Gerri Houlihan was our visiting dance artist October 18-23 during which time she restaged one of her choreographic works Mercy on the FAC afternoon dancers. The dance is in several sections set to music performed by Roy Orbison. She is currently a Professor of Dance at the Florida State University and serves as Interim Dean at the American Dance Festival. Ms. Houlihan has an extensive and impressive biography having attended Juilliard at the beginning of her senior year in high school, performed with renowned dance companies such as the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company as well as directing her own dance companies for many years.

She teaches company classes for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater when she is in New York and was the mentor of Robert Battle, who has been named the new Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has trained dancers who are now dancing is the major dance companies throughout the world. Joan Wadopian, one of our previous guest artists this year, loves taking her classes, too, which she does when Shen Wei Dance Arts performs at ADF during the summer.

The photos are of rehearsals with Gerri Houlihan during her residency.

Gerri Houlihan was our visiting dance artist October 18-23 during which time she restaged one of her choreographic works Mercy on the FAC afternoon dancers and taught two master classes for the morning dancers. We were fortunate to have Don Shabkie accompany the master classes on the keyboard. Photos are of the technique class with the AM dancers.

Brian McGinnis was the highlighted guest artist at the Greenville Dance Festival held October 9th, where he taught the FAC dancers in the advanced modern /contemporary dance class. The photos were taken during his master class at the Greenville Dance Festival.

Twenty-five (25) FAC dancers as well as other dancers in the Upstate participated in the 5^th Greenville Dance Festival on October 9th, which was held in the FAC and Wade Hampton High School. FAC dance students took classes with Brian McGinnis in modern dance/contemporary, Japanese with Toshiko Joerger, Classical Indian dance with Krishna Kumar Venkataraman and Sivakami Bhavnandnan, dance improvisation with Dr. Stephanie Milling, African dance taught by Melina Palumbo, ballet with Andrew Kuharsky, and yoga with Janice Batson and Brian Delaney. Other classes at the Festival were English Country dance with Eve King, improvisation with Jennifer Becker and Cathy Maschek, and jazz with Michelle Bays. A lecture/demonstration was held at the end of the day with dancers performing Classical Indian, Japanese and African dance.

Brian McGinnis was choreographer and artist in residence at the Fine Arts Center from October 4-8. He set a new choreographic work on the PM dancers, titled “Terminus”, which is very fast-paced to music by Frederic Chopin. “Terminus” is the last section in the dance 3 Shorts of 8, which he choreographed during the week of his Greenville residency for three different groups of dancers. The first section is “Orsa” which he choreographed for the ARMES dancers, the second section is “Medius” which he choreographed for the FAC AM dancers, and “Terminus” which is the last section, for the PM dancers. The photos were taken during the PM rehearsal with Brian.

Brian McGinnis was choreographer/artist in residence at the Fine Arts Center from October 4-8. He set a new choreographic work on the AM dancers and also taught them master classes. Brian’s piece is a very sculptural adagio. The photos were taken in class rehearsing the new dance piece.

The evening performance with Joan Wadopian and Free Planet Radio in the black box theatre at the Fine Arts Center, was packed! The solo dancer and the 3 musicians improvised together so that they truly became 4 instruments. It was a rare opportunity for Joan and her father, Eliot, to perform together.

Strings students performed with Free Planet Radio as did FAC faculty Dr. Jon Grier and Steve Watson. The four-day residency and performance with Free Planet Radio was made possible by a grant from The Braitmayer Foundation.

The two-week choreographic residency with Joan Wadopian was made possible in part by a grant from the Metropolitan Arts Council.

September 23rd the FAC PM Dancers performed a dance choreographed by Joan Wadopian during an open rehearsal in the dance studio of the FAC. The dancers performed their dance to the song "Radio Toure" by Free Planet Radio on their album The Unraveling. The choreographic work was performed "live" with the three musicians from Free Planet Radio so that the dancers and musicians were listening and feeding off of each other's energy and performance. The musicians in Free Planet Radio, from Asheville, are River Guerguerian, Chris Roser and Eliot Wadopian. Their four-day residency was made possible by a grant by The Braitmayer Foundation.

Joan Wadopian was guest artist at the Fine Arts Center for 2 weeks teaching classes and setting a new work on the afternoon dancers to music composed and performed by Free Planet Radio. Joan originally from Asheville, NC, received her B.F.A. from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase (2002) and has danced with New York-based Shen Wei Dance Arts (SWDA) since 2005. She has performed in renowned festivals and venues in the United States, Mexico, Europe, Israel, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Prior to joining SWDA, Joan performed with the Kevin Wynn Collection and as a guest artist with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

The dance residency was in part made possible by the Quarterly Grants Program from the Metropolitan Arts Council which is made possible by support provided by public and private entities including MAC's workplace giving program, Campaign for the Arts, the City of Greenville, BMW Manufacturing Corp., Michelin North America, Inc., and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.