“Dance is pretty much my whole life,” says Mariel Roy, owner of the Atlantic Dance Arts Studio at 29 School Street. Since she was fourteen, Roy dreamed of opening her own studio so she could share her passion for dance through teaching it. Roy has been part of the local community from birth, so she decided that Gorham would be the perfect place in which to have her dance studio. Roy believes that she would not be able to find such a supportive community as Gorham anywhere in the world.

Thanks to and education (she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Dance from Dean College and later taught at the Center of Movement dance studio), Roy’s business has done well right from the start. Of course, there were many new things to learn, such as bookkeeping and taxes; nevertheless, Roy and her staff have successfully navigated the waters of running a small business, and are now in their fourth year of operation.

Speaking of staff, Atlantic Dance Arts has four certified teachers who are always open to new ideas and willing to help their students as much as possible. Dance styles the studio offers are so diverse that anyone would be sure to find the style that matches his or her expectations and abilities. The offerings include tap dancing, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, musical theatre, and acrobatics. Besides this impressive list of dance styles, the studio also has stretching and heels dance classes. It may be hard to believe all those styles are offered in a studio that has only two dance rooms. However, Roy was able to make it possible and became quite successful thanks to lots of hard work and, of course, her endless love of dancing.

Students at Atlantic Dance Arts vary in age from three to thirty thanks to the variety of dance styles the studio has. This difference in the students’ ages supports Roy’s claim: “Anybody can dance, I think. It just takes persistence, and you have to be really open-minded and willing to try new things.”

Indeed, it seems students at the studio are not only passionate about dancing but also are eager to follow Roy’s advice. For example, last year quite a few students learned and then filmed their dance for the Annual Recital, which was fully virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual contest alone shows how persistent and serious the Atlantic Dance Arts students are. Even though currently the studio’s main goal is to make it through the pandemic, Mariel Roy has already set her sights on adding a third dance room and hiring more instructors who would add to the diversity of dance styles for her studio.

The studio’s slogan, “Where friendships are formed and talents are nurtured”, is truly the best way to describe this local business. If you have any questions about the Atlantic Dance Arts Studio or its class offerings, please feel free to reach out to the owner, Mariel Roy, at mariel@atlanticdancearts.com or 207-671-5161. Also, the studio’s website contains a lot of helpful information and can be found at: www.atlanticdancearts.com.