By Krystle J Bailey
Whether you’ve caught her in the community as a mermaid, juggling in the park, blowing bubbles with local youth, hosting sidewalk karaoke at 2 a.m., or curating all-night beach raves, if you’ve met Tina Notaro, you’ve felt her joy.
To put a title on who Tina is and what she gives to the Atlantic City community would be futile. Tina is someone who creates opportunities for people to express their authenticity in new ways. She encourages those around her to “get a little weird” simply by being who she is, which sometimes is a character named Sparkles at Boogie Nights inside of Tropicana.
The Boogie Nights performer found her way into the entertainment industry following a brief career as the communications manager for the Board of Public Utilities. With her career path interrupted by COVID-19 and missing her friends and family, Tina returned to Atlantic City with a desire to live life a little bit differently.
“The world is changing so much. People are finding themselves without much purpose,” shares Notaro. “Atlantic City is a perfect-sized sandbox to find new ways of doing things, new ways of being. There is a lot of opportunity for people to find themselves, and that’s why I’m here.”
The 30-year-old Stockton University graduate began a collective of creatives that aim to create authentic experiences throughout the community. “Noetrope” was created as an umbrella of pop-up experiences, concerts, and joy-filled moments in unexpected places.
“Music gives people a reason to live,” explains Notaro about her late-night sidewalk karaoke series. “It’s almost like a mirage.”
When Tina isn’t working her full-time job as Boogie Nights’ Sparkle, she is hosting events with Noetrope, including the New Moon Night Market, a hyperlocal monthly event at Anchor Rock Club. With local DJs and an open dance floor, the nighttime gathering gives small business owners who can’t make it to daytime events an opportunity to showcase their work.
On the full moon each month, Noetrope brings the party to the beach for an all-night beach rave where attendees are encouraged to be nice, clean up the beaches, and spread radical love.
Tina is a licensed clown, an ordained wedding officiant, a juggler, and a press and media agent for local small businesses. Most of all, Tina says she is here to share her gifts of being a connector and someone who has an innate ability to bring positivity into a space.
“I believe in the Girl Scout idea of making a place better than when you found it,” shares the multi-talented artist. “I treat everything that way.”
Information and dates for upcoming Noetrope events can be found at noetrope.net.
Follow Tina Notaro on Instagram @noetrope and @futuristic.positivity.
Krystle J Bailey is a multimedia journalist, author and poet. Connect with Krystle on Instagram @thedailybailey5
