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Orlando Ballet Donates 1,000 Tickets to Puerto Ricans Displaced by Hurricane Maria

Orlando Ballet dancers Kate-Lynn Robichaux and Arcadian Broad. Photo by Michael Cairns, courtesy Orlando Ballet.

It's been nearly a year and a half since Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico, but that doesn't mean the effects of the storm aren't still being widely felt. Thousands of Puerto Ricans relocated to Florida after the storm hit (the exact number is unknown), and many are still settled in Orlando.

This weekend, Orlando Ballet brings its Bailamos! program to audiences in Central Florida, and the company is offering 1,000 free tickets to Puerto Ricans in the area who were displaced by the hurricane. The ticket donation was organized in partnership with Orlando's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, who helped spread the word about how individuals and families could claim their tickets to the February 16 matinee. Some of the marketing for the performance was entirely in Spanish, and the program will also include an insert for Spanish-speaking audiences. "We're not just a professional ballet company; we are Orlando Ballet and we have a role to play in this community," says executive director Shane Jewell. "We have a social responsibility, I believe, as an arts organization, to do whatever we can to enrich the quality of life for everyone who's here."

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Ballet Training

After the Storm: One Year After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican Dancers Are Finding Ways to Forge Ahead

Alanah Gelabert's ballet school, damaged by the hurricane, still floods each time it rains. Photo by Tahimy Santana, Courtesy Santana,

On September 20 of last year, a violent hurricane, almost a Category 5, hit Puerto Rico head-on. The mega-storm laid waste to the American territory, knocking out power, flooding roads and houses, flattening buildings, and killing 2,975 people as it barreled northward. Large swathes of the island remained without electricity or running water for weeks—in fact thousands of homes were still without power nine months later. It was the worst storm to hit the island in at least eight decades.

The hurricane and its aftereffects touched everyone in Puerto Rico—including its ballet community. Flooded schools were unable to give classes, performances were canceled, and ballet companies were forced to go on hiatus. Students were already dealing with storm-related difficulties at home, so, for a while, training was on the back burner. But dancers are famously determined, and soon they were doing what they could to stay in shape—a fact underscored by a video that appeared on Twitter, of students rehearsing in the dark, illuminated only by car headlamps.

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Sarasota Cuban Ballet School Offers Hope to Puerto Rican Dancers Affected by Hurricane Maria

Danny Rivera (left) is one of six students from San Juan who the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School is hoping to relocate so he can continue his training. Photo by Soho Images, Courtesy SCBS.


Many of us take our ballet training for granted. But for dancers living in Puerto Rico, which is still reeling from the devastating affects of last month's Hurricane Maria, pursuing a ballet career or simply taking class must now feel insurmountable. What do you do when Mother Nature not only destroys your dance studio, but your home and the majority of the city you live in? Priorities must shift to those of basic survival.

Now, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School is trying to help six Puerto Rican dancers resume their training. The students, whose studio in San Juan was badly damaged, had recently attended SCBS's summer intensive. School directors Ariel Serrano and Wilmian Hernandez have started a fundraising effort called "Sarasota And Puerto Rico Dance Together" to temporarily relocate the dancers. While they can easily offer them scholarships, Serrano and Hernandez must raise an additional $36,000 to provide housing, food and living expenses for one year. (SCBS has a dormitory for female students, but not for male students.)

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Ballet Training

Sarasota Cuban Ballet School Offers Hope to Puerto Rican Dancers Affected by Hurricane Maria

Danny Rivera (left) is one of six students from San Juan who the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School is hoping to relocate so he can continue his training. Photo by Soho Images, Courtesy SCBS.

Many of us take our ballet training for granted. But for dancers living in Puerto Rico, which is still reeling from the devastating affects of last month's Hurricane Maria, pursuing a ballet career or simply taking class must now feel insurmountable. What do you do when Mother Nature not only destroys your dance studio, but your home and the majority of the city you live in? Priorities must shift to those of basic survival.

Now, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School is trying to help six Puerto Rican dancers resume their training. The students, whose studio in San Juan was badly damaged, had recently attended SCBS's summer intensive. School directors Ariel Serrano and Wilmian Hernandez have started a fundraising effort called "Sarasota And Puerto Rico Dance Together" to temporarily relocate the dancers. While they can easily offer them scholarships, Serrano and Hernandez must raise an additional $36,000 to provide housing, food and living expenses for one year. (SCBS has a dormitory for female students, but not for male students.)

Keep reading... Show less

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