TOW 13: Dance shoe fund benefits young children at Lawrence Arts Center by Nadia Imafidon

Published in a literary journal based in Kansas (Lawrence Journal-World), this article by featured literary contributor Nadia Imafidon covers a topic about that may not be very familiar to the masses of America. People who are not involved with the arts may not realize how time-consuming and costly of an activity that dance is. With a culmination of tuition for weekly lessons, the cost of attire, and the price of the all-important dance shoe, yearly costs for a young dancer normally amount to several thousand dollars. With such a high price, it is a sad truth that young girls who come from less affluent families may have trouble pursuing dreams of a career in dance. For this very reason, foundations have been established to aid aspiring dancers to achieve their dreams. This article describes one such organization, the Candi Baker Shoe Fund, started by the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas. This foundation primarily collects gently used dance shoes to pass on to girls who are not able to afford them on their own. Additionally, it offers financial aid towards the training of talented young students in need. Reading about this organization is inspirational to the target audience of members of the dance or arts communities, but also to any average member of American society. The fund that is described in this article was given life by an amazing sense of community and desire to support the advancement of talented youth. As the author describes the genesis of the Candi Baker Shoe Fund, she portrays to her audience how wonderfully rewarding the outcome can be from supporting your community and helping others. Ms. Imafidon conveys this theme very effectively, specifically through use of an anecdote. At the very end of the piece, she includes a recollection by the founder of the fund, which describes a young girl who was helped by the fund to pursue a dream that she refused to give up. The girl is now performing a featured role in the arts center’s production of the Nutcracker. This anecdote was very effective in appealing to emotion, especially to a passionate dancer such as myself.