Full story

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affects around 1.5 million people in America... and I am one of them.

Imagine dedicating 20 years of your life to training for your dream career, something you hold a deep passion for. Then imagine it all being taken away in one sentence. This is exactly what happened to me at the age of 23.

After years of being sick, in September of 2013 I was diagnosed with Lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. 1.5 million Americans have Lupus yet there have been no large scale studies on the disease. Doctors currently do not know what causes Lupus and there is no cure. 

Two months after I was diagnosed I became critically ill. My blood platelets plummeted to the point where I was at risk of internal bleeding if I was touched. During this time my passion, dance, was ripped away. I battled hard every single day to get to a place where I could get myself back into a dance studio and be stripped of the title “critically ill.”

Eventually I was allowed back into the dance studio where I faced the next great challenge. I was still not physically allowed to dance. I knew the only way I was going to survive this disease for the rest of my life would be if I could continue teaching and choreographing. I had no other choice but to learn to teach and choreograph dance from sitting in a chair.  

InvisibleWings Dance Project was born in August of 2015 when I decided that it was time for me to emotionally process the last two years of my life and share the honest, unedited story of what I had been through. I decided more people needed to be aware of Lupus and I was going to teach them through my art. Since that day, IWDP has performed at 8 professional venues, produced and performed 2 full length works, held a workshop for 60 students with a focus on Lupus awareness, and has 7 dance works in their repertoire all based on the disease. IWDP has inspired and brought hope to many!

So what are we specifically raising funds for?

IWDP is ready to take their mission of raising awareness for Lupus to the next level. We feel that it is time to break our regional boundary and expand to a national level of awareness. IWDP will be turning one of our stage pieces into a professional dance film. All of the funds raised will go directly into paying for this film to be professionally filmed and produced!