For the fourth year, North Carolina Dance Theatre will lead a liturgical dance project with area churches. The project, Fellowship N’ Movement (formerly called Dance Friendships) is made possible through a Front Porch grant through the Foundation for the Carolinas. The project seeks to break down barriers, create relationship, and build social trust through the medium of dance. 2009-2010 Fellowship N’ Movement Dance Ministry partners are from: Friendship Missionary Baptist Church (4th year partner) New Birth Charlotte (2nd year partner) Resurrection and Christ Lutheran Church (1st year partners) New St. John missionary Baptist Church (1st year partner) Members of Hickory Grove Baptist Church (1st year partner) Each year NC Dance Theatre and their dance ministry partners host five dance workshops at each other’s sites, most of which are free and open to area liturgical dancers. A Meet and Greet social is thrown, and several dance rehearsals are held which culminate in a shared choreographic work and the Fellowship N” Movement Shared Dance Performance held at a community location, open to the public at no cost.

For the third year, North Carolina Dance Theatre is leading a liturgical dance collaboration with area churches. The collaboration, Dance Friendships, is made possible through a Front Porch Grant. “The original collaboration was between Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and Dance Theatre,” said April Berry, Dance Theatre director of education and outreach. “We saw such success with our collaboration with Friendship that this year we decided to invite four other churches to be involved.” In addition to Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, liturgical dance ensembles from CN Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church, New Birth Charlotte, Second Calvary Baptist Church and University Park Baptist Church are participating. This year's Dance Friendships program began in October with an orientation for all the dance ensembles held at NC Dance Theatre Studios. Workshops for the liturgical dance groups began in November and two workshops remain in February. Dancers David Ingram, Sasha Janes and Randolph Ward have all conducted workshops, and Director of Education and Outreach April Berry led two workshops in February. The Dance Friendships collaboration culminates in a performance at the Booth Playhouse on Tuesday, March 10 at 7 PM. Free and open to the public, you are invited to attend and witness works by each of the liturgical groups, as well as NC Dance Theatre and NC Dance Theatre 2. There will also be a collaborative performance choreographed by Friendship Missionary Baptist Church’s dance coordinator, Nina Newton, involving NC Dance Theatre apprentices with Friendship Missionary Baptist Church dance coordinators and ensemble members. Dancer David Ingram is choreographing a shared performance piece involving all of the dance ensemble members, plus several NC Dance Theatre apprentices. North Carolina Dance Theatre has received funding from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation through its Front Porch Grants program, which is managed by the Community Building Initiative. The program is an effort to build informal social capital within our community.