Forward Motion Dance Company presents
Cape Fear Arts in Motion: Winds, Rhythm, and Soul
September 17 & 18, 2026, 7:30 pm
Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts Main Stage
310 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
Tickets are $37.45 general admission and includes all taxes and fees. Please contact the Thalian Hall Box Office at 910.632.2285 or online for ticket reservations.
Forward Motion Dance Company presents a stunning and innovative dance event with their annual performance, Cape Fear Arts in Motion: Winds, Rhythm, and Soul. This performance unites dancers with musical and visual artists to bring the art form of modern, contemporary, hip hop, classical and jazz dance to the beautiful and historic Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts for a varied and collaborative event that showcases the talents of Choreographer Tracey Varga.
Presented are new performances along with re-creations of dances from the past, with original film works by filmmaker Patrick Ogelvie, including an exciting new piece featuring teenage dancers from local studios. In a new classical piece, dancers join live musicians on stage.
Forward Motion Dance Company is excited to invite Phillip Clyde Bernier as guest choreographer. Phillip is a Wilmington-based performer, choreographer, songwriter, recording artist, and arts educator with a multi-genre career, who now is owner and lead instructor of Wilmington Hip Hop Dance, where he mentors and trains young performers in confidence, creativity, and stage presence. His high-energy hip hop piece “Game Face” is set to original music composed and performed by Phillip, and danced by Phillip, Olivette Bernier, Kimberly Brumsey, D’mitri Cápri, Nicole Dalier, Becky Spivey and Susan Turner.
New modern/contemporary works by choreographer Tracey Varga include a premiere of a classical contemporary dance to “Birds” by Herman Beeftink and performed live by flute trio Sallie Dunn, Sarah Hand and Mary Gheen on stage with dancers Kara Abbott, Savannah Brooks, Star Coltrin, Katie Crosby and Linda Ann Webb. All three flutists are active in performance and education in the Wilmington community, as well as members of the Wilmington Flute Choir.
Seven teen student dancers from local studios including GAFA, The Dance Element, and Just for Kicks, will dance to music by KREAM, Camden Cox remix. A new film by filmmaker Patrick Ogelvie featuring the dancers will be presented along with the dance. A trio of dancers perform a contemporary premiere piece set to instrumental excerpts from “Moss Garden”, “Weeping Wall” and “Fun” composed by David Bowie. A fun new dance creation choreographed to a compilation of three music pieces celebrates the many talents of Nina Simone and is danced by eleven core and guest dancers.
A piece premiered at this year’s Wilmington Dance Festival entitled “Then…and Now” is set to music by Prince and features FMD core dancers Kara Abbott, Savannah Brooks, Nicole Dalier, Leslie Nifoussi, Becky Spivey and Susan Turner. “Surmount”, a collaboration of dance and film created by Patrick Ogelvie and music by Peter Gabriel, that premiered in 2015 and returns this year with new additions.
Forward Motion Dance Company core dancers are Kara Abbott, Savannah Brooks, Katie Crosby, Nicole Dalier, Leslie Nifoussi, Becky Spivey and Susan Turner. Guest dancers are Olivette Bernier, Phillip Bernier, Kimberly Brumsey, D’mitri Cápri, Brianna Clayton, Star Coltrin, Lorena Holliday, Wells Jackson, McCall Milliken, Trilby Shier Newkirk, Stephanie Stone, Linda Ann Webb, Vanessa Welch.
This exciting show is not to be missed, so come be astounded by an inspired evening of music, film, and modern, contemporary, classical and jazz dance that Cape Fear Arts in Motion: Winds, Rhythm, and Soul brings to the main stage of the beautiful and historic Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Forward Motion Dance Company is proud to be a resident dance company at THCPA and of our legacy of bringing quality dance performances to this historic venue. Since 2004, FMD, a Wilmington, NC, based non-profit 501(c)(3) dance organization with founder, director and choreographer Tracey Varga, is a Wilmington, NC, based non-profit 501(c)(3) dance organization has upheld its mission to provide local and regional communities with quality modern contemporary dance and education in the art of dance, as well as enhance the local arts community by providing performance opportunities for area dancers and performance artists. FMD is an all-volunteer organization proudly supported by local, state and national grants, and community sponsors. To learn more about our company and for more information, please visit our Facebook page or www.forwardmotiondance.org.
Guest Choreographer Phillip Clyde Bernier:
Phillip Clyde Bernier is a Wilmington-based recording artist, choreographer, performer, and dance educator whose career has taken him from winning ABC’s Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann to sharing the stage with artists including Taylor Swift. His recent theatrical credits include Bert in Mary Poppins, which earned him a Wilmington Theater Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, and the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at the historic Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Today, Phillip creates original music and choreography while inspiring the next generation through WilmingtonHipHopDance.com. For Arts in Motion, he brings those worlds together with original choreography set to his own song, “Game Face.”
Phillip has performed internationally, worked professionally as a stage presence coach and choreographer, and continues to invest deeply in the local arts community through theater, worship leading, and youth arts education.
After moving to Wilmington from Nashville, TN, in 2020, he is now the owner and lead instructor of Wilmington Hip Hop Dance, where he mentors and trains young performers in confidence, creativity, and stage presence. Married to his childhood sweetheart and father of seven, Phillip is passionate about helping artists of all ages thrive both on and off the stage.
Guest Musicians: Flute Trio
Sallie Dunn, Sarah Hand, and Mary Gheen are active flutists and music educators in the Wilmington community, as well as members of the Wilmington Flute Choir. Mary Gheen serves as a music instructor at Cape Fear Community College and performs with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. Sallie Dunn teaches sixth through eighth grade Band and Orchestra in New Hanover County Schools. Sarah Hand is a flutist with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and owner of Kindermusik with Sarah, where she provides joyful, music-based education for children from birth to age seven. Together, they share a passion for music education and performance throughout the region.
Patrick Ogelvie
Patrick Ogelvie studied audio engineering at Indiana University School of Music with veterans of Abbey Road Studios. His recordings were featured on various NPR programs. Patrick’s films have been featured in several local shows and a number of film festivals. He has edited several award-winning documentary shorts, engineered numerous recordings by local artists, recorded audiobooks for St. Martin’s Press, and contributed recordings from his collection to Rhino Records’ The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper.
