The Greenville Dance Festival was held at the Fine Arts Center and the FAC dancers were again privileged to have another master class with Gerri Houlihan who was the special guest artist at the Greenville Dance Festival on October 11th. The main purpose of the festival was to bring guest artists to teach a variety of dance styles in an effort to broaden the breadth of understanding in our dancers and community.

Dance classes in the traditional techniques of Classical Ballet and Modern/Contemporary Dance as well as dance from other cultures were offered. Besides Gerri Houlihan, other guest artists were Sybil Huskey, Professor of Dance and former Chair of the Department of Dance and Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Stephanie Milling, Assistant Professor of Dance Education at Winthrop University; Wanda Ebright, Associate Professor of Dance at Coker College; Krishna Kumar Venkataraman and Sivakami Bhavnandnan (“Sivi”), trained at the world renowned Dhananjayans and Padmashri Adyar Lakshman of Madras, India. Donald Shabkie accompanied Gerri Houlihan’s class.

Adam Maalouf (FAC Jazz student) accompanied Gerri Houlihan’s master classes during the Greenville Dance Festival and two dance alumnae were guest teachers, Jennifer Becker (Dance 2006) and Kaitlyn Martinez (Dance 2008) each taught two classes.

Fine Arts Center Dance Residency with Master Teacher and Guest Artist Gerri Houlihan
Gerri Houlihan was in residence for two days teaching master classes to the dance students at the Fine Arts Center. Ms. Houlihan is Associate Professor of Dance at Florida State University, on the faculty at the American Dance Festival and is currently the international representative for the American Dance Festival having participated in fifteen international residencies. She trained at Juilliard, earned an M.F.A. in dance from Hollins University and has danced professionally with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. Don Shabkie accompanied the classes on the piano. Funding for her residency was made possible in part by a grant from the Metropolitan Arts Council, which receives funding from the City of Greenville, BMW Manufacturing Company, LLC, Michelin North America, Inc., and the South Carolina Arts Commission with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.

The Fine Arts Center dance and creative writing (morning) students collaborated using movements and sounds to create short compositions. The students used the elements of dance design (Body, Energy, Space, Time--BEST) and the sounds of letters and words to create a "sound score" for the original small group compositions.

The dance students rehearsed Brian McGinnis's dance piece, "Sirens and the Undercurrent" in the black box theatre on the last day of his residency.

The Fine Arts Center Dancers had guest artist, Brian McGinnis in residence the week of August 25-29. He set an original piece of choreography using both classes. The title of the piece is "Sirens and the Undercurrent." Mr. McGinnis is currently dancing with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and also danced with the Parsons Dance Company, Hubbard Street, and is a graduate of Juilliard. He will be back in Greenville in February, 2009 performing at the Peace Center on Monday, March 2nd.

The Fine Arts Center Dance Ensemble performed in The Greenville County Museum of Art celebrating the silver anniversary of Emerys and the opening of the exhibition Katherine Porter: Celestial Electric on Tuesday, April 1st. It was estimated that 400 people attended the event, which also included the music composition “Triple Dances” by faculty member, Dr. Jon Jeffrey Grier. The dancers were fortunate to have professional musicians Connie Frigo (Baritone Saxophone), Peggy Dees (Clarinet) and Ann Shoemaker (Bassoon) perform the music. Keller Freeman, a founding member of Emerys, was instrumental in organizing the collaborative event.

Brian McGinnis was the guest choreographer in residence for 7 days at the Fine Arts Center. Fourteen dancers from the afternoon class rehearsed his piece "thee who holds the key" for the District Dance Showcase. Mr. McGinnis is a graduate of Juilliard and danced with David Parsons and Elisa Monte. He will be dancing with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company beginning in March 2008. The skirts for the piece were designed and created by Carol Phillips, a costume designer who has created costumes for the Greenville Ballet.

Fine Arts Center afternoon dancers rehearsing guest choreographer, Lisa Wheeler's piece for the District Showcase. The piece, "The Wonderful Thing," is an excerpt from a longer work created for The Power Company based in Columbia, SC. Ms. Wheeler danced with Dan Wagoner and Dancers and is the Associate Artistic Director of Ben Munisteri Dance Projects. She is a graduate of Columbia College.

The Fine Arts Center Dancers rehearsed "Vanishing Point (of View)" choreographed by Lisa Wheeler for the District Dance Showcase. The costumes were created by Tina Monteleon, the mother of dancer Gianni Monteleon.

Three dancers, Margaret Base, Emily Hammond and Amanda Porter were inducted into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts. The primary mission of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) is to promote and honor outstanding dance achievement and to encourage well-rounded dance artists to become leaders in their

communities after high school graduation.