the school

Alaska Dance Theatre (ADT), founded in 1981, is the premier nonprofit dance organization in Alaska. It’s mission is to promote dance through performance, professional education and advocacy in Alaska and to provide a place within the dance community for local and visiting artists to expand their creative talent while nurturing discipline, confidence, fitness and the experience of movement. Believing that dance is for everyone, Alaska Dance Theatre strives to keep its programs affordable to a wide range of the population.

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The School of Alaska Dance Theatre is the product of vision. In 1981, the founding Board of Trustees, headed by Donna Cherrier, launched the School of Dance in a quonset hut on the Alaska Pacific University campus. In 1983 ADT hired Alice Bassler Sullivan as Artistic Director. Sullivan took the position, and, with the progressive goal of making Alaska Dance Theatre the foremost dance organization in the state, Sullivan took her 75 dance students and began sculpting a dream of both a School of Dance and a Performing Company.

In 1989 an Executive Director was hired to direct the administrative duties and allow the artistic director to further develop the program. Recognizing the growth in the student base, the Board of Trustees began the process of identifying new space for its activities.

In 1991 Grandview Gardens, a vacant municipal building became available to Alaska Dance Theatre, Out North Theatre Company and Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association.  ADT conducted classes in the basement studios and continued to search for a more permanent and larger space. In 1993 the organization purchased the 3 studio Dance Center on Gambell Street. For the next thirteen years, this space allowed the School to expand the number and types of classes offered.

On September 6, 2005 ADT inaugurated a five-studio building at 550 East 33rd Ave.  Designed by Rim Architects and built by Davis Constructors, the building also features a studio theatre, offices, costume storage and 45 parking places.  This transition ensures that the School of Alaska Dance Theatre will have the physical means to develop its goals and serve the Anchorage and Alaska community for years to come.