Develop Student Skills

VISITING GUEST ARTISTS and CHOREOGRAPHERS

Our resident faculty is highly qualified, but dance students often have an opportunity to study with renowned dance artists and teachers. Guest artists also choreograph original dance works for the Fine Arts Center dance students to perform in public performances. In the past, the Fine Arts Center has had guest artists who have performed with dance companies such as the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, David Parsons Dance Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Ben Munisteri Dance Projects, Dan Wagoner and Dancers, Randy James Dance Works, Pilobolus Too, Ballet Folklorico, and teachers from New York, Texas, Florida, Chicago, Canada and the Ukraine as guest artists.

Guest artists have included: Alonzo King, Gerri Houlihan, Brian McGinnis, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Joan Wadopian, Lisa Wheeler, Dr. Stephanie Milling and Randy James among others.  Several of the dance artists have been in residence from 1-2 weeks teaching classes and choreographing on the students or restaging works. 

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Field trips to Asheville, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Tallahassee, Winston-Salem, Durham and other cities enable students to experience dance from a broader perspective.  Students have traveled to visit university dance programs and to see performances by such companies as the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Corella Ballet.  National and Regional High School Dance Festivals have taken us to Miami, Baltimore and Norfolk.  

Dancers have an opportunity to earn membership into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) and if eligible, can apply for the prestigious National Dance Education Organization’s Artistic Merit, Leadership and Academic Achievement Award, one of the nation’s highest honor awards.  Three FAC dancers have been named Finalists with one placing 3^rd in the nation and another placing 5^th.