Staff
Susan Anderson, founder & artistic director
MFA, University of California at Irvine. 2011 SC Professor of the Year. 2009 Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor. 2009 Governor's Professor of the Year.
Professor Anderson is the founding director of the USC Dance Company, USC Dance Conservatory, and South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory, which hosts international students and world-renowned faculty and choreographers.
Under her directorship, the dance program implemented a BA major in Dance Performance and Choreography in 2004, with concentrations in Ballet or Contemporary Dance. Soon after, the program added an emphasis in Dance Education, a K-12 Teacher Certification program, in partnership with the College of Education. Since this time, the dance program has become nationally recognized, earning distinction from Dance Magazine as one of the top three collegiate programs to consider for classical ballet study. The program now has more than 65 course offerings and approximately 3,000 students enroll each year taking dance courses.
Some of Susan Anderson’s professional artistic works include the creation of over 200 ballets such as Scheherazade, Ondine, Taming of the Shrew, Plant Dance with artist Blue Sky, The Firebird, Phantom of the Night, Crown Jewels, Sylvia, Carnival of the Animals, Pleasures of Paris, and The Young Man and Death. She has choreographed and taught master classes for Gus Giordano Dance Company in Chicago, the University of California, University of Buffalo, University of Georgia, Several Dancers Core in Atlanta, Murray State, Knoxville Dance Theatre, Loyola University, Inco Ballet in Colombia, South America and Stadtische Opera in Gera, Germany.
In 2009, she was named the Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year and Governor’s Professor of the Year.
In 2011, she was named SC Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation.
Rhythm McCarthy, Associate Director
BFA, Jacksonville University. MFA, Florida State University.
Rhythm McCarthy’s professional career includes work with North Carolina Dance Theatre, the California Ballet Company, Agnes DeMille, Valerie Bettis, Pauline Koner, Duncan Noble, Alwin Nikolais, Donlin Foreman, Anthony Morgan, and Ernestine Stodelle. Teaching and choreographic credits include residencies and guest artist positions with Florida State University, Jacksonville University, Missouri State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, Austin Peay State University, University of Arkansas Little Rock, Coker College, and Imperial College in London, England.
Ms. McCarthy has directed/ choreographed over fifty shows for the musical stage including Once Upon a Mattress for the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at UALR. While at Missouri State University she received College and University Outstanding Teaching Awards and in 2008 was selected as a finalist for the national student nominated Inspire Integrity Award. She has taught ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance, and developed a premier touring program utilizing dance performance and movement studies to enhance literacy in public schools.
Ms. McCarthy’s paper on The Dance Educator’s Role in Preserving Diversity: Two University Programs was chosen for presentation at the 18th World Congress on Dance Research in Argos, Greece. The same organization invited her to present her choreographic work, Ozarks Folk Suite, for the 19th World Congress in Larnaca, Cyprus. She returned to the 20th World Congress in Athens, Greece to present a co-authored paper, From Tap to Toe, From Jig to Clog, From Salome to the Chocolate Nijinsky: How Vaudeville Taught America to Dance. Ms. McCarthy has given the opening keynote address at the International Dance in Education Congress in Bogota, Columbia, published articles in Pointe Magazine, and been awarded National Endowment of the Arts Initiative Grants.
Ms. McCarthy began her professional studies at North Carolina School of the Arts and holds degrees from Jacksonville University (BFA) and Florida State University (MFA). She serves as a Vice President on the National Board of Directors for the American College Dance Association. She is currently teaching at the University of South Carolina and is Professor Emeritus at Missouri State University.
eric morris, production manager
Eric graduated from Augusta College and earned his MFA in Design for Stage from Western Illinois University. He has assisted, designed and produced for trade shows, ballet, opera, regional theatre, Off-Broadway and Broadway. His resident and guest design positions include service to Theatre Project in Baltimore, Maryland Arts Festival, Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival and many others. For twelve years he served as the resident scenic and lighting designer for Lexington Children’s Theatre in Lexington, Kentucky. As a young designer he received a TCG/National Endowment for the Arts Designer Fellowship where he assisted legendary designers Tom Skelton, Michael Philippi, Kevin Rigdon, Brian MacDevitt, Natasha Katz and others at venues such as The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory and Great Lakes Theatre Festival. His teaching includes classes and workshops for colleges, universities and professional training programs such as Illinois Wesleyan University, University of Kentucky and The Hotchkiss School Summer Program. He is currently on faculty with University of South Carolina and the Production Designer for USC Dance. Eric’s ongoing work comprises design and production management for Lexington Ballet, Columbia Music Festival, Wideman-Davis Dance Company and he is the owner of SourceLight LLC. Eric’s published writing life is trade articles for Painter’s Journal and Business Lexington and in the fiction genre he’s a recipient of the Broad River Prize for Prose honoring his short story Enner Smith. His novel Jacob Jump is a publication of Pat Conroy’s Story River Books. Eric is also a proud member of ASCAP.
ciera Barrow, web designer
In 2015 Ciera graduated from the University of South Carolina where she earned a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A. in Media Arts. While a member of the USC Dance Company she trained with faculty such as Stacey Calvert, former soloist with the New York City Ballet, Kyra Strasburg, former Boston Ballet principal, and Tanya Wideman-Davis, former dancer for Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. After graduation Ciera danced professionally with the Power Company Collaborative, a contemporary company based in Columbia, SC, for four years. During that time she worked as the Administrative Assistant and Coordinator of SCSDC and as the Production Assistant for the USC Dance Program. She now lives in Denver, CO and works for the CU Boulder Theatre & Dance Department and dances with Edgar L. Page’s company, Feel the Movement, while maintaining this site she created for SC Summer Dance Conservatory.
*At its own discretion, SC Summer Dance Conservatory reserves the right to cancel or modify classes and programs and make changes to instructors and staff at any time, with or without notice.