We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kate Petit & Britt Bacon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kate Petit & Britt Bacon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The Land of the Sweets

This education outreach production was sponsored by The City of Savannah through the Spotlight grant and Weave-a-Dream programs. We were awarded this project in May of 2022, and have been working tirelessly on getting this production on it’s feet since!

The Land of the Sweets is our all-original rendition of the holiday classic “The Nutcracker”. We are honored to produce our vision of an inclusive and relatable version of this full length ballet to our wonderful community. The Land of the Sweets incorporates some spoken storytelling, varying styles of dance, and features an original and non-traditional score. We held two open auditions throughout the Savannah area, casting dancers and non dancers alike. We have a full cast of 43 members! We have also commissioned local artist and SCAD alumni to design and construct some of our sets and costumes and will recognize them during our program. All participants and audience members will enjoy participating and viewing our production at no cost. We will have two performances on November 19th at The Ben Tucker Theater on November 19 at 3pm and 7pm and two performances at the Tybee Post Theater on December 9th and 10th at 6 30pm.

This project means the most to us for a number of reasons, but mainly because we are allowed the opportunity to share our love of the art of dance and production with children and adults alike in an inclusive environment in our community. Having the support of the city of Savannah makes us so proud to call it home. As a new non profit organization under The Tybee Arts Association, Tybee Ballet Theatre has been overwhelmed with joy in the enormous amount of support from our dancers, families, and community.

The Land of the Sweets is an idea that has lived in our dreams for years now, and is finally coming to life through the support of our community. This is such a dream come true for us, and even though it is a tremendous amount of work, we are overjoyed at the opportunity and hope to produce our program year after year.

Kate Petit & Britt Bacon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Tybee Ballet Theatre functions out of the non profit organization, The Tybee Arts Association. For decades, the TAA has brought affordable and accessible art to the community in a professional way. We aspire to continue their amazing legacy of outreach, providing quality dance instruction for the entire dancer.

As performing artists and mothers, teaching and exposing children to the performing arts is not just a hobby, it is our passion. We offer dance instruction in classical ballet, modern, jazz, and conditioning. We are also very proud to offer a variety of adult dance classes in our space as well. In fact, we’ve had such an amazing response from our adult dancers that we have officially formed our first Studio Company! As retired professional dancers ourselves, we know how cut throat the dance world can be. The TBT classroom offers a no judgement zone, where dancers young and old, experienced and beginner can come together in the spirit of movement and enjoy our own rhythm of movement.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Show up! Go to the shows, productions, art walks, musicals…all of it. Visit your local art museums and art centers in person but also share them on social media. Get physically involved and immersed in the creatives in your community so you feel inspired to share—vocally or through social media. Art is such an important part of society and integral part of Savannah.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

As a creative, anything that you are producing, showing, selling, stating—is vulnerable. It’s your heart wide open on display to the public. It’s your hopes, dreams, struggles, joys, and pain. That choreography or painting or musical number tells a story—your story. Whether audience member sor clients or onlookers understand it or not, its out there. To actively share that with the community in any way is extremely courageous. It takes a lot of transparency and strength to leave it all on the table, however, it bring the most fulfillment and joy if you allow it to.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tybeeballettheatre.com, www.tybeearts.com
• Instagram: @tybeeballettheatre
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tybeeballettheatre

Image Credits
Paul Nurnberg Photography Michelle Holloway Photography