• File photo
• Danny Furlong

Danny Furlong will be leaving North Coast Dance after 11 years as artistic director, the dance company announced today. During his years at the dance company, Furlong worked to make dance classes more accessible to the community, teaching dance with College of the Redwoods and helping get scholarships for dance students.

In addition to staging "The Nutcracker" annually, Furlong created a number of other shows at North Coast Dance, including "Gabriel's Garden," "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "To Pluto and Back."

The North Coast Dance Board of Directors also announced today that the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts will be open for this year's staging of "The Nutcracker" in December and its "March of the Ballet Zombies" and membership gala in October.

The Journal wrote about Furlong's first production of "The Nutcracker" in 2002.

Read the full press release below.

North Coast Dance (NCD) announced today that Artistic Director, Danny Furlong, and the non-profit dance organization have amicably parted ways. The NCD Board of Directors wishes to thank Mr. Furlong for over eleven years of dedicated service in his role of artistic director.

The NCD Board of Directors also announced that The Arkley Center for the Performing Arts will open for NCD’s annual holiday production of “The Nutcracker” in December and for the NCD Membership Gala and “March of the Ballet Zombies” performance on October 25, 2013.

While with North Coast Dance, Danny Furlong was instrumental in making dance class accessible to all children and adults in our community. He taught classes with College of the Redwoods, and helped to make possible scholarships for dancers who could not otherwise afford tuition expenses.

Mr. Furlong brought a wonderfully creative and masterful body of work to North Coast Dance. Furlong staged eleven years of “The Nutcracker,” which included hiring professional dancers and casting and rehearsing the performance with hundreds of local artists. In addition, he brought to stage the life of Romano Gabriel in “Gabriel’s Garden,” and created “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “To Pluto and Back,” and many, many more performances.

North Coast Dance is located at 426 F Street in Eureka. North Coast Dance is a non-profit organization with the mission is to provide quality training, education, and performance in dance for the North Coast. Please call (707) 442-7779 or visit www.northcoastdance.com for more information.