Far Beyond Dance: Interview with Transformación Ballet founder Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez
Last month, Brown Girls Do Ballet founder TaKiyah Wallace hosted a live interview with Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez, founder of Transformación Ballet - a ballet ministry located in the highlands of Guatemala. During the interview, Christine shared her journey of founding Transformación Ballet and explained how her passion for changing lives through dance has quickly manifested and multiplied through the organization’s initiatives.
Photo: @transformacionballet on Instagram
Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez is originally from Buffalo, NY. Since she was a child, she knew she wanted to own a dance studio and spent much of her life learning or teaching ballet. As a first-generation college student, Christine chose to follow a scientific career path, studying physical therapy in hopes to make her parents proud while still helping dancers in some way. Realizing she wasn’t fulfilling her purpose, she switched her studies to ethical fashion, which eventually led her to Guatemala.
Initially, Christine traveled to Guatemala for her Master’s program to interview indigenous weavers in an effort to facilitate fair trade on imports and exports between the U.S. and Latin America. Christine was offered her dream job twice but missed out on the opportunities due to timing. A prime example of the universe working in mysterious ways, those missed opportunities later paved the way for the creation of Transformación Ballet.
What has since grown into a ballet ministry with over 130 students, Transformación Ballet provides free dance classes to Guatemalan children in orphanages and children who come from low-income or high-trauma families. Outside of dance lessons, the ministry offers workshops on faith and health.
Photo: @transformacionballet on Instagram
“The whole goal of my program is to create community, discipline, and share the love of Christ with the kids,” Christine explained. She’s been able to achieve this goal in ways that reach far beyond teaching ballet lessons. Students in Transformación Ballet can also benefit from school supply donations and tuition support.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Guatemala has been placed on severe restrictions that aren’t expected to lift until at least the end of the year. Transformación Ballet has worked to keep children stimulated by offering free dance classes, English classes, craft nights, and bible study nights. Widespread internet service is a rare commodity in Guatemala, so Transformación Ballet uses donations to pay for internet services so that children can participate virtually. Additionally, Christine has started delivering meals to about 17 families in need.
“A lot of times when we enter into any sort of work in this realm, people put you in this kind of category of, ‘Oh, this is just about ballet,’ or ‘This is just about dance,’ but there’re so many different ways that you can actually expand your outreach,” TaKiyah stated, as the ladies discussed how their organizations have found various opportunities to make an impact on their communities.
Photo: @transformacionballet on Instagram
Another major way Transformación Ballet has expanded its outreach is through its Ballet Godparent Program. The program connects students in Guatemala with a volunteer mentor from the U.S. who sponsors their classes and virtually mentors them. Many of Christine’s students are children coming from difficult life situations that aren’t often encountered in the U.S. She explained that Guatemala is still a developing country with a completely different structure of society. This program fosters the growth of a supportive and encouraging relationship between kids and their Ballet Godparents.
“It’s amazing because I’ve seen children be able to recognize more of their potential and feel that extra motivation because they know somebody who is important to [me] also believes in them,” Christine stated. “You can be a presence so they know that there’s someone there who cares about them.” Students often receive rewards and congratulatory video calls from their Ballet Godparents when they improve their grades.
The Ballet Godparent Program is much like Brown Girl Do Ballet’s Brown Girl Ambassador program, TaKiyah noted. In fact, TaKiyah was introduced to Christine through Brown Girl Ambassador Alehssia ‘Coco’ Reinhart, whose family serves as Ballet Godparents for one of Christine’s students. Christine celebrated Coco and her family, explaining how they’ve inspired their mentee to want to be a teacher and a ballerina.
“Programs like these show how much a young person can do when you make them feel empowered,” TaKiyah stated, explaining that some students sign up for mentors and quickly become mentors themselves.
Photo: @transformacionballet on instagram
Initiatives like Transformación Ballet show that activities such as dance lessons are merely the foundations from which beautiful futures grow. Beyond dance, these organizations often impact children’s lives for the better, giving them hope and motivation to reach their full potentials.
“It’s taking this opportunity to reach out in every aspect of their life and tell them, ‘Whatever you pursue, you can be successful,’ and so through thinking that they can be successful, they become successful,” Christine said. “It’s a beautiful process.”
Transformación Ballet is now a part of our It Takes a Village initiative. To donate, volunteer to teach a class, or become a Ballet Godparent, visit their website. To watch the full video of this live interview on Instagram, click here.