A message from the President

 August 29, 2007

Dear SC McAC members, and friends:

We just completed the fourth year of existence of the SC McAC, and I thought we should pause for a moment, and take a look at our activities during this time:

1.  Support of Vibrations Dance Company, and Terrance Henderson's work. The SC McAC assisted and supported Terrance Henderson and Vibrations Dance Company (VDC) in the organization of three full seasons of concerts and performances, marked by compelling new works and remarkable artistic growth.  Works such as "Sista Girl and the Soldier: The Urban Nutcracker", and "Experience in Rhythm" (at their third and fourth edition, respectively, in 2006-07) are landmark works for Terrance and for Vibrations and were met with considerable enthusiasm by the audiences. "Sista Girl and the Soldier: The Urban Nutcracker" sold out for the past two seasons!

In 2006, Terrance started a new Spring concert called: "Dimensions," a contemporary dance theatre event.  Last year, "Dimensions" was expanded to include an invitation to dance extended to other contemporary dance groups in Columbia, and featured Sapphire Moon Dance Company, as well as much new work by Terrance, performed by the awesome Vibrations dancers.

This year, "Dimensions" has become the South Carolina Contemporary Dance Festival, to be held at the Koger Center for the Performing Arts, and in the brand new Dreher High School Auditorium, in Columbia, SC, April 10-12, 2008.  The Festival will see the participation of local and national dance artists and master choreographers in a series of master classes, workshops, and performances. We expect to see high school and college students, as well as professional dancers from all over the state attend this Festival.

Also included in the 2007/08 season, and partially supported by the SC McAC, Inc. was a dance theatre event called "Ninacity",  inspired by and dedicated to Nina Simone (November, 2007). 

In 2004 and 2005 Terrance made the finals of the Leo's Contemporary Choreography Award competition, and SC McAC provided support to help him take Vibrations Dance Company with him to the Jazz Dance World Congress in Costa Rica, in July 2004, and Chicago, in August, 2005.

In July-August, 2006, the SC McAC provided partial registration and travel support to Terrance and to Rudolph Steven Ferguson, II, for them to attend the Bates Dance Festival, in Maine, where both attended a challenging and very rewarding series of contemporary dance classes reserved for the professional dancers. Both brought back to the group their experience which is reflected in their dancing, teaching and choreography.

SC McAC again provided support for Terrance to attend the Jazz Dance World Congress, and to spend a few extra days training with Chicago's masters, this Summer, 2007. Terrance came back with a bunch of new ideas, and managed to recruit two choreographers of national reputation to the South Carolina Contemporary Dance Festival.

2. "Artists Against Breast Cancer". In June, 2004, we launched an initiative that uses the arts to raise awareness of breast cancer.  Today,  "Artists Against Breast Cancer"  is a well established program, with recurring yearly events and a permanent art collection that can be enjoyed online, on this site, as well as in real life. We are very grateful to the University of South Carolina Office of Research and Health Sciences, as well as to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, for the funds that allowed us to launch the program. Thanks to a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, we are now taking Artists Against Breast Cancer to high schools and colleges around Columbia, SC. We are looking for a location that will host the art collection: any ideas?

3. SC McAC Press:  This year has seen the establishment of SC McAC Press, and the publication of my first poetry book, "The Nature of Things", which I used as a tool to learn about publishing, before getting into more complex projects in this area.  This first book was quickly followed by a second one: "Faith That Heals: Stories of God's Love" was released today and is available for sale on this web site.  I loved reading this collection of 45 stories of faith and healing, selected from a total of 107, resulting from over 400 interviews conducted here in Columbia over the course of three years of work. Since the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed, the stories are written almost exactly as they were told: the Author (Dr. Jane Teas) carefully preserved the language used by each person, and for that reason, as well as for their content, the stories come alive before the reader, one more improbable than the other, and yet they are true, sincere accounts of what happened. Dr. Teas states that putting together this collection has been a life- changing experience; I believe that reading her book can be life-changing too.

A new book by Roman Skaskiw: "The Little Boy Who Stopped Smiling", illustrated by Roman's Mother, Maria Skaskiw (see her watercolor "Colors"  in the "Artists Against Breast Cancer" collection) was also recently released: this is a delightful little children's book which will enchant the adults, as well as the little ones!

Last, but not least, Pam Weiss and her sister granted me permission to re-publish their Mother's poetry. Ann Weiss is featured among the artists that contributed to "Artists Against Breast Cancer". Ann was a 20-year breast cancer survivor, and a poet, a mother, a gardener, a teacher, and an inspiration to others who battled the same disease. I am looking forward to bringing back Ann's poetry, which is full of love of life and I believe can be an inspiration, still, to all of her readers.

We are exploring more opportunities to bring forth programs that use the arts (dance, in particular) as a conduit to education, wellness and healing.

We are planning a membership drive, this year, to gather enough support for us to find a home and begin to expand our programs and services. We will also vigorously compete for funding by grant-giving agencies, now that we have established a track record of activities and we have been in existence for over four years. Any help our members and supporters may be able to give us in these endeavors will be greatly appreciated!  It is now very easy to contribute and to join as members: payments can be made to us online, within the secure environment of PayPal, through a PayPal account or by credit card (click here for details).

We extend a heartfelt "thank you" to our members and supporters who have made all of this possible, and look forward to a new year of growth and activities.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                         Lucia