Acadia Dance Festival Announces Mid-Winter Performances at the Criterion Theatre, February 22 & 24.
Registration Open for Summer Dance Intensive - Master Class/Scholarship Audition Takes Place Monday, February 23 at ArtWaves MDI
The Acadia Dance Festival also announces that registration is open for the 2026 Summer Dance Intensive, July 20–24, serving young dancers ages 14–22 years. This immersive, weeklong dance program offers local dance students high-caliber training in contemporary, ballet, jazz, and improvisation. Intensive students also learn choreography from Nimbus professional dancers and have the opportunity to perform at the Criterion Theater as part of the Acadia Dance Festival performance on Friday July 24.
On Monday, February 23, 4-6pm, Nimbus presents a Master Class at ArtWaves MDI. Taught by Nimbus’ professional company artists, students will be guided through phrasework from company repertory, exercises designed to improve fluidity, movement quality, and power, and approaches to improvisation. The Master Class will also serve as a Scholarship Audition for the Acadia Dance Festival Summer Intensive.
Information and Links:
Nimbus Dance at the Criterion Theatre
Sunday, February 22, 3pm
Criterion Theatre, 25 Cottage Street, Bar Harbor
Tickets: https://www.criteriontheatre.org/events
School Matinee Performance
Tuesday, February 24, 10am
Criterion Theatre, 25 Cottage Street, Bar Harbor
Contact: victoria@nimbusdanceworks.org
Master Class & Summer Intensive Scholarship Audition
Cost: $10 (pay at the door)
Monday February 23, 4-6pm
ArtWaves MDI, 1345-A State Highway 102, Bar Harbor
About the Acadia Dance Festival:
The Acadia Dance Festival brings world-class performances, dance workshops, artist talks, and opportunities to experience the exhilarating world of contemporary dance on Mount Desert Island. Launched in 2018 by Nimbus Dance in partnership with Bar Harbor’s 1932 Criterion Theatre, the Acadia Dance Festival brings together professional dance artists from throughout the northeast for performances while also offering engaging community programming through local partnerships with Camp Beech Cliff, ArtWaves & More.
About Nimbus Dance:
Nimbus Dance bridges the gap between world-class performance and community engagement by presenting work that challenges, speaks to, and elevates diverse audiences across the nation. Founded in 2005 by visionary Artistic Director Samuel Pott (former soloist with Martha Graham Dance Company), Nimbus stands at the forefront of excellence in the arts, civic engagement, and equitable impact. With a highly physical and visually engaging aesthetic, Nimbus’ international company of dancers “split the difference between traditionalism and modernism... A Nimbus Dance piece can pivot from ballet to Broadway to Beyoncé in a few beats.” (Tris McCall, Jersey City Times).
The company tours nationally impacting over 16,000 people annually; and maintains its home base in Jersey City, NJ, at the Nimbus Arts Center, a 14,500 sq ft venue which supports interdisciplinary arts, incubates diverse arts entities, and houses Nimbus’ educational programs including the School of Nimbus. Recent collaborations include work with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the New Jersey Symphony at NJPAC, the Gordon Parks Foundation in The New Tide by Dawn Marie Bazemore, and the Bar Harbor Music Festival at the Acadia Dance Festival, which Nimbus produces.
The organization’s community engagement and education programs serve 6,500 youth in Jersey City and across the State of New Jersey. Nimbus’ company dancers serve as faculty at the School of Nimbus, which offers dance classes for ages 2 through adults from the greater New York City area.
In September 2020, Nimbus relocated to a newly constructed, state-of-the-art center, the Nimbus Arts Center at the Lively, in the Powerhouse Arts District of Jersey City. In September 2025, Nimbus opened a new 8000 sq. ft. location in Summit, NJ, comprising 4 dance studios, studio performance space, and garden.