Lifestyle Profiles
University’s Dance Company steps up
What’s the difference between the first and second years of the University of South Carolina Dance Company’s collaboration with the New York City Ballet? It’s in the numbers:
- Funds for 20 new scholarships for incoming students in fall 2007
- A 400 percent increase in student participants—from four in March 2006 to 20 in March 2007
- 100 percent improvement in the student dancers’ performances, according to Susan Anderson, director of the Department of Theatre and Dance
“If you can imagine, it would be like being with a professional baseball team, and having to step up to the plate,” Anderson says of the experience of working with the NYC Ballet’s top dancers. “And so the dance company improved 100 percent.”
Dance ‘the crown jewel’
All the more remarkable is that dance was first offered as a major in 2005. No other
university in South Carolina offers a BA degree with an emphasis in classical ballet.
University President Andrew Sorensen has called the dance program “the crown
jewel of the University.”
One of those who shone was dance student Susan Dabney, a two-time participant who was thrilled to get to work with longtime hero and principal dancer Wendy Whelan.
“She’s everything you’d hope a prima ballerina would be—friendly, nice,” Dabney says. “She acted like we danced together every day.”
Raising money, program’s profile
The collaboration with the New York City Ballet has culminated both years in a fund-raising
gala, with the proceeds going toward student scholarships in dance performance and dance education.
Anderson is dedicated to bringing top-tier classical choreography to Columbia. The Dance Company’s next big project is a performance of Chronicle, a piece choreographed by famed dancer Martha Graham. No other university has received the rights to perform the entire work.
New dance center
Also on tap: A new dance center is scheduled to open in early 2009 that will feature new performance space and three studios.
“I’m on a real high right now, because I’ve been building this program and adding courses and trying to get funding, and all of a sudden, it just happened,” Anderson says.
— By Molly Bracknell
The University of South Carolina Dance Company collaborates with the New York City Ballet.
Photo: University Marketing and CommunicationsRelated Links
University Dance Company
Undergraduate performers and dance majors studying the disciplines and principles of classical ballet, modern, and jazz
