New Website

If you are here, you should be here- www.nicolelabonde.com
This is my new blog and business page.

Also visit www.theauditionadvantage.com
This is my new business with the uber-talented Shaun Yates. I blog there as well.

Thanks for reading!

Promotional Toolkit - Ideablob: where ideas grow

Promotional Toolkit - Ideablob: where ideas grow

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Easy and Free Ways to Support Indigenous Pitch!

1. Use www.goodsearch.com as your search engine. Set it as your homepage and/or download the toolbar. Choose Indigenous Pitch as your charity.
2. Use www.goodshop.com for all your online shopping. Almost all of your favorite stores participate- iTunes, Target, Borders. Just access the actual vendor site through goodshop to have IPDC credited with your purchase. This uses the actual vendor site, no worries about giving your credit card info to a different site.
3. Go to www.ideablob.com RIGHT NOW and vote for Indigenous Pitch. We could win $10,000!
4. Tell everyone you know about these things! It's quick, easy, painless, and you are already doing #1 and #2 anyway, so help us out!

Creation Inspiration

I am thrilled to announce that Indigenous Pitch is doing two dance camps, in two states, AT THE SAME TIME!

That's right- while the usual team is still in NOLA doing week 2 of our program there, Charles and I (Nicole) are doing one in Ardmore. While we are not running this camp, we are providing the dance portion each day, as well as any other help we can give- child wrangler, cheerleader, gopher, etc. The camp is at the First Baptist Church in Ardmore, on the corner of Athens and St. Pauls, so it is right in the neighborhood. The camp is called Creation Camp and it seeks to develop the creative arts in children- visual art, story-telling, music, theater, and dance.

Creating is what makes humans different from all the other animals. Yet so often, we are afraid to create. What will people think? What will they say? Is it good enough? Am I good enough? At this camp, we are showing children that they have the skills they need to be artists. It doesn't matter if you have had years of training, or skilled parents. An innate part of being human is being a creator. We do not each create the same things, or in the same way. (And how boring it would be if we did!) Our skills may be verbal, musical, theatrical, or physical. Some may draw, some may sculpt, and some can interpret those things into words or movement. Giving the children confidence in their creative skills is important not just for art-making, but for creating confident citizens that see the potential in those around them.

In my time at camp yesterday, our youngest camper made up a word. The rest of the camp fell in love with it and used it the rest of the day! It even found its way into the camp song they wrote together in music class!

During my dance class we worked on steps and shapes. We did positive and negative space- this exercise requires teamwork and an ability to connect. For the first day of camp, connecting physically to new people is a pretty tall order. But our campers did it, and made some beautiful human landscapes.

We also worked on movements the kids already know- keeping with the theme of innate creativity. One of my favorite movement games is to play different genres of music, one right after the other, and watch what happens. Classical music=ballet, even if they have no idea what a ballet step is! Jazz music= struts and wiggling fingers. Rap music=head nodding, arm waving, and street moves. Spanish music=stomps and claps. My personal favorite yesterday was a piece of techno music that inspired a roomful of robots!

Music and dance are universal languages. They are linked in our culture and our souls. Children know this without being told, without being taught. As we get older, we let our fears shut down our joy and our intuition.

Follow the children- listen to the song and let it move you!

Nicole

Donation Letter

Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective
10 E. Athens Ave. Suite 204
Ardmore, PA 19003

“…I need to play just to get stuff off my mind,” Tiffany, 10 years old. “…thank you so much for coming to teach my daughter. All of our neighbors are gone and she doesn’t have anywhere safe to play,” mother of Derian. “…I am learning the coolest moves!!” Jose, 7 years old.

These are just a few of the many words of encouragement and feedback we have been receiving the last two years from the children and parents that have been to our free dance camp in New Orleans.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought devastation to the city of New Orleans. It is our current mission to help the neglected children of this city through the transformative power of dance. Our goal is to empower them as they rebuild their fractured community and re-establish hope.

Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective, Inc. is a collective of Philadelphia-based dance companies whose goal is to perform works of artistic excellence that reflect and highlight the diversity of our city and its native, homegrown dance styles. Through the art of dance, we also seek to assist and nurture children who have been affected by natural, and/or socio-economic disasters. We further this mission through performances, residencies and workshops throughout the United States and abroad.

This year, Indigenous Pitch will be returning to New Orleans for two weeks, from July 25th to August 8th, for our third year! Again, we will offer visual arts projects, music, theatre, and dance, as a form of therapy and teambuilding. We will continue honoring each camper’s personal story as s/he transforms these dire situations into ones of empowerment and hope. However, none of this can happen without your support. Our budget for the two weeks is $12,000…we are currently $8,000 short!!

By donating to our New Orleans project, you will be giving a voice to the children who have been silenced for so long. As a non-profit organization, we operate solely on donations. Your tax-free gift is vital to helping this mission succeed. No contribution is too small for this otherwise forgotten generation. Please make checks payable to: Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective, Inc., or IPDC, Inc., and mail to 10 E. Athens Ave. Ardmore, PA 19003. You can also donate online at http://www.indigenouspitch.org/. And, please see the attached letter for information on how children can get involved in helping other children!

Thank you so much for joining IPDC in our steadfast efforts to bring hope and community back to the lives of these children.


Sincerely,
Nicole LaBonde
Executive Director

I am so easily bored.

So I thought I'd take another job. That's right, why not? 10 hrs/wk at the Pilates studio, 20+/wk at Wellworks and then a few more here and there and the dance studio and gym was not enough for me.

I am now the Executive Director of Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective. IPDC was created 3 years ago by Lisa Welsh, who owns the dance studio where I work. After hearing about the devastation still lingering a year after Hurrican Katrina, she decided to do what she does best: love children through dance. She took a group of instructors from the studio and went to New Orleans for a week to provide a free dance camp.

Since then, the program has grown and we are now providing camps in New Orleans and Philadelphia. Lisa realized that she needed some help with the non-profit, because sometimes, being so close and so passionate can make being objective and business-like difficult. She asked me to come on board as the executive director.

This is currently a volunteer position, although we are working (practically around the clock) to secure funding for our programs. Along that line, I am posting our Donation Letter. If you can help in anyway, it would be greatly appreciated!

It's Official!

Well, it's over. That's right, I received final word that I passed my written test! I am now an officially certified Pilates instructor. It is a huge relief to be done, to take my lessons for me and my body, and to really start to teach (and, therefore, hopefully make money).

So, thanks to everyone who made it possible:

• My husband- super-supportive and encouraging
• Brie- I learned more than I ever thought there was
• The girls in the program- you can do it!
• The rest of my family- for putting up with my crazy ideas

Hopefully this blog will now become more about the challenges and situations of teaching, as well as general wellness and fitness, in conjunction with my new job at Wellworks for You.