FAC Weekly Update
September 3, 2021
Good afternoon, Fine Arts Center Family
I hope you have had a wonderful week! As we enter the long weekend and celebrate our nation's workers through the Labor Day Holiday, the FAC would like to also take a moment to thank you for a great start to the school year. It takes a total team effort from the home and school teams to get our students off on the right foot. Though we continue to find ourselves navigating challenging times, we are able to provide a great experience for our students because we are in it together. Wishing you and yours a restful and rejuvenating weekend!
Here is the latest from the halls of the Fine Arts Center...
This Week's Student Leadership Lesson
"There is a world of difference between a person who has a big problem and a person who makes a problem big. A study of 300 highly successful people - people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hellen Keller, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, and Albert Einstein - reveals that 1/4 of them had handicaps and 3/4 had either been born in poverty, came from broken homes, or at least came from exceedingly tense or disturbed situations.
Why did the achievers overcome their problems, while thousands are overwhelmed by theirs? They refused to hold on to the common excuses for failure. They turned stumbling blocks into stepping stones. They realized they could not determine every circumstance in life, but they could determine their choice of attitude toward every circumstance.
A leader in making is one who realizes that the only problem you have is the one you allow to be a problem because of your wrong reaction to it. Problems can stop you temporarily. You are the only one who can do it permanently.
John C. Maxwell - The Maxwell Daily Reader, p. 270
Dance Artist-in-Residence
About the artist...
Christopher L. Huggins, a 2021 recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Dance, is a choreographer, teacher, and former principal dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr.Huggins trained under Andrea Herbert Major, Danny Sloan, and Martha Gray. After attending SUNY Purchase, The Juilliard School, and a fellowship at The Ailey School, Mr. Huggins appeared as a guest artist with dance companies in the United States, the Oslo Dance Ensemble in Norway, and Aterballetto of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Mr. Huggins is a master teacher and choreographer for pre-professional dance programs in South Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and throughout the United States in performing art schools and higher education at Howard University, Spelman College, the University of the Arts, to name a few. He has created ballets for Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Ailey II, Philadanco, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Louisiana Dance Theatre, Lulu Washington Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Broadway Dance of Tokyo, and the Oslo Dance Ensemble in Norway. He was the sole choreographer for the 50th Anniversary Opening Night Gala for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 2008. Mr. Huggins has received awards from the Black Alliance Award in Chicago, a Silver Medal for the Seoul International Contemporary Dance Competition, the Critics Choice Award for his choreography of the musical “The Wiz'' with Dallas Theatre, and a Service to the Field of Dance Award from
the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD).
Assisting Christopher will be Tyrone Walker. Tyrone is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Tyrone has received dance training from The Washington School of Ballet, School of Nashville Ballet, Giordano Dance Chicago, and The Ailey School under full scholarships. He is a former member of Nashville Ballet 2, Ailey II, Moveius Contemporary Ballet, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. He has performed works by many notable choreographers, including Paul Vasterling, Robert Philander, Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, George Faison, Troy Powell, Ben Stevenson, Christopher L. Huggins, Robert Battle, and Judith Jamison. He has also performed with the Nashville Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria. Tyrone has been a guest artist with the Tallahassee Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, and Philadanco. He was on faculty at the School of Nashville Ballet, was the Ballet Master for Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, and director of the Metropolitan Ballet Ensemble. Tyrone has choreographed on the Houston Academy of Dance, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, The Ailey School, Dallas Black Dance Theatre II, Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Ensemble, Moveius Contemporary Ballet, and Agora Dance. His theater credits include Father Panik Village: The Untold Story (Bridgeport, CT), a production of The Wiz (Dallas, TX) with Dallas Theater Center, Matilda (Tuacahn), Cinderella (Tuacahn), and The Prince of Egypt (Tuacahn).
Christopher L. Huggins
Funding made possible by the Peace Center
Tyrone Walker
Notification of COVID-Positive Cases
Effective Monday, September 13, schools will begin using Backpack to notify parents when a COVID-positive case has been identified in their child’s classroom or team.
The new Backpack notification process, which interfaces with PowerSchool, will allow principals to automatically distribute an email to parents of all students in a particular classroom. This process will be much faster and more efficient than our previous Phone Messenger notification system.
If you have not done so already, please set up a Backpack account using the steps outlined here. Once a parent sets up a Backpack account, the final step requires verification of identity and proof of custody. Parents should contact their child’s school to confirm how the school would like to receive verification documents.
Please note that parents whose children are identified as “close contacts” will still receive a phone call from a school staff member.
Green Artists Club
Are you interested in helping to make Greenville a better, cleaner, more beautiful place? Would you like to spend some quality time outdoors, earning volunteer credit hours, and making new friends? Fine Arts Center’s Green Artists Club is an extracurricular environmental awareness/conservation group, dedicated to improving and beautifying our surroundings.
Current projects include our Adopt-A-Highway program, as well as afternoon trips to Conestee Nature Preserve, where the Green Artists eradicate invasive plants (such as kudzu) that choke out our native plant species. The group would also like to seek partnerships with local environmental groups, such as Friends of the Reedy River.
The group is currently collecting names and email addresses of anyone who is interested and would like to set up a meeting soon after school to elect a new club president, vice-president, and communications/outreach liaison. If you are interested in learning more or joining the group, please email our Music Theory instructor Richard Young at rwyoung@greenvilleschools.us.
Julie Valentine Center
The Julie Valentine Center is a "nonprofit organization that provides free, confidential services to sexual assault and child abuse survivors and their families." They provide a wealth of programming, education, and resources to the community. Please visit their website for more information - https://www.julievalentinecenter.org/.
Important Dates/Upcoming Events
- September 6 - No School; Labor Day
- September 10 - Big Body Play Artist Talk; during class for FAC PM Visual Arts Students
- October 1 - Music Faculty Recital; during class, for FAC Music Students
- October 11-16 - Dance Guest Artist in Residence: Christopher L. Huggins
- October 25-29 - Chamber Strings Guest Artists in Residence: The Callisto Quartet
- October 25-29 - Jazz Guest Artists in Residence: The Regions
REMINDERS
Is Your Child Performing in the Community?
Haven't Heard Back From Us?
If you have reached out to any of our FAC or ARMES personnel and have not received a response, the above information should explain why. If you continue to have issues in receiving a response, please call our Main Office.
The FAC Parent Guild Wants YOU
The FAC Parent Guild is looking for volunteers who want to support the FAC in a variety of ways. Please click on the following link to view our informational handout.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FERVpudbg7VY2pYpUyhKeex_Jg2vSWqe/view?usp=sharing
If you have any questions, please email our Parent Engagement Committee Co-Chairs:
- Anita Pacylowski-Justo - anita@danceartsgreenville.com
- Steve Hairston - steve.hairston@furman.edu
FYI - COVID Reporting Process
FYI - Vaccination Impact on Quarantine/Isolation
Fine Arts Center - Greenville County Schools
Preparing dedicated students for 21st-century careers through rigorous, pre-professional arts training in a dynamic, inclusive, collaborative learning community.
Core Values
Creativity
Respect
Grit
Identity
Connection
Email: vpopat@greenville.k12.sc.us
Website: https://www.fineartscenter.net
Location: 102 Pine Knoll Drive, Greenville, SC, USA
Phone: (864) 355-2550
Twitter: @FACGreenville