The last dance: New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts to close after 67 years

SEABROOK — After 67 years of "fostering the love of dance," the New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts is closing its doors.

Founder Marie Patent and her daughters, Kim and Robyne, announced the studio's closure in late August.

"Our family has cherished every moment in creating a community dedicated to bringing out the best in every one of our students," stated the family in a letter to current and former students. "… We understand and regret the impact this closure will have on you: our students, families, and our community. Thank you all for your unwavering support and for being a dedicated part of the NH Academy of Performing Arts family."

Marie, 85, said the decision to close comes as a result of time and the inevitable changes it brings.

“My daughter, Kim, is planning to retire next year,” Marie said. “And Robyne works in real estate, which is so demanding, as well as at the studio. Then this summer, for me, it’s just been one thing after another.”

Marie, who still taught most days, said a lifelong foot problem resurfaced and this summer, a severe flu sidelined her for weeks.

The news came as a surprise to many.

Testimonials and well wishes poured in from students and alumni, many were posted on the Academy’s website.

For Margaret Witherington, as for so many others, the studio was more than just a place to learn the five positions of ballet. It was a family, where students gained poise and self-esteem and grew into maturity as they learned to express their passion for dance.

“From elementary school through high school, I gained friendships, confidence, a sense of belonging,” Witherington wrote. “I echo many others when I say that the community of the New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts was a huge part of my childhood and formative years. Thank you, Mrs. Patent, Kim and Robyne for the joy and the jazz hands, for the friendships and the fouettés, for the good times and the time steps.”

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How the NH Academy of Performing Arts came to be

Born and raised in Amesbury, Massachusetts, Marie said she began dancing at 3 when doctors recommended the exercise would help with a severe foot problem.

“I loved it,” she said. “And I never stopped dancing.”

It would be dance that introduced her to her husband, Patrick, whom she met while performing with the USO at Pease Air Base, while he was serving with the Air Force.

The two married when she was 18, settled in the Seacoast and started their family.

After Patrick left the military and took on a career that involved extensive travel, Marie began teaching dance. Her first classes were held in a room at North Hampton’s Town Hall.

By 1975, Marie, with her husband’s full support, purchased the building at 875 Lafayette Road in Seabrook to open a studio of her own.

The late Patrick Patent may not have been a dancer himself, she said, but he loved the arts and was at the studio whenever he could.

“Our students called him ‘Happy,’ because he always was smiling and so happy when he was at there,” Patent said.

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'Teaching Excellence in Dance' since 1957

The sign in front of the New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts proudly proclaims, “Teaching Excellence in Dance Since 1957.”

"I'm really old school," Marie said in a 2007 interview on her teaching style. "I encourage the students to pursue their dreams. I give them a strong dose of self-confidence and a steady diet of discipline. The rest is up to them."

Over the years, the Academy expanded to encompass 5,000 square feet of performance space, with hundreds of students dancing across its floors each year.

There were annual performances, well known for their professionalism and theatrical proficiency. There was also travel to dance competitions, where New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts students not only did well, but the school itself earned praise from other dance teachers.

With the formation of the nonprofit dance troupe, the Seacoast Civic Dance Company, the Academy showcased its students’ talents to Seacoast communities and beyond. The dancers performed at venues such as Prescott Park, Newburyport’s Yankee Homecoming, Salisbury’s Blue Ocean Music Hall, and Disney World. They were also honored with an invitation to Hawaii to perform at the 75th Anniversary commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Our Civic Company dancers performed and gave back through dance,” Robyne Patent said. “It bridged the gap between the art of dance and the community.”

“The New Hampshire Academy of the Performing Arts is a big part of the community,” said Genessa Carrillo, who took classes for seven years, as did her daughter, now a member of the dance company. "At the Academy, they make you good. They’ve helped so many kids.”

Seacoast Civic Dance Company helps kids help themselves as well. The group held performances to raise funds to help other students through the Academy’s scholarship program. The money raised helped lessen the financial cost of dance classes for some dancers.

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Academy puts spotlight on Seacoast dancers

As childhood progresses into adult life, most students eventually leave and go on to varied careers. But even Marie Patent has been surprised at the number who go on to major in dance at college, and who go on to dance professionally, including on Broadway stages and on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance."

Not long ago, one former dancer made the cast of “Mama Mia!” and another is about to try out for “A Chorus Line.”

And they don’t forget those who nurtured them along the way.

“When they’re in the area, a lot will drop by the studio to say hello,” Marie Patent said. “Some will even teach a class.”

With the closing of the Academy, the Patent family has a hope that perhaps one or more of their former students might be interested in breathing new life into the New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts.

As for Marie, she’s not ready to hang up her tap shoes. She’s promised she’ll never stop dancing.

“I do want to do something,” she said. “I’m not going to just sit around.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: New Hampshire Academy of Performing Arts to close