Campaign Update: We may have reached our first goal, but we still have a long way to go! Please consider making a donation as we still need your help in helping us fundraise as much as possible to not only be able to create the best book possible but be able to give away as many books as possible! :)
OUR STORY
Hi! My name is Matina Banks and I am the director of The Adventures of a Rogue Swan. I am a ballerina and a former arts in education teacher and I am running a fundraiser with my company to publish a children's book called La Esmeralda. The Adventures of a Rogue Swan introduces ballet to children through children's books, multimedia performances and much more!
We are so excited to be working on the next book in our children's book series, La Esmeralda. La Esmeralda is based on the ballet of the same which is about the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It follows a beautiful young Romani dancer who befriends an isolated and bullied hunchback named Quasimodo. Both struggle with their self-esteem because they are judged solely by their looks - Esmeralda because of her beauty and graceful dancing and Quasimodo because of his deformed face and hunchback, and not who they are on the inside. Through their friendship, they support each other while learning how to feel good about themselves and who they are.
Our adaptation of La Esmeralda as a children’s book is special because it was done with the help of immigrant and refugee children who recently immigrated to America and who wrote and illustrated the book. We then are taking their work and putting it together into a professionally published children's book that will be available on Amazon so that children all over the world can have access to this incredible story and be introduced to ballet while learning about self-esteem.
We are fundraising to get enough funds to publish this book and to be able to buy copies to give to our wonderful student creators who worked on it.
La Esmeralda will be the next book The Rogue Swan Adventure Series, a series of children's books based on classical ballet fairytales and adapted and illustrated by immigrant kids. Check out our current publications on Amazon.
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Alba | Rogue Swan Student, Illustrator, Writer
Meet Alba!!
Alba has a special story. Coming from Central America with only her brother she is a talented young 20 year old woman whose family have sacrificed their own career goals in order that she should be able to finish high school and graduate. After arriving in the U.S. and receiving all her proper paperwork, she and her brother worked full time and went to school to try to support themselves. But it wasn't working. Both siblings struggled to have time for both school and work. Alba became very depressed because her brother was working so much that she felt alone and isolated. So she took on even more shifts and her grades slipped further.
So her brother made a tough choice. He dropped out of school so that only one of them had to work full time and Alba could have the time and space and support to finish school and graduate. It's a heart wrenching story that so many of our students are familiar with.
And where do we come in? We hope to be a bit light for them while they work through these obstacles.
Alba came to us in her English Language classes where students focus is to learn English before being integrated into mainstream classes. But our project had a surprise for them. Why not learn English by writing a children's book that will be professionally published on Amazon for children around the world to enjoy and learn from? And what's more, how about learning about ballet and illustrating it as well? So many of the students that work with us are extremely talented not only with their writing skills but their artistic talent as well.
Working on the project was everything for Alba. She is so excited to hopefully be getting a copy of her book this spring. Art is therapy. It gives support and hope and inspiration. Whether you are creating the book or the one who benefits from getting to read it, like children around the world will once we are able to publish it. And we want all of our students, like Alba, to be able to receive copies of the book that they worked so hard on and that has given them so much joy and hope.
WHAT WE NEED & WHAT YOU GET
We are fundraising for two things:
- So that we can have enough funds to finish and publish our book to Amazon so that children all over the world can have the opportunity to not only learn about this wonderful ballet story but also learn more about self worth and what it means for them.
- We'd like to gift copies of our book to the student creators who helped create these books!
We are offering some exciting perks including:
- Donating copies of our book to student creators
- You receive your own copy of the book
- Signed copies of our books signed by one of our student illustrators and authors
- Have your name listed as one of our sponsors in our book when it's published
- Receive a virtual behind the scenes tour of the making of La Esmeralda including getting to meet some of the creators.
*Don't see a perks package you like? Contact us and let's discuss one!
Whatever the outcome, we are extremely grateful for whatever is donated.
IMPACT
La Esmeralda is the next book in our series of children's books called The Rogue Swan Adventure Series. These books are adaptations of classical ballets that were written and illustrated by immigrant students who have recently come to the U.S. Most of them didn't speak much English when they arrived and didn't know anything about ballet so we created this project as a way to help them with both. These students helped create these adaptations as part of their English Language classes in Northern Virginia Public Schools. These adaptations were first presented as performances and now are being turned into children's books. For more information on The Adventures of a Rogue Swan please feel free to check out our website.
ABOUT US
Our team is very dedicated and passionate about what we do. We are looking to build upon our success from this fundraiser to expand into doing other projects.
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Matina Banks | Creative Director, Ballerina, Educator
Matina is a ballerina, educator and producer born in Northern Virginia and raised in New York City. She started The Adventures of a Rogue Swan (TARS) after using the arts to teach academics in New York City Public Schools, most especially in the Bronx. While working in the Bronx, she fell in love with the children she worked with but always felt heartbroken that she couldn't do more to help them - especially teaching them not to give up on themselves or their dreams. She also fell in love with literacy, reading and children's books and used reading as a way to help her students feel empowered and gain access to the world.
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Leah Court | Children's Book Illustrator & Graphic Designer
Leah Court is an illustrator and art teacher who lives in the UK. She graduated from university in 2019 with a degree in Graphic Arts and earned her PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) as an Art Teacher in 2022. She currently teaches art, design technology, media and photography for a secondary school in Greater London. From paper cut to digital illustrations she enjoys experimenting with a variety of media within her work. She loves working with colour and appreciates the effect it has on the message being communicated. Her interest in and curiosity for exploring and learning more about the world around her led her to join this project.
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Zurisaday Cabellero Lopez | Graphic Designer, Photographer & Former Rogue Swan Student
Zurisaday Cabellero Lopez has had many roles working with our TARS project. First starting as one of our students, working on our multimedia performances and children's books with a very special talent in illustration. She then moved on to designing some of our marketing and even working as a photographer during our performances. She has now graduated with honors from high school and has moved onto university studies and continues developing her drawing skills. We were very fortunate to have Zuri working on La Esmeralda as through her talents she created the main character, La Esmeralda and many other illustrations.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Word of mouth is the best way to help get donations. People are more likely to donate to causes that they know.
Please share our campaign on social media. Feel free to use the share tools that Indiegogo offers.
Thank you for all your support! Remember no donation is too small and keep checking back as we will be posting more information and updates on our campaign!
