the Kate Lieberth Lytton Education in Dance Fund. "This opportunity meant the world to me," Aaliyah said. "At Pacific Northwest Ballet, I made good progress on working on my turnout and jumps, and it's definitely helping me back at my home studio."

This summer, she'll be attending another summer intensive in Connecticut. From there, Aaliyah dreams of one day dancing for the San Francisco Ballet or American Ballet Theatre – dreams she's working hard to make a reality.