Help me compete at the Youth America Grand Prix New York 2018 Finals! I am a BARCELONA semi-finalist WINNER!

My name is Rebecca Rudolf and I am a 14 year old ballerina. 2017 was both hard and amazing for me! I am currently studying ballet dance in Portugal at Conservatório Internacional de Ballet e Dança Annarella Sanchez. At my age I am already living on my own in a foreign country, for more than half a year, far away from my homeland, Romania, and my family. I cook for myself, I clean for myself, I`m really struggling and all this sacrifice from me and from my family come as a must because I love ballet and I know that dancing is my calling and this is what I am supposed to do for the rest of my life. My biggest dream is to become a prim-ballerina and dance on famous stages across the world. I know it is a big and challenging dream, but I am ready to work on pursuing it.

Last year I won first place at Youth America Grand Prix Barcelona 2017 semi-finals, thus I have received an invitation to go to New-York and attend YAGP New-York 2018 Finals between the 10th and 22nd of April! Youth America Grand Prix is the world's largest international dance competition which awards scholarships each year to dance school students around the world. It is held internationally each year, with final competitions taking place in New York City. Therefore, during the competition that took place in Barcelona, I have received full scholarships for Royal Ballet School in London, Ecole de Dance Opera National de Paris, Academy Princesse Grace de Monaco, The Ballet Academiy of the University of Music and Performing, Munchen and Summer course at Tanzakademie Zurich. I am excited and scared at the same time, every day I wake up early in the morning and go to sleep late at night, exhausted because of the work and effort I am putting into preparing for the competition. But I love it and I am sure that all my dedication will pay off!

Preparing for New York Finals involves costs for 10 hours of daily training, daily Pilates and recovery hours, participating in at least 3 major European competitions for variations, ballet shoes, stockings, flexibles and many other ballet accessories that seem small but all together they sum up to an important amount. Moreover, the amount increases considerably when adding travel expenses, accommodation and the training in April in New York City. For all this, my parents and I need your help!

I hope that writing my story here will help me with achieving my goal in participating at Youth America Grand Prix 2018 Finals