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Ashley Barnes



is Celebrating 14 Years as The Dance Element's
Owner & Artistic Director





Ashley is a fun & inspiring dance teacher who motivates students to achieve their very best.



A lifelong dancer & multimedia artist, Ashley Barnes earned a BFA in Fine Art & Dance Performance from ECU.


She was honored with the 2018 Arts In Wilmington Award for “Individual Artist,”
a category reserved for artists of exceptional talent and creativity whose contributions to the arts have helped guide and influence trends and aesthetic practices.


In 2016, Ashley received the Lower Cape Fear Women of Achievement Award for the Arts.

She was awarded a Regional Artist Grant from the Wilmington Arts Council in 2015.





WECT described Ashley as a "Creative Force!"



She is driven by her desire to create and has yet to find an artistic project she cannot conquer.


Ashley's fine artistic works are focused in the areas of drawing & painting, as well as sculpture, fabrication, and just about anything else! She especially enjoys creating specialty costumes and intricately detailed marionettes.


Ashley builds these creatures entirely by hand, without the use of an existing pattern or a sewing machine. She begins with a drawing, then constructs these wearable artworks using fabric and a variety of other materials.





Ashley began her dance training with the Goldsboro Civic Ballet at age two. She grew to become a Senior Company Dancer with the Goldsboro Ballet and Artistic Productions of Goldsboro & Kinston.

She is proficient in Classical Ballet & Pointe, Modern & Contemporary Dance, Tap, Jazz, & various other dance styles.


Throughout high school & college, Ashley trained in the dance studio as many as six days a week and attended an intensive dance program every summer. She was accepted to the NC Governor’s School for Dance in 1999.

Ashley has performed many lead roles in dance & theatre productions.
Some of her favorites include:

  • Louise in Carousel
  • Eliza in The King and I
  • Anastasia in Cinderella
  • Jitterbug, in Wizard of Oz
  • "Red Fairy" in Sleeping Beauty

Ashley performed in 18 annual productions of The Nutcracker and has danced nearly every role in the ballet including:


Clara, Mouse King, Arabian, & Snow Queen.

She has also provided choreography for this holiday ballet four times, for performances by three different dance schools in Eastern NC.


Ashley is currently dancing professionally as a corps member of Forward Motion Dance Company and frequently performs throughout the Wilmington area. 



Ashley is certified in the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet & has over 20 years of experience teaching ballet, tap, & contemporary dance to kids & adults.

She is a fun and inspiring mentor who motivates her students to achieve their very best.


Ashley's ballet students have been accepted to several prestigious summer intensives and year-round dance programs throughout the country.


Ashley served as Choreographer for Stagestruck & Center Stage Theatre for a total of nine musical productions, including such favorites as:

  • Lil' Abner
  • Into the Woods
  • Guys and Dolls
  • The Wizard of Oz

For this work, she was honored with the Herman Award for Outstanding Choreography six times between 1998 & 2007.


In 1995, Ashley founded the Goldsboro Silver Tappers, a nonprofit tap dance ensemble for seniors, with her grandmother and lifetime role model, Grace McEvoy, and helped these dancers achieve both regional and state awards in the NC Senior Games.


This project led Ashley to be selected as ​the winner of a National Scholarship from the Target Corporation. All these years later, the Silver Tappers are still dancing, performing, and providing an opportunity for seniors in NC to discover the love of tap dance.





Ashley had the honor of holding several National Preliminary pageant titles, & enjoys providing pageant coaching & talent choreography for girls of all ages. 


She encourages young contestants to achieve success through goal-setting strategies and positive self-talk. Ashley firmly believes that the most important aspect of any competition is HAVING FUN with the preparation, the process, and the performance. 





DANCING WITH THE WILMINGTON NC STARS 2017



Ashley was invited to perform with local attorney Robby Collins ​in this fun "dance contest" to benefit St. Mary's School.





As Artistic Director of The Dance Element & Element Productions Inc, some of Ashley’s most impressive creative projects have involved unique adaptations of classic children’s literature & choreographing a cast of dancers to perform in her hand-made costumes.


Ashley often incorporates film or live music and readings to enhance the production design, and she loves to add subtle, humorous details that surprise and delight the audience.


Some of Ashley's original dance adaptations include:

  • Where the Wild Things Are
  • Chicken Little
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas




Ashley wrote a version of Charlotte’s Web, adapting it for the stage.


She commissioned the composition of an original music score written by Wilmington, NC artist Brian "Juice" Raynor. The music was performed by five local musicians and paired with a narration Ashley read with nine actors, each of them portraying different characters in the story.
The team went into Reid Recording Studio to create a professional recording of the unique original soundtrack, produced & mastered by Jeff Reid of Wilmington, NC.


Ashley began designing costumes & building the set...

The Dance Element held an audition.







In August of 2012, after only four weeks of rehearsals, Ashley & The Dance Element premiered an entirely original dance production of this beloved classic story showcasing the talents of 32 local children.


Four sold-out performances delighted the Wilmington, NC audience!





In May of 2014, a cast of 44 dancers ranging in age from 5 to 16 put on incredible hand-made costumes and took the main stage of Wilmington's historic Thalian Hall to perform another of Ashley's original productions, The Velveteen Rabbit.



Awestruck audience members claimed this spectacular show was
"one of the best things ever performed in Wilmington"
and called the stunning production
​"a significant artistic work."


The children in the cast shared an amazing performance experience
they will surely remember all their lives.





Ashley traveled to New Milford, CT to attend a week-long intensive workshop with the world-renowned Pilobolus Dance Company in 2014.



In the summers of 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2019, Ashley attended the Dance Life Teacher Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, where she enjoyed four action-packed days, dancing with master teachers including: Bruce Marks and Roni Mahler, as well as Derrick Yanford, Joe Tremaine, Joe Lanteri,
Tim Fournier, Eileen Juric, Diane Gudat, and many more of the dance industry's most renowned performers, artists, and educators.





Ashley's students are her greatest inspiration.



She is a talented & passionate educator, motivating
dance students to actively achieve their dreams.





Ashley truly LOVES what she does
​& hopes to never stop learning, growing, or dancing.







The Dance Element



7211 Ogden Business Lane #205
Wilmington, NC 28411