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Riverview
Maya Ruheza has loved ballet for as long as she can remember.
She took her first class at the age of three, after a bit of a rocky start. Her family still jokes about how, when her mom first asked her if she'd like to give dance a try, she had a frank one-word answer: "Nope."
She relented because it looked "magical onstage — "they were pretty, they did fun twirls, they had pretty dresses on, you know" — and before long, dance had won her over.
Now, at 17, the Riverview teen is packing her bags and moving more than 5,000 kilometres away to attend one of the top ballet schools in the United States on a full scholarship.
In September, Ruheza, who is heading into Grade 12, will start two years of training at the school of her dreams, Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle.
Zoom audition with 100 other dancers
Getting accepted seemed like a long shot, especially with COVID restrictions making in-person auditions impossible, but Ruheza wasn't deterred.
"I was looking into their school and just fell in love with it immediately," she said. "So when I saw that they were going to be having auditions, I knew that I had to do them."
The first step was a Zoom audition with about 100 other dancers from around the world.
"Definitely different from any other auditions I've done before," Ruheza said, laughing.
The next step was to film an audition tape. Ruheza and her mom, Tina Antle, shot part of it on a cellphone in their basement, and rented a room in a community centre to film the rest.
Riverview teen dances toward her dream at prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet School
1 year ago
Duration 3:45
She sent the videos off, but worried that her chances of being accepted would be hurt by the fact that she couldn't perform in person.
"I think dance, as much as it is just your body — it's so much about your character, personality, and how you carry yourself," Ruheza said. "So much of that is lost when you're looking through a screen."
While she waited to hear back, she calculated her odds of getting in to her dream school.
The program she was vying for accepts about 45 people, she said.
Meanwhile, "the whole world has the ability to audition" for it.
"So it's definitely a small group of people that get in," Ruheza said.
Dreams don't happen overnight
Ruheza has been preparing for this moment since that first ballet class at age three.
She has attended the Alberta Ballet School in Calgary, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and the National Ballet School of Canada. She's also trained with the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada in Moncton.
But the Pacific Northwest Ballet is her favourite dance company, and being accepted to their school was a moment she won't forget.
When school officials requested a Zoom meeting, Ruheza had no idea what was coming.
They asked her why she thought the school would be a good fit, and about her plans.
At the end of the meeting, Ruheza heard the words she had been waiting for — she was invited to join the school.
"When I got off the call I was screaming like a little kid. I was so excited," she said with a huge smile.
Much is about to change for the 17-year-old, who turns 18 in December. Ruheza is moving from Riverview to Seattle, and will live on her own while attending school.
In the meantime, she's organizing, packing, making sure her paperwork is in order, arranging flights and confirming her living arrangements.
As with everything, there is the added layer of COVID-19 precautions to consider.
It was something that brought me joy. But I didn't realize how much of an impact dance would have on my life and where it would take me — the opportunities it would bring me.- Maya Ruheza
Although it will be hard to leave her mother, being away for dance before has helped her prepare.
Ruheza says she's ready, although she knows there will be some difficult times ahead.
Looking at a picture of herself in a pink tutu at her first recital, she reflects on how dance has influenced her life.
"It was something I loved to do, it was something that brought me joy. But I didn't realize how much of an impact dance would have on my life and where it would take me — the opportunities it would bring me."
The magic she felt watching dancers as a little girl has transformed over the years, she says, and now she can't imagine herself doing anything else.
"This is magical in a different way," she says. "How I feel, how it makes me feel. Dance is so good for me. That just stayed true from a young age."
Ruheza says her next goal is a career as a professional dancer — hopefully with the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Maya Ruheza has loved ballet for as long as she can remember.
She took her first class at the age of three, after a bit of a rocky start. Her family still jokes about how, when her mom first asked her if she'd like to give dance a try, she had a frank one-word answer: "Nope."
She relented because it looked "magical onstage — "they were pretty, they did fun twirls, they had pretty dresses on, you know" — and before long, dance had won her over.
Now, at 17, the Riverview teen is packing her bags and moving more than 5,000 kilometres away to attend one of the top ballet schools in the United States on a full scholarship.
In September, Ruheza, who is heading into Grade 12, will start two years of training at the school of her dreams, Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle.
Zoom audition with 100 other dancers
Getting accepted seemed like a long shot, especially with COVID restrictions making in-person auditions impossible, but Ruheza wasn't deterred.
"I was looking into their school and just fell in love with it immediately," she said. "So when I saw that they were going to be having auditions, I knew that I had to do them."
The first step was a Zoom audition with about 100 other dancers from around the world.
"Definitely different from any other auditions I've done before," Ruheza said, laughing.
The next step was to film an audition tape. Ruheza and her mom, Tina Antle, shot part of it on a cellphone in their basement, and rented a room in a community centre to film the rest.
Riverview teen dances toward her dream at prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet School
1 year ago
Duration 3:45
She sent the videos off, but worried that her chances of being accepted would be hurt by the fact that she couldn't perform in person.
"I think dance, as much as it is just your body — it's so much about your character, personality, and how you carry yourself," Ruheza said. "So much of that is lost when you're looking through a screen."
While she waited to hear back, she calculated her odds of getting in to her dream school.
The program she was vying for accepts about 45 people, she said.
Meanwhile, "the whole world has the ability to audition" for it.
"So it's definitely a small group of people that get in," Ruheza said.
Dreams don't happen overnight
Ruheza has been preparing for this moment since that first ballet class at age three.
She has attended the Alberta Ballet School in Calgary, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and the National Ballet School of Canada. She's also trained with the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada in Moncton.
But the Pacific Northwest Ballet is her favourite dance company, and being accepted to their school was a moment she won't forget.
When school officials requested a Zoom meeting, Ruheza had no idea what was coming.
They asked her why she thought the school would be a good fit, and about her plans.
At the end of the meeting, Ruheza heard the words she had been waiting for — she was invited to join the school.
"When I got off the call I was screaming like a little kid. I was so excited," she said with a huge smile.
Much is about to change for the 17-year-old, who turns 18 in December. Ruheza is moving from Riverview to Seattle, and will live on her own while attending school.
In the meantime, she's organizing, packing, making sure her paperwork is in order, arranging flights and confirming her living arrangements.
As with everything, there is the added layer of COVID-19 precautions to consider.
It was something that brought me joy. But I didn't realize how much of an impact dance would have on my life and where it would take me — the opportunities it would bring me.- Maya Ruheza
Although it will be hard to leave her mother, being away for dance before has helped her prepare.
Ruheza says she's ready, although she knows there will be some difficult times ahead.
Looking at a picture of herself in a pink tutu at her first recital, she reflects on how dance has influenced her life.
"It was something I loved to do, it was something that brought me joy. But I didn't realize how much of an impact dance would have on my life and where it would take me — the opportunities it would bring me."
The magic she felt watching dancers as a little girl has transformed over the years, she says, and now she can't imagine herself doing anything else.
"This is magical in a different way," she says. "How I feel, how it makes me feel. Dance is so good for me. That just stayed true from a young age."
Ruheza says her next goal is a career as a professional dancer — hopefully with the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Officials at Seattle Public Schools just agreed to a new three-year contract with the powerful WEA teachers’ union. The contract will add $228 million, about 20%, to the budget. The new spending comes on top of the billion dollar-plus budget the District has now.
District officials say they don’t have enough money for the contract they just agreed to. Superintendent Brent Jones (annual salary $315,000) says he wants an additional $92 million to fund this new contract. He terms the decision to spend more as “amazing”:
“We have achieved something amazing. SPS and educators across the district pushed our differences aside to reach a bargaining agreement… We have put the needs of our students first… Let’s allow this to be a time of jubilance for our scholars.”
Here are the details.
In 2022-23, Seattle Public Schools has just over 7,000 people on payroll, for a system of 48,784 students, or one employee for every seven students. Yet only 47 percent, or 3,347, of school employees are classroom teachers. The District’s current operating budget is $1.14 billion, or $22,200 per student, more than tuition at most private schools. This money is in addition to the District’s capital budget.
The added $228 million is an average increase of $32,500 per employee. Some will go to double-digit pay raises to current employees. Some will go to hiring new employees, even as student enrollment is falling (enrollment is down 7.5%).
Why would school officials agree to spend money they don’t have? Because the state legislative session is only four months away. Officials will go to Olympia and say schools are “underfunded” and seek a bail-out. They will almost certainly get it.
The Democrats in charge know they must keep their Seattle base happy or risk losing office. Naturally, Governor Inslee will raise no objection. As a result, communities across the state will be forced to help pay for Seattle’s contract give-away, but it will be rolled into the state budget, so it is likely few people will notice.
This repeats the tactic officials used in 2017 and 2018, when school districts and the WEA put school budgets in deficit to get a property tax increase. See page 4 and 5 of our Policy Note for details.
As context, Seattle Public Schools spending increased 50% in five years. See this graph from fiscal.wa.gov:
People are paying more than ever for public schools – more even than average tuition at a private school, yet school officials always say they’re in a budget “shortfall”.
At the same time, learning services to students are down. The latest testing shows Seattle schools failed to educate 82 percent of black students in math and 71 percent of them in English. Scores are down for white students as well.
Parents get tired of wearisome rounds of teacher strikes, followed by an “unfunded” contract, followed by a budget “shortfall”, followed by a taxpayer bailout. Parents want alternatives.
More progressive states, like Arizona and Ohio, are moving forward with school choice. Choice lets families receive education funding directly, then access learning services, including private schools if they want, that best serve children.
School choice is becoming more popular because it ends the union trickery and local corruption in schools. Choice puts the learning needs of children first, and the financial desires of adults second. That way the grown-ups in big urban systems can engage in all the political games they like, while students go elsewhere to get a good education.
