Staff
Patty Brothers
OWNER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Years at BADA: 24 Years
Disciplines Taught: Tap, Ballet, Jazz, KinderMotions, KinderDance
Virginia Freeman Dupont
Years at BADA: 12 Years
Disciplines Taught: Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz
Virginia Freeman Dupont is a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher from North Carolina. She received a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography, with a B.A. in English, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she also danced with the Greensboro Ballet and the Gamble/Van Dyke Dance Company. Dupont has had the good fortune of participating as a performing artist in works by various choreographers, including Gerri Houlihan, Eluza Santos, Rick McCullough, Pegge Vissicaro, Melissa Hayden, Thom Clower, and Maryhelen Mayfield, and she is currently a member of both the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group and the John Gamble Dance Theatre. In the spring of 2003, she received her M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dupont currently teaches ballet and modern dance as an adjunct Assistant Professor at Elon University. She began her involvement with Burlington Academy of Dance & Arts as a guest artist in the 1997 productions of "Cinderella" and "Unto Us A Son" and in 1999 joined the teaching staff. While Dupont teaches a variety of disciplines, her focus at BADA has been as Director of the Ballet Program and in 2007 she became Artistic Director of BADA's performing company, KARIZMA. She continues to explore her crafts; performing, creating and teaching in North Carolina.
Favorite Dance Quote: "Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself." -Havelock Ellis
Allison Gant
Years at BADA: 17 Years
Disciplines Taught: Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Modern
Credentials: Virgina Ballet Theater, Meredith College Dance Ensemble
Favorite Dance Quote: "Dance Like Nobody is Watching"
Angie Greene Blocker
Years at BADA: 8
Disciplines: Jazz, Modern, Contemporary
About Angie: I have been dancing since I was eight years old. I have a Bachelor of Science and Master of Art degree in Dance Education from UNCG. I have been a public school dance educator at both the middle and high school level for eleven years.
Kelly Crowder Gilliam
Years at BADA (Teaching): 8 Years
Years at BADA (Student): 14 Years
Disciplines Taught: Jazz, Modern, Tap, Kindermotions, Tap/Ballet Combo
"When one meditates on the word GUIDANCE, you will see 'Dance' at the end of the word. Doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When both partners try to lead, nothing feels right, The movement doesn't flow with the music and everything is quite uncomfortable. When one person finally accepts this and allows the other to lead, both them begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if the two then become one, moving perfectly together. The dance takes surrender, willingness,and attentiveness from one; and gentle leading and skill from the other. If the 'G' in guidance stands for God, one might interpret the word as God U and I dance. If you will dance together with God and be willing to let Him be the lead, your life will be full in every season of you life." -Howard Troxler
Kelly Dodson Carter
Year at BADA (Teaching): 6
Years at BADA (Student): 13
Disciplines Taught: Tap, Jazz
Companies: North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble - 9 years, Carolina Style Dance Company at UNC - 4 years
Favorite Dance Quote: "And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once." -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Stephanie Pritchett Jenkins
Years at BADA (Teaching) : 5 years
Years at BADA (Student): 17 years
Disciplines Taught: Pre-Jazz, Jazz, Modern, Ballet
Credentials: Graduate of UNC-Greensboro with a double major in Dance Education and Sports Medicine; past member of the John Gamble Dance Theater; current member of Freedom Dances based in Greensboro, NC; performing professionally with independent choreographers in venues across North Carolina and Virginia
Favorite Dance Quote: "You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart."
Kalyn Wyrick
Years at BADA (Teaching): 2
Years at BADA (Student): 16
Disciplines: Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Modern, KinderDance, KinderMotions
Credentials: Karizma, WAHS Dance team, Elon Dance team. Most memorable performance was Project dance in NYC after the attack on 911.
Favorite Dance Quote: "There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them." - Vicki Baum
Dance has influenced my life in such a way, that I want to use it in order to encourage others. At Elon I have decided to major in special/elementary education, minor in dance, and get a concentration in women/ gender studies. When I first approached my advisor with this idea, her response was "there is no way you will finish all of this in four years, you might as well drop your minor." Well here I am entering my fourth year at Elon with a 3.6 GPA and 136 credits under my belt, and I am going to finish everything on time. Determined? Yes, because I love everything that I do. My main point of study at Elon, Dance and Disabilities. There are so many special education students who are physically disabled, mentally handicapped, mute, and emotionally discouraged. I felt that dance/movement would be a great intervention for these students and an outstanding way to learn. How many of us as students had to sit behind a desk all day and listen to the teacher talk? We figured that the best way to learn was to memorize everything! It is not true, research has proven that students learn the information better and remember it for a longer amount of time when they learn it in groups and through movement. It is not modeling it is trying the product out. I also figured what better way for a student to express themselves through movement if there are no use of words. Ever heard a teacher say raise your hand? Yep, that is a movement that requests attention. So when you are testing a student on the stages of a butterfly, he/she could show you instead of writing it down or getting the words confused. The women/ gender studies part of my education, well that was to find out why women and men behave as they do in society. My mom says that I am going to school to learn, "how to teach girls and boys with disabilities how to dance and love life." If you ever question my madness read the children's book "Ballerina Dreams" it is a true story about 5 little girls with cerebral palsy who had the dream of being a ballerina and dancing on stage. I am here to change lives and make many dreams come true.
Jessica Smith
Born and raised in Burlington, NC, Jessica Smith attended Burlington Academy of Dance and Arts from the age of about 3 until her graduation from high school. She took classes in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and hip-hop and was involved in BADA's performing company, KARIZMA! Jessica graduated from East Carolina University, majoring in Dance Performance through the School of Theatre and Dance. In addition to daily technique classes, she performed in student and faculty pieces both on and off ECU's campus. "My dance education and experiences have imbedded in me the gifts and tools that I hope to use in the world of professional dance!"