Get ready to boogie down for a good cause.

Elaina Laughlin, a Gateway High School student will host a Dance for Life charity event Friday at Monroeville Sports Center to benefit two charities that will help two special little girls.

People of all ages are welcome and the cost of admission is $10 per person.

The night will also consist of entertainment by DJ Natro, arts and crafts, massages, caricatures, balloon art and more.

Laughlin organized the fund raiser because she wanted to help two girls whom she teaches dance to at Ken and Jean's Dance Studio in North Versailles.

The girls, Quinn Anlauf, 8, of North Huntingdon and Sierra Barbarino, 5, of North Versailles, have serious medical conditions and Laughlin said she wanted to help out.

"They both love to dance and both their families were very happy about it," said Laughlin, 17, a Monroeville native.

She's been a dance teaching aide at the studio for about a year and teaches the girls ballet and tap.

Laughlin said she's a little bit nervous about how the fundraiser is going to go but hopes to fill it to capacity.

If Laughlin is having a little bit of the jitters, both families are feeling a sigh of relief.

"I thought it was amazing that somebody was kind enough to think of us," says Tina Barbarino, 42, Sierra's mom.

Sierra needs a liver transplant as she is afflicted with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a condition that interferes in the liver's ability to transport bile for digestion.

The disease eventually causes the liver to no longer be able to function.

Her condition doesn't keep Sierra from dancing, Tina says. Sierra takes ballet and dance, doing so for the past three years.

"She's always dancing around," says Tina.

Sierra has been on a waiting list for a liver for about 15 months.

Quinn Anlauf has Cystic Fibrosis, an affliction that primarily affects her lungs. Cystic Fibrosis causes a defect when the body produces mucus causing air passageways to become clogged. It can cause respiratory failure and is also known to block the pancreas' ability to digest fat and proteins, which leads to the body being unable to absorb vitamins.

Quinn gets straight A's in school and still dances despite her condition, which was found when she was nine days old, says her mother, Tracey, 34.

"She wants to be a teacher," says Tracey.

Quinn takes tap and ballet dances and has done so at the dance studio for five years now, says Tracey.

When Quinn isn't excelling in school or taking dance she likes to play with her younger brother Cadin, who helps out in anyway he can, says Tracey.

Tracey said the family usually tries to do a fundraiser every year but Laughlin's fundraiser has really helped them.

"What a nice thing to be able to get it off our chest," says Tracey.

Both mothers and their spouses had nothing but praise for Laughlin and the folks at the dance studio

"She is an amazing girl with an amazing amount of energy. These people have gone above and beyond, opened their hearts. They have brought such a light to a tough situation," says Tina.

"We were just thrilled. We are so grateful to her for doing this. It was really nice to be able to meet the family," says Tracey.

The Dance for Life will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Sierra Liver Transplant Fund and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, child life department.

For more information, call Laughlin at 412-856-4944 or e-mail Elaina.laughlin@gmail.com [1].