Iylah Hanley, a young Mount Maunganui girl with alopecia has met dance superstar Parris Goebel. Photo / Instagram
Bald is beautiful.
That's the message Kiwi dance legend Parris Goebel had for 4-year-old Iylah Hanley during their special meeting at the weekend.
The Mount Maunganui youngster has alopecia, an autoimmune condition resulting in hair loss.
She first saw a photo of Goebel, who has a shaved head, in a huge advertisement for makeup brand M.A.C. and her mother Amelia Palmer posted a photo with the advertisement on Iylah's Instagram page the next day, tagging Goebel.
Two weeks later the pair met in an Auckland M.A.C store closed specifically for the meeting.
On Saturday, Iylah's mum Amelia Palmer shared photos and video of the encounter on Iylah's Instagram page, and Goebel did the same on her own Instagram page.
Iylah's video shows the family travelling to Auckland to see Goebel and staying in a hotel before catching a bus to the store.
At the store the pair are seen holding hands, doing each other's makeup and admiring it in the mirror and dancing together before exchanging cards with messages on them.
In her message to Iylah, Goebel wrote "Bald is Beautiful" with a picture of the two of them in a heart hugging.
Palmer captioned the video "you took me and my family in like we had known you forever".
"You treated us like we were a part of your family but most importantly you made me feel like the most important little girl in the world - for that I am forever grateful."
Iylah's Instagram described Goebel as having the "purest soul and a "beautiful heart".
"You have changed my life and I love you for it," the post said.
"I can't wait to see you again and meet all your nieces and nephews!"
Goebel is best known for choreographing Jennifer Lopez' recent Superbowl routine.
In her post she said she had been "touched" by how much Iylah had been through at such a young age.
"It meant so much to her to see a bald girl rocking it ... I had to meet this beautiful girl.
"We shut down the M.A.C store and had our own little makeup date!
"Over time she has gained the confidence to ignore what people think and walk out into the world and show everyone how beautiful she is," she said.
Goebel also thanked Iylah for "inspiring" her and others around the world.
"Together we are bald and beautiful."
Goebel's post has almost 160,000 likes.
