Project Dance lights up New York City

By David Rogers. NEW YORK CITY — Let it be known that the Carolina Snowbelles and SnowFlurries were among more than 250 young performing artists stealing the hearts of people in The Big Apple on April 20. And they executed this “larceny” in broad daylight — in the very heart of Times Square!

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All photographic images by David Rogers for High Country Sports

At 22 years, Project Dance may well be the longest-running show on Broadway. Sure, it is only performed once a year on the third Saturday of April and there was a three-year hiatus while the world dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, but when a show is this good who cares about details?

Launched in 2002 by the Project Dance Foundation as a way to help the city “heal” after Sept. 11, 2001, Project Dance has now inspired people in more than 30 cities in 13 countries around the world with a series of open-air, free dance concerts that go for almost eight hours on a single day. In New York City, the event is performed on a popup stage where 44th Street, Broadway Avenue, and 7th Avenue intersect.

The Project Dance Foundation principal and founder is Cheryl Cutlip, now with ties to Boone and Blowing Rock, but who spent 15 years with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes as a performer and, later, administrator. Through her High Country studio, The Space at Project Dance, Cutlip formed the Snowbelles and SnowFlurries as a way for young people, especially girls, to find themselves through dance and performing. Although the New York contingent included some two dozen performers and their families, Cutlip’s local dance school has grown to more than 100 dancers from all over the High Country.

In fact, The Space at Project Dance has outgrown their current rented space with Cutlip and her supporters looking to move into a purchased building in the near future.

For Project Dance on April 20, some 30 dance troupes from all over the U.S. took turns performing with ensemble, duo and solo acts, from 10 a.m. to almost 5 p.m. The weather gods knew Project Dance was coming, sending a morning rain shower during the event setup before 9 a.m., but clearing the skies for the rest of a “Chamber of Commerce” day.

Few artistic performances are as striking as the cacophony of beautiful, often inspirational and spiritual music against the backdrop of horns, sirens, and a multitude of vehicles rumbling over manhole covers. And visually, seeing the dancers perform juxtaposed against the neon lights and iconic signage for which Times Square is so famous may well be incongruous, but the energy and excitement of the moments are something to behold.

And behold they were, the individual performances often inviting whoops and hollars of encouragement but always drawing enthusiastic applause.

The High Country’s Snowbelles performed two routines and the SnowFlurries one, as well as special performances by two High Country based dance teachers and a solo performance by a young member of the Snowbelles.

In addition, Snowbelles member Journey Lockhart performed a solo routine, Columcille, choreographed by Randall Flinn.

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