South Bend, Ind., Jan 18, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Raffaella Stroik loved beauty.
A devout Catholic and a talented professional ballerina, Raffaella felt she experienced the beatific vision when she was performing for others. She hoped her art could be transformative in their lives.
But Raffaella’s short life ended in tragedy. On Nov. 14, 2018, her body was found in a lake some 140 miles from St. Louis, where she was a member of the city’s ballet. She was 23 years old.
Authorities ruled that there seemed to have been neither foul play nor self-harm.
“…the only thing that seems to have happened, could have happened, is some kind of an accident,” Duncan Stroik, Raffaella’s father, told WNDU News in South Bend, Indiana in November. “We don’t know what could have happened.”
In order to honor and continue their daughter’s legacy, Duncan and his family have decided to create a traditional ballet in honor of Rafaella, loosely based on her life and incorporating the elements of beauty and art that their daughter loved about ballet.
“We were trying to figure out how to remember her and how to memorialize her,” Stroik told CNA. “And I’m an architect, so I think buildings, monuments, tombstones, all kinds of things. And my wife actually had a dream that we would remember her through dance.”
“The goal was to continue her work, which was as a ballerina, in a way that we could, which is to create a new ballet,” he said.
Creating a new ballet is no easy feat, particularly a traditional ballet, which includes more in the way of sets and costumes and artistry than the minimalistic style of most contemporary ballets.
For help, the family set up an online fundraiser in order to raise the necessary money to hire professionals who could write the music and the choreography and help design the sets and costumes of the ballet.
“There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” Stroik said. “There’s a lot of artists that are part of this. And I’ve been calling myself the impresario, the producer in movie terms, who’s organizing all of it, but then trying to hire the best people that would share our vision for this ballet.”
Stroik said they went with a traditional ballet because that was Raffaella’s favorite style, and they believed it would be the best way to create a more timeless ballet that could endure through the ages. Raffaella was inspired by the romantic, fairy-tale style and themes of traditional ballets and believed it could do more to portray beauty than the style of contemporary ballet.
“Raffaella’s passion was to bring beauty to the world in many ways,” Stroik added. “Her prime strength was in dance and she really was trying in her own way to do things that were glorifying to God through traditional ballet and the beauty of the human body and what it can do.”
Stroik and his wife are writing the story of the ballet, which will loosely follow their daughter’s life – friends and family of Raffaella will be able to recognize the similarities, he said.
The story takes place in Italy, one of Raffaella’s favorite places to visit and the language that she studied. The story will take place in the 18th century so that it can incorporate some of the elements of traditional ballets – kings and queens, princes and princesses, peasants and village life.
The character of Rafaella will be a princess who grows up wanting to be an artist like her parents, meets interesting people in her life, and interacts with both a good prince and a deceptive prince who vie for her attention.
“(She’s) really searching for the true prince, and she sees him from time to time in her life. And then the other prince who comes along sweeps her off her feet and is very attractive, and she’s totally compelled by him but he turns out to be a deceptive prince,” Stroik said.
Stroik noted that the theme of superficial beauty and its deceptive power is a common one in other traditional ballets.
The ballet’s ending, of course, cannot be given away.
“My hope is it’s the kind of story with the kind of good and evil love, joy, hatred, fighting, peacemaking that will speak to people for generations. That’s my goal,” Stroik said.
The desire for a ballet that transcends generations is an idea that comes from his Catholic faith, Stroik added.
“We want to do something that’s timeless, that’s universal. And I think that relates to our Catholic faith. We’re not doing something just for today…but we also want it to – if it’s really good – hopefully, it will speak to future generations as well. So we’ll see, but that’s our goal,” he said.
Rafaella’s Catholic faith was always central to her life and her art, Stroik said, and he noticed it in how she interacted with others as well as in her passion for her art.
“It caused her to try to always put other people first, which we saw a lot in her life. It caused her to forgive…and she tried, as best she could, to live the Beatitudes,” he said.
“She told us that when she danced and danced really well, she felt like she was experiencing the beatific vision. She really felt that it was a very religious, spiritual experience, especially performing,” he said. “She was experiencing a taste of heaven.”
The Stroiks have raised $115,000 of their $250,000 goal, and Duncan said he has been surprised and touched by the way this project has touched the hearts of people who knew Raffaella and those who did not.
“One of the things that’s really surprised me in a good way is how many notes I’ve gotten from people – people that I know, but also people that I don’t know – telling me they love the idea. They said, ‘What a beautiful tribute to your daughter.’ And, again, people that I don’t even know will write me notes and say, ‘This is fantastic that you’re doing this.’”
Stroik said he hopes the ballet will be ready to premiere in spring or summer of 2022. He said they are still exploring options as to where it will debut, but they are hoping to recruit dancers from Rafaella’s life – from her time at the St. Louis ballet, her college ballet at Indiana University, and her high school ballet – who are professional dancers and friends of Rafaella to perform in it.
“I’m hoping that some of them will return to be part of this production,” he said.
Stroik added that he hopes people who come to see the “Raffaella” ballet will walk away with a new appreciation for the beauty of the art form and with a sense of hope.
“We want to do this ballet in order to bring a whole new audience to ballet, for a broader audience,” he said. “And because ballet can be very beautiful, very powerful, and it can speak to all the issues that concern our lives and give us…in this case, it’s a tragedy, but the way we’ve written the story is it’s also full of hope, because Raffaella was a girl with a lot of hope and a lot of faith.”
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“There is no need for the government to carry out enforcement actions in a way that provokes fear and anxiety among ordinary, hardworking immigrants and their families.”
Noble words indeed, which beg the question – given the ‘behavior’ of the good folks of LA – What other methods would you suggest?
Try That In A Small Town
Newsom runs onto the tarmac begging Trump for federal funds for the fire disaster but won’t help the feds remove criminals – go figure.
They never call for a reform of immigration laws when the liberals allow open borders for illegals to stream in.
Here’s another bishop who can’t bring himself to say “illegal” in reference to illegal immigrants. Why is he troubled that the federal government is enforcing immigration law? He should support law and order. The lawless and destructive rioters, encouraged by years of Democrat disregard for law and enforcement, are solely to blame for what’s happening in Los Angeles.
Newsom thinks the president must call him before activating the National Guard. I suspect he learned that from studying the efforts of other governors such as Orville Faubus and George Wallace
There’s a word for people who throw rocks at police, smash windows, loot, burn cars and shoot off fireworks with the intent to harm and terrorize. “Protesters” is not it.
The author of this piece uses the phrase “undocumented immigrants” and the bishop uses the phrase “unauthorized immigrant” even when referring to terrorist immigrants.
The bishops’ voting guide this past year stated that “we must stand with “newcomers-authorized and unauthorized.”
The bishops just cannot bring themselves to use the word ‘Illegal.” The words and terms that they use can only be described as propaganda words and terms. By using these propaganda words and terms they loose teaching credibility.
Archbishop Gomez, his Archdiocese of L.A., and its Catholic Charities are responsible for CAUSING the problem we now have with the invasion of our country by law-breaking illegal immigrants. It is ARCHBISHOP Gomez himself who should be arrested, tried, convicted and sent to jail. Try abiding by our laws, Archbishop.
Kings not apply. Another autocrat in action.
President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard on Saturday night, citing local leaders’ failure to control the situation. Interestingly, Trump saw the “need” to federalize the National Guard in LA, but, ironically, he did not call in the NG as the US Capitol on Jan. 6 was under siege. Instead, he sat idly by in the White House watching the riot on TV while Medows received a call for him to stop the madness. Some of those who called were his own family! After the smoke cleared, Trump called for the rioters to “Go home now. We feel your pain, we love you”. Then he issued a pardon for more than 150 rioters.
No one should accept riots in the streets of any city. Peaceful protests have been and are a constitutional right on display in nearly every US city relative to ICE and DOGE cruel actions. Why is LA any different?
Kings not apply?
I saw there’s a group with a similar name organizing these protests.
mrscracker: He’s just repeating what his handlers told him to say.
Do you believe Mr Morgan has handlers?
That wouldn’t occur to me.
Choice of language is a way to protect innocent and deserving illegals and other illegals with a good standing but with potential not yet ascertained. The legal-enforcement situation is very unsteady and has had the tendency to be brutal. The Archbishop and others could rightly feel that officials should resist being or feeling pressured to act unreasonably. Prudence would be the best course.
And by the way peaceful protest might win more support.
The LA TIMES report indicates that the policing has been left to local authorities and the military are consigned to federal locations.
‘ Maria Patiño Gutierrez lives in East L.A. but was back downtown Monday morning to join the rally in support of Huerta, the union leader arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday. As a U.S. citizen, she feels safe enough to join the rallies, knowing that many others in her community feel too vulnerable to be as vocal.
While she noticed graffiti as she walked to Grand Park, she said it was barely a concern compared with the recent ICE roundups that have had devastating consequences.
“Graffiti is going to be painted over, but family’s lives are impacted,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay hopeful, but I’m also really worried, really scared, really sad.”
“Everyone in L.A. is impacted one way or another — or everyone should be impacted,” Patiño Gutierrez said. “This is not business as usual.” ‘
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-09/la-me-downtown-la-immigration-violence
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/federal-judge-sides-with-trump-in-allowing-immigration-enforcement-in-houses-of-worship/
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/05/new-florida-illegal-immigration-blocked-by-federal-judge/82944027007/
A voice of moderation Elias. During present times even that will be impugned. I agree with what you say, although this dilemma is injurious to those on both sides of the issue.
Our bishops rarely if ever spoke out against human trafficking, evidence of using children. Crime, the fentanyl disaster. That has to be weighed in the scales of justice along with what you rightly say. Open border policy has precipitated a moral imbroglio. If we don’t control the border we will likely lose our Nation. Nevertheless, they’re many illegals working in the CA sun picking our crops.
I’ve held the position from the start that the Administration should be morally considerate on the justice issue. Biden gave them a free pass and the migrants knew it. Fault lies on the Biden administration side. Which is why, if we discover illegal migrants working hard along with their families we should let them stay for a term and finality set by the present administration.
Dear Father, I must respectfully disagree with your statement relative to Trump’s immigration policy. As a grateful American, I respect the Office of the President. I reserve my constitutional right to object to its occupant.
“The fault lies on the Biden administration side. Which is why, if we discover illegal migrants working hard along with their families we should let them stay for a term and finality set by the present administration.”
True, Biden was responsible for the current mess, but given that, I want to try to focus on the current administration and its “slash-and-burn” immigration policy failures. Lately, I see Biden as a conflicted man. His age is taking its toll. However, Biden showed me a man of character who did not spew hatred, lies and disparagement.
You know that Trump’s immigration “plan” will never purge only the criminal migrants. You also know that the ICE mass deportation “plan” is totally unworkable, costly and cruel. Czar Tom Homan recently said, “If you are here illegally, we will find you”. I interpret that to mean even hardworking families. Deporting a child suffering from cancer is perhaps the most egregious and sinful.
I am a lifetime Republican, and I refuse to align with the Trump MAGA madness, many of whom are directly affected by the actions of their “dear leader”. The American people are showing their objection to this man’s flame-throwing by peacefully protesting in every state.
I cannot remain silent, my religion and my Red, White and Blue stripe demand it.
God bless.
If you broke the law by entering the USA illegally, you must return to your own country. You are welcome to apply for entry in our country legally once you have left the USA; we’d be happy to have you.
It is the do-nothing establishment Republicans with their empty campaign promises that made Trump necessary. Your side are the ones who refused to govern and carry out your side’s hollow big talk. This has gone on for decades until the arrival of Trump and MAGA. Because of their failures, to me the establishment Republicans are just about as guilty as the Democrats are in the care and feeding of the Deep State. BTW, I’m an independent voter.
This article seems to be top heavy with euphemisms. Understand, my criticism is directed only to those using these euphemisms, not to this website for publishing this article. These euphemisms simply are an attempt to kick the can down the road and avoid dealing with the issue. I’m wondering how much government money is warping the conduct of the Church hierarchy? The paymaster being the true master? The church tax has pretty well destroyed the German Church.