For every prom flop and wedding disappointment, there's the Amira Ball.
"Amira" means "princess" in Arabic, and this is a night to own it.
Mayra and Nick Duron organized the grown-up dance next Saturday for anyone who needs a second chance at a special occasion.
"We're inviting everybody to redeem their night, whether they've lost their prom or had a crappy wedding experience," says Mayra Duron, 31. "Whatever it is, come and redeem your night."
This is no pricey gala — tickets cost $18 to pre-order or $20 at the door. The proceeds support a Mending the Soul course that Duron will facilitate for women and girls who have been sexually abused.
"We want to make people feel beautiful," Mayra Duron says. "What Nick does is, he is a tattoo artist, so he meets people all the time, men and women, who have these incredible stories, but our desire is to bring healing beyond the surface and go more than skin deep. We wanted to throw the ball to join hands with our community and transform it for the better."
The Amira Ball partnered with Free Ever After to collect almost 60 dresses so women living in several local group homes could attend the ball at no cost. Free Ever After is a nonprofit bridal boutique that supports and helps victims of sex trafficking.
"We just love the idea of redemption in general," says Abigail Wilhelm, the director of operations at Free Ever After. "That's why we reuse wedding dresses ... It's a picture of redemption, and the chance to love on and bless women in our community, that's always a big thing for us."
Free Ever After collects donated dresses and sells them. All proceeds fund the organization's mission to help survivors of sex abuse.
The evening begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22 at Whistle Stop Depot, 127 W. Fifth St. Duron suggests stopping at one of the many selfie stations first, to "document the makeup and dress" before dancing undoes that hard work.
She also adds that cocktail attire is totally appropriate.
"I don't want people not to come if they're not wearing a ball gown," she says.
Guests can also expect a dessert bar and several performances, including a spoken word piece by Duron.
"Mayra is the brains behind the event and has this beautiful vision behind it..." says friend and fellow organizer Kerri Williams. "It's neat to see so many organizations come together ... all of these different people who believe in the mission of the ball and just really love our city and want to see it impacted."
Those organizations include Scarred Beautiful, Hands of Hope and Free Ever After. Duron says that Rob Wallace of Maryland-based Power52 agreed to sponsor the event after meeting her husband.
This is the Durons' fourth event but their first ball. Usually their events are more oriented toward spoken-word performances.
All of it reflects their Christian faith.
"We come straight from the ghetto, and we actually met in a gang," Duron says of their Tucson background. The couple has been together since they were 15. "I love that side of the tracks. They're filled with passion and creativity."
Duron says her life began to change when she had her first child as a teenager. Suddenly, school mattered. Graduating mattered. She started pulling A's in school and was crowned homecoming queen, with her 2-year-old son sitting on the bleachers.
"A lot of the people who are helping with the ball have either experienced trauma or abuse or they have a loved one who has experienced something like that or any kind of heartache really," Williams says. "We want people to know those things don't define them."
Duron missed out on her share of special occasions. She knows what it means to need a night redeemed, to need community.
"Being in a gang, what you're truly searching for is family ... and when we understood that Christ was from the (biblical) tribe of Judah, it was like that sense that you are invited into a tribe, you're invited into a gang, but this time, the leader made the sacrifice ..." Duron says.
The Amira Ball is one of the ways Duron wants to use the pain of her past to help her community.
"There is a lot of passion in the pain, and so all that passion can't be wasted," she says. "And so when you grow up with this rough childhood, with this rough experience, all that passion can be used for good."
Mayra and Nick Duron planned the Amira Ball as a way to redeem lost special occasions.
Now Nick Duron owns his tattoo shop Spoken Arts and the couple have five children. They write poetry together.
"Poetry has always been a part of my soul," Mayra Duron says. "It's the way I cope. It's the way I fight for justice and pursue healing. Maya Angelou, I love her. She fought through poetry ... Martin Luther King, Jr., I believe, was a poet, so I want to be like them. Cesar Chavez, he fought poetically as well. And so, I thought, this is how I'm going to fight for peace, love and community."
With poetry and with one, big dance party.
If you go:
What: The Amira Ball. Appropriate for ages 15 and older.
When: 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 22
Where: Whistle Stop Depot, 127 W. Fifth St.
Cost: $18 per pre-ordered ticket, $20 at the door
For more information and to buy tickets, visit artreachingthesoul.com.
