Dance Virtuosos Visit Seneca
Big Town Training is Small Community
David McAllister

SENECA DAILY MESSENGER, 2004
The Foothills Conservatory for the Performing Arts is a professional school providing classes for toddlers through pre-professionals, according to Ginny Siano, artistic director. In the past year students have been accepted into several prestigious dance institutions. One student was accepted into the Joffrey Ballet NY another into the Houston Ballet both on full scholarships and two others to Ballet Austin and North Carolina School for the Arts. Four FCPA’s students were accepted into S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and attended the 2003 summer dance intensive. This Fall Cara O’Grady will be entering Point Park College, PA, as a freshman dance major. David McAllister will enter his second year at North Carolina School of the Arts thanks to the Joe Merck Scholarship given through Foothills Conservatory for the Performing Arts. Last summer two students were accepted into the American Ballet Theatre program (the movie Center Stage was modeled after ABT). “We must be doing something right in order to get the results we are getting,” said Siano. “We’re producing dancers and students with better focus to handle whatever they choose to do in the future.” Siano commented that discipline is not something humanity is born with, but must be acquired. She believes that discipline is gained through good dance training. “Whether our students go on to be doctors, teachers or into other fields, they will have learned how to better focus their attention,” she said.

The Conservatory is a non-profit organization with a six member dance faculty, who travel from Atlanta and Greenville. All have had distinguished performing careers and excel in their dance disciplines; many are outstanding performing artists and choreographers who have received awards, recognition, and grants. Siano trained both in modern dance and classical ballet, and was a professional dancer for 20 years. “It’s something you get addicted to. It is hard to quit when you have been immersed in dance since your earliest youth. I have trained with some of the greatest dancers in the professional dance world, it is only right to pass on the knowledge I have been given”, she said. The Conservatory offers classes in classical ballet, modern dance, Broadway jazz, hip hop, tap dancing and exercise for adults. Siano said in professional dance today, students must be well rounded and as Artist Director it is her job to design a program that creates the total artist. To do this, the advanced students study jazz, modern and ballet. The very young ones start out in creative movement to refine motor skills and allow them to explore their movement potential (only 8 in a class). Ballet is based on the rotation of the leg in the hip socket and is too complex to introduce before age seven.

In the past year, FCPA participated in outreach to area public schools. Lecture- demonstrations were conducted to teach students about dance, dance history and the athleticism involved in dance. They also danced for World of Dance at CU and performed with UGA at the Brooks Center. Ms. Siano said she is very careful the students only have authentic performance experiences. They are bombarded with offers to compete in commercial dance competitions, football bowls and Disney showcases but this is only a money making venture for the promoters of these events. Siano went on to say professional dancers are not made in the commercial competition circuit-this can be a useless expense in ones endeavor to pursue dance. Before Siano came to South Carolina in 1996, she was a modern dancer in the Chicago area and taught modern dance at Highland Park H.S. for 18 years. She has a B.A. in Theatre/Dance and Secondary Education from Barat College in Illinois. This will be her forth year teaching modern dance at Walhalla H.S. She has also taught at Oak-Way H.S. where two of her students were the recipient of the James M. Brown Arts Scholarship. Ginny Siano is on the approved artist roster for the South Carolina Arts Commission.

Last year FCPA had approximately 110 students (counting the adults). Students travel as far away as Pickens County and parts of Georgia to study at the Conservatory. For more information about the Conservatory or to view a class, call 888-0300 or e-mail at director@foothillsdance.com.