Dance Alive Plans to Purchase Land for New Facility to Add to Area’s Cultural Arts Landscape

BY JENNIFER CABRERA/Alachua Chronicle

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dance Alive National Ballet hopes to purchase a 5.5-acre parcel of land in northwest Gainesville that will eventually be the home of a new building with three dance studios, three music studios, an art gallery, a black box theater for rehearsals and rentals, and all the other miscellaneous spaces needed by a performing arts group.

Dance Alive, which makes its home in Gainesville, is the only professional ballet company in North Central Florida and has been a fixture in the world of performing arts for over 50 years. The Company has been sharing space with Pofahl Studios but has outgrown the space, and they will soon be raising money and applying for grants to build a 22,000-square-foot facility that will add to the cultural landscape of North Central Florida.

Dance Alive comprises an international roster of award-winning professional dancers who have full-time contracts and live in the local community; these dancers perform locally, nationally, and internationally and also teach at the resident school. The Company has toured 17 states, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba, and Russia, and it is the only arts organization in Florida to be on the State Touring Roster for 40 consecutive years. Dance Alive presents four annual mainstage productions at the Curtis M. Phillips Center, including The Nutcracker. The Company also has an outreach program for students in Alachua and Marion counties and programs to benefit veterans and persons with disabilities.

The proposed new building will include spaces for dance instruction, music instruction, rehearsals, and performances; it will also feature a physical therapy room, a kitchen, a laundry room, storage rooms, dressing rooms, and administrative offices. A large green space behind the building will be available for plein air painting, yoga and meditation classes, and other outdoor events.

 

Dance Alive National Ballet co-founders Kim Tuttle and Judy Skinner will continue to serve as Artistic and Administrative Directors during the transition to the new facility. Tuttle told Alachua Chronicle, “The arts are in us from childhood and as we grow, they make us better people, filled with humanity. A home for the arts celebrates this, with strength and love.”

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