Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Dancing for the Arts - TPR's In Focus - June 2, 2026

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Dancing for the Arts - TPR's In Focus - June 2, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan campus.
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  Identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for research related to the
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  Wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu slash wiregrass archives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. The Cultural Arts Center
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  of Dothan is getting ready to showcase its Dancing for the Arts competition next week.
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  Anne Cotton, Executive Director, joins us with a preview and a look ahead at summer's activities.
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  Anne Cotton, welcome back to Troy Public Radio. Glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
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  As the Executive Director of the Cultural Arts Center in Dothan, what's ahead for the summer?
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  Right now, I am finishing up the last minute touches for the first ever for our Cultural
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  Arts Center, Dancing for the Arts. And we have an event at the Dothan Civic Center that will be
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  held Friday, June the 12th. It has six local celebrity and professional dancers performing
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  on stage in a competition. And these dancers are competing, of course, for that wonderful
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  mirrorball trophy. And then they're competing for the Sponsorship Award and the Judge's Award
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  and the beloved People's Choice Award. Well, how long have the contestants been rehearsing?
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  So they have been rehearsing since January, practicing their steps. I have seen set pieces
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  roll in. I've seen backdrops. I've seen some fantastic costumes. So each dance is almost
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  like a show in itself. It's going to turn out to be really, really great and a whole lot of fun.
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  These people are entertaining as well as just fun loving. And so we have many, many donors that have
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  supported us and will be on the floor cheering them on. But what we're looking for is to help
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  fill our balconies with people who want to cheer on, bring signs, hoop and holler for the dance
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  team of their choice. Is this Dothan and the Wiregrass version of Dancing with the Stars,
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  that really popular TV show? Yes, it's very similar to it. We've made some changes so there wouldn't be
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  any conflicts with it. Changed the name. Our judging categories are entirely different than
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  theirs. But there's some similarities that are in all dance competitions. So, yes, it's something
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  like that. But it's kind of like a show within a show. I mean, it actually does have props and
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  backdrops and stuff, whereas Dancing with the Stars doesn't. So we've kind of made this our
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  own because it is for an art form that is both theatrical and dance. Because when you're on the
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  stage, you are in theater. So can you give us a preview? Well, I know that we have jazz funk being
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  performed. We also have a waltz being performed. We have a swing step being performed. We have a
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  compilation of many dances with different songs and some cute costumes for that one. Then we also
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  have a Latin dance. So each dance is a different variety, a different song or compilation of songs
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  that will be performed. They'll be on the big stage at the Civic Center. It will be quite a
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  show for everybody to see. What a kickoff for the summer. Oh, yeah. And you're telling us it's June
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  the 12th, Dothan Civic Center. So how can the listeners get involved? I know they can attend.
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  Are they supposed to vote like you do with some of these TV shows? They can. We have fixed an online
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  voting link on our website, and all they have to do is go to theculturalartscenter.org
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  backslash dancing-for-the-arts. You will see a link that is the People's Choice Award,
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  and you go on there, and it's a dollar a vote for the particular team that you want to put those
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  votes on, and it registers here. We log them in. We'll shut it down the night before online, and
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  then all the votes that are taken at the Civic Center, both in the balcony and on floor, we'll
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  be taking votes down there and adding them together so that we can announce a winner for
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  the People's Choice Award. And there's a lot of competition in People's Choice because it allows
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  the entire community to have a voice. It allows you to cheer quietly from your computer as you
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  vote for these people, hoping that they win the People's Choice Award. So you are giving them
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  a little over a week. Right. To make their vote known, and how heavy is the competition?
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  Your vote can make or break a winner. I mean, seriously, the excitement is on. The dancers are
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  all hyped about this because they all want to win, and they would like to take home every
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  trophy that's there, but we're hoping that we get to spread our love and trophies across the board
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  out of the six dancers and give them their awards. But right now, People's Choice is
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  running neck and neck between at least three top contenders, okay? This is so exciting. The
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  Cultural Arts Center is full of activities for the summer. And aside from this spectacular event,
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  Dancing for the Arts, coming up next week, what else is going on? Well, Tri-State Community
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  Orchestra, their Youth Symphony, has got several summer camps that are still open for registration
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  that they can go online at tristatecommunityorchestra.org. And then SEAC has got several
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  camps that still have openings in them right now. You can check at SEAC, that's S-E-A-C-T dot com,
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  and click on their summer camps. And then we have a concert coming up to tail end of June
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  for Tri-State Community Orchestra. There'll be tickets online for that probably two weeks out
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  from the show. And then we're doing the Civic Center thing. Newsies is going to be on stage
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  live the first week or two of June at the Cultural Arts Center. And then after that, they've got
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  intensive camps. There's summer camps. We've got more people. I still have pottery classes going on.
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  I have ceramic classes going on. And the whole reason we're doing Dancing for the Arts is because
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  we have had dance teachers here teaching ballroom dance, all the different forms of ballroom dance,
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  for the last 20 years in our dance studio. And they're still doing it. And Rhonda Vane
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  will be teaching during the month of June. And you can check our website for adult dance classes
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  and find out what he's offering and just get to be a part of that. So if you have nothing planned
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  for the summer, I can help you plan your summer right now. Give you something to do that gets you
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  moving, grooving, and loving the arts. And we also need to point out the fact that the Cultural Arts
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  Center of Dothan is a magnet for people not only in Alabama, but Georgia and Florida. It's centrally
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  located. Oh yes. And what's been so funny was while we've been doing Dancing for the Arts and people
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  have been buying tickets, I mean, they've come from Georgia. They've come from New York. Votes have
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  come in from all over the United States for some of our dancers. But I think what has really
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  touched my heart is this. I've been fundraising for the Cultural Arts Center for 24 years.
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  But this time, the dancers, these six couples, went out and raised the donor money because they believe
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  in what you do. You know, you have just stated why the arts are so important. Look how many people
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  have gotten involved, even from a distance. Oh, absolutely. As all of us go home and turn on TV,
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  I don't care if you're streaming or watching local news or watching cable, but you're watching the
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  arts. You're watching the performing arts. And that's what we are at the Cultural Arts Center.
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  We are the performing arts. And where would your life be if you didn't have that little box, that
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  little screen, that little tablet to look at and watch the arts? You might be at the Cultural Arts
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  Center taking the pottery classes. That's right. Or we might put you in that dance class that we
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  still continue to offer so you can learn the two-step and not trip over the two feet, okay?
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  Before we run out of time, can you give us the Cultural Arts Center website? I can. So,
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  theculturalartscenter.org. And to get to the page, backslash, dancing-for-the-arts.
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  But when you get to the page, there's a little banner that runs across the front. You can tap
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  on the one that has the information about the tickets and everything like that, and you can
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  get straight to the page from there, okay? It's under our events. It's a terrific website, so
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  congratulations on that. And on this full agenda, I know that you've been at this for many decades,
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  and it just illustrates your personal commitment to the arts. I believe in them. I know what they
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  can do on both sides. I know how hard it is to fight for the dollars so that you get to have
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  the arts. If you could imagine what the world is like without the arts, you're going to find a
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  great big giant empty hole. And it kind of concerns me and scares me when we start looking
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  at dollars dropping for all art forms, regardless, because we need the arts. They are what frees our
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  mind and allows us to be that creative person. Otherwise, we're just copycats. Ann, you said it
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  well. Thank you so much for your visit today. Thank you for calling. Joining us from Dothan
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  was the Cultural Arts Center's Executive Director, Ann Cotton, who has been an arts leader for four
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  decades in southeast Alabama. Thanks for joining us today for In Focus, which is a podcast wherever
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  you get your podcasts. I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.