Our Story

Decatur City Dance is the oldest performing dance group in DeKalb County, established as a Junior Company of Atlanta Civic Ballet in 1952 and an independent artistic entity in 1962.  Headquartered in Downtown Decatur, the company is a nonprofit corporation financially supported by contributions, grant funds, membership dues and ticket sales.  Five performing groups are under the company umbrella.  The Junior Ensemble, the Apprentice Ensemble and the Professional Ensemble present ballet, jazz and modern dance, and the Junior Rhythm Keepers and the Rhythm Keepers present tap.  Members are talented dancers who want to make a commitment to dance as one of their special extra-curricular activities.  Many company dancers started their dance training at Decatur School of Ballet, the official school of Decatur City Dance, and progressed through the various levels of the school and into the performing company.  However, the company holds open auditions annually.  To be eligible for the Junior Ensemble, dancers must be at least 11 years old and have had classical ballet training through the beginning pointe level.  Dancers can advance into the Apprentice Ensemble, and later into the Professional Ensemble.  To be eligible for the Junior Rhythm Keepers, dancers must be at least 10 years old and proficient at the intermediate level.  Membership in the Rhythm Keepers is by invitation.     

How We Got Here

In 1953 Hilda Gumm, dancer and one time co-director of the Atlanta Civic Ballet, founded a junior company of the Atlanta Civic Ballet in Decatur.  She was joined in 1960 by Marie Roberts, a protégé of Atlanta Ballet founder Dorothy Alexander.  During these first few years, Decatur Civic Ballet provided a training ground for its parent company, offering an apprenticeship program through which young dancers could obtain valuable experience.  In addition to its own annual spring performances, the young company also made frequent outreach appearances in DeKalb County schools.

In 1962, the company became an independent artistic entity known as Decatur-DeKalb Civic Ballet.  The dancers appeared regularly in the annual Southeastern Regional Ballet Association (SERBA) Festivals and the Atlanta Arts Festivals as well as continuing their own spring performances.  In 1980, Kathleen Banks Everett, who had trained at Decatur School of Ballet since age six and danced as a member of the company since 1964, became Artistic Director.  It was soon known as The Decatur Dancers to reflect expansion of its focus beyond classical ballet to include modern dance and jazz.  The company continued the tradition of original choreography, outreach performances and participation in regional dance festivals while attending to the careful training of young dancers.  In 1987, the company took the name Beacon Dance Company to celebrate the opening of its new studio performance space in the former Beacon Hill Elementary School.  In 1996, the current name, Decatur City Dance, was adopted.  Ms. Everett has served as Artistic Director since 1980 with the exception of two seasons when she served as Artistic Adviser to interim Artistic Directors Elizabeth Brillhart Nuttall (1987/1988) and Co-Artistic Directors Martha Goodman and Leslie Gourley (1989/1990). 

During its five decades, the company has presented original choreography of varying styles appropriate for all ages and has staged story ballets including Winnie the Pooh, Green Eggs and Ham, The Little Princess, The Blue Bird, and, A Day with Mother Goose.  As well as performing on traditional theater stages around the metro Atlanta area, the company has performed in spaces as diverse as the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, North DeKalb Mall, Cannon Chapel at Emory University, and Oakland Cemetery.  Recently, Decatur City Dance has made guest appearances with Cartersville City Ballet in Cartersville, Georgia.  Decatur City Dance has seen student dancers grow to professional level and return to the company as teachers and choreographers while continuing as performers.

The company has been funded by the Georgia Council for the Arts and the DeKalb Council for the Arts.  Distinguished teachers and choreographers who have worked with the company over the years include Marcus Alford, Robert Archard, Anne Burton Avery, Rose Barile, Virginia Barnett, Diane Callahan, Russell Chambers, Duane Dishion, Martha Goodman, Josh Hilberman, Dom Orejudos, Nicolas Pacana, Terrell Paulk, Carl Ratcliff, Leonard Roberson, Clarence Teeters, and Stanley Zompakos.