Pubdate: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 Source: Advocate, The (LA) Copyright: 2002 The Advocate, Capital City Press Contact: http://www.theadvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2 Author: Ryan Goudelocke DANCE TROUPE HELPS STOMP DRUG ABUSE Pinkie "Ms. Pinkie" Windsor says her dancing troupe gives children a source of self-esteem they can use to combat peer pressure, such as using drugs. "We're teaching structure from the ground up, structured children become structured adults," she said. "If you drink a cup of the dance we're giving," Windsor added with a smile, "you'll do all right." She runs Excel Dance Company out of the Baranco-Clark YMCA on Thomas H. Delpit Drive. At a block party Saturday, she juggled a slew of dance-team mixes from a makeshift stage tent while yelling complex position instructions to children perhaps 3 feet tall. "We're using dance as a way of helping people feel positive," she said. "You cannot be in our company if you don't do the right thing not sometimes, but all the time." That means academic achievement and keeping a positive attitude -- and helping out others instead of just yourself. "It's like that Nike slogan, 'Just Do It'," Windsor said. "I like Nike -- I'm wearing some right now. But it's not just do it for yourself. Don't just do it; just do it right." Katherine Martin, executive director of O'Brien House on Main Street, had similar thoughts. "This is an event for young people who are doing the right thing," she said. "We've got both drug-abuse treatment people" -- a methadone clinic worker was giving out literature -- "and prevention," Martin said, pointing at several D.A.R.E. officers from the Police Department and the City Constable's Office. Rosie-Mary Beathley, a Girl Scout and student at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, said she wanted to "help support people who've quit drinking and using drugs. They deserve our support." O'Brien House, a six-month inpatient treatment center for recovering alcoholics and addicts, has been helping put people back into society since 1971. Martin said the fourth annual block party, which included an early-morning 5K race and 1-mile walk/run, got started as a way to reach out to the community. "It's a place where people can come to get away from drugs -- it's a hope for a new tomorrow," said Anne Robertson Carra, a Girl Scout leader. The Girl Scouts took the stage about 9:30 and got lot of attention and applause for their cheer, before making way for the dancers. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex