J.T Barber

ADT co-sponsors second annual Arts and Dance Camp at the Filling Station!  Atlantic Dance Theatre is proud to partner with The Filling Station in Jones County for the Arts and Dance Camp again in June of 2022.  This year’s camp, Grow Yourself, Grow Your World, offered arts projects, dance classes, and a special concert by the North Carolina Symphony!   

Atlantic Dance Theatre was thrilled to bring Carolina Ballet to 10 area schools in the Spring of 2022!  The Carolina Ballet presented an introduction to ballet and a performance of the Puss-in-Boots pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty for the students at 4 Jones County Schools and 6 Craven County Schools. The students asked questions and did their best Sautés (a ballet jump)!

ADT is proud to have supported Jane Peele’s STEM Weather Integration Project, The Weather All Around Us and Within, for the third and fourth grades at Trenton Elementary School in the winter of 2022.  The students met twice a week during their PE class and the project wrapped up with an informal performance for family and friends.

Bach and Forward 2022:  Through an incredible partnership with the NC School of Science and Math, put together by Paige Whitley-Bauguess, ADT was able to present a live streamed educational performance of Bach and Forward.  A live performance was held at the School of Science and Math and then streamed to several Craven and Jones County schools in the winter of 2022.  We were thrilled to present this incredible new work of LIVE MUSIC AND DANCE to community schools.

Souleymane Solo Sana is BACK!  In the Winter of 2021-22, ADT was able to bring Solo back for both in person and zoom dance workshops!  Solo is a favorite artist of ours with New Bern ties. His workshop, Live From Mali West Africa, reached more than 2,000 students! Solo’s big, positive energy was felt by students, teachers, and administrators!  “At Comfort, we strive to find means of exposing our students to the world and all that exists beyond our community. For us to have a visiting teacher perform live from West Africa was amazing!” – Stella Downs, Principal 0f Comfort Elementary School in Jones County

ADT was able to partner with The Filling Station to bring an IN PERSON art and dance day camp!  The week-long camp offered fun art projects and dance classes, which culminated in a performance of the Dragon Dance (link video?), integrating all their hard work on the dragon prop and dance moves!

After cancelling so many of our school programs, ADT pivoted and embraced the Zoom culture to bring dance into schools.  During the 2020-21 school year, ADT provided West African Dance Workshop: Live from Mali via a Zoom class from Souleymane Sana, an international artist with New Bern ties, to students at 6 schools in Craven County and 4 schools in Jones County. We were able to reach over 2,000 students!  Catherine Alligood, principal at A.H. Bangert, said, “I can’t thank you enough for what this program meant to Bangert Elementary School.  I went room to room during the program, and I saw students who were 100% engaged and taking part in the dancing.  Our students were smiling and moving (even if it was in place) during this year when they have had very little movement.  I saw joy, and we need more joy.”  We couldn’t agree more!