Support Rockwell Dance Center

My name is Nancy Altchiler, and I am starting this GoFundMe campaign on behalf of Nikole LaChioma. I want to help her achieve her goal of educating future generations of young artists at her new studio Rockwell Dance Center in Trumbull, CT.  

With these funds she will be able to award scholarships to in-need and exceptional dancers, continue to make charity and community events a priority, and make necessary studio upgrades and repairs.  Most importantly, she will be able to continue to provide a nurturing environment and second home for all of her students.  The studio is really one of a kind. It's faculty consists of teachers who have earned BFAs and MFAs in dance education and professionals who  continue to  work in the field. It also has it's own black box theater and over 10,000 sq. feet of space.

My three daughters have had the honor of dancing with Nikole for the past 10 years.  She has taught them valuable lessons every day, not just about dance, but how to be charitable, selfless, team players, and so much more.  Nikole was born to do this. She has the unique ability (and I honestly don't know how she does it) to take every single student under her wing and teach them, mentor them, love them, and bring out their own unique talents.  Whether they are interested in being professional dancers or want to take just one class for fun, she takes time to get to know them and helps them live up to their utmost potential.  Her students don't just become dancers, they become artists, doctors, lawyers, whatever is true to them.  She helps them every step of the way.  Some of those students have gone on to win the National YoungArts Scholarship, Princess Grace Award for Dance, scholarships to Juilliard, NYU Tisch, Marymount Manhattan College, CalArts, Point Park University and others. She has also had students accepted to Alvin Ailey and ABT’s Pre Professional Training Programs.

Nikole is an extremely accomplished teacher and choreographer.  She most recently won Outstanding Choreographer at Youth America Grand Prix.  She graduated cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Ballet Performance. She is an ABT ® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT ® Teacher Training Intensives in Pre Primary through Partnering of the ABT ® National Training Curriculum.

What is most impressive about Nikole's accomplishments is her generosity. Over the course of her teaching career she has made it possible to award $950,000 in scholarship funds directly to dancers in need of help for classes, summer intensives, costumes, master class workshops and performance fees.   Additionally,  she founded the non-profit dance company, The Parker Project,  which has personally contributed $55,000 to these same funds. 

I've experienced first hand the positive impact that Nikole has had on my daughters, and I was moved to start this GoFundMe to ensure that Rockwell will provide the same opportunities to other children for years to come.

Thank you so much.  Best, Nancy Altchiler

For more information visit www.rockwelldancecenter.com

SPONSOR GIFTS:
$250            RDC shirt
$500             2 tickets to SAM benefit concert
$1000          2 tickets to Sam Benefit Concert and name                              added to RDC angel plaque 
$2500+       1 free dance class at RDC for a year to be
                          given to person of your choice and name
                          added to RDC angel plaque.
$5000           All of the above