Seneca Daily Messenger
Dance Virtuosos Visit Seneca
David McAllister

BIG TOWN TRAINING IN SMALL COMMUNITY
All dance schools listed in phone books receive invitations to dance at Disney World, compete in commercial dance competitions, dance for half time in the various Bowls, march in parades, and perform in amusement parks. Dance schools do not have to qualify or audition for these activities. Commercial schools are involved in such activities and families often shell out sizable amounts of money, which benefit the producers of these events and the towns they take place in. Many commercial competitions give a percent of the student registration back to the studio owner.

Foothills Dance Conservatory (F.D.C.) is a Pre-professional School with instructors who are recognized in the professional world of dance. At F.D.C. dancers are only involved in authentic performance experiences. That means if some one invites us to dance and we have to pay, we will not be there. Dance students and faculty at F.D.C. are involved in community out-reach programs to educate the community and help develop a discerning dance audience. It is not unusual to attend a professional dance concert at the Peace Center or Brook's Center and see several families from F.D.C. in attendance. This past year F.D.C. performed at three public schools, performed for AID at Clemson University, produced the full-length Nutcracker with participants from Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties, had a year-end concert at the Brook's Center with guest artists, and performed for Music on the Green. This coming year students again will have an opportunity to dance for their peers in three performances of the Nutcracker. Two of these performances will be part of this year's Tri-Art Series (2004-2005 calendar year) at the Brook's Center.

This past year students of F.D.C. where accepted to Ballet Austin (full scholarship), North Carolina School of the Arts, Point Park College (full scholarship), and Cedar Lake Dance Company (professional contract). Several F.C.P.A. students who attended Governor's School last summer opted to stay home this summer and attend the Summer Dance Session here with us in Seneca. World renowned and Russian trained Boston Ballet soloist Pavel Gurevich will teach the summer session July 5-24 at the conservatory. He will be joined by former Columbia City Ballet dancer Jessica Kreyer and other guest faculty, all of whom are former Broadway and/or professional principal performers. Classes will be taught in jazz, hip-hop, modern dance, classical ballet, pointe, partnering, and variations. Younger students ages 6-7 will also have an opportunity to study tap. Through the summer we will continue to offer adult classes in modern jazz, ballet and senior fitness. Bernie Dion teaches swing dance for groups of six or more.

FACULTY - Modern Dance instructor, Heather Abernathy-Hogan has a B.A Ed. in Dance from U.G.A and dances with CORE Concert Dance Co. Heather just returned from a tour in China. Jazz and Hip-Hop Gordy Owens, attended North Carolina School of the Arts and studied at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre on a full scholarship. His Broadway shows include Chorus Line(lead), Starlight Express, and Dream Girls to name a few. He has numerous film and T.V. Credits. Ballet Instructor, Rhonda Murray made her debut with the New Zealand Ballet in a Gala performance for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. In 1996 Rhonda was accepted to the Varna Internaional Ballet Competition in Bulgaria to represent the United States. She was a principal dancer with New Jersey Ballet. Artistic Director, Ginny Siano-Eck holds a B.A. in Theatre/Dance and Sec. Ed. from Barat College in IL. She was a soloist in The Tony Wilson Dance Co., a member of the Chicago Ballet Ensemble, founder and Artistic Director of Lake Shore Dancers and early on employed by Kaiser Broadcasting as Bingo of the Banana Splits in Chicago. Tap instructor, Jacqueline Sykes studied tap twelve years and participated five summers in the prestigious "Human Rhythm's Project" in Chicago. She has a B.S. in Biology from C.U. where she is presently pursuing her masters in Park Management.
Standing guest teacher, Catherine Ulissey was in the original casts of Phantom of the Opera, Rags, The Red Shoes and the Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Ms.Ulissey was a principal dancer with the Eliot Feld Ballet Company in New York. She presently teaches at Harvard Un.and the Boston Ballet.