Featured Artist

Susan Anderson
Professor of Dance, Director of Dance USC, Artistic Director, USC Dance Company

As the founding director of the USC Dance Company, the USC Dance Conservatory, and the South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory, Professor of Dance Susan Anderson knows a thing or two about arts education and administration.  She is also a gifted performer and choreographer who has to date created some 105 ballets that have been performed all over the U.S. and as far away as South America and Europe.

Here Anderson talks about, among other things, the value of interdisciplinary artistic collaboration and why all children deserve arts training and arts education.

What excites you most about your most recent work? 
My most recent choreographic work is a Pas de Deux entitled Adagio in G Major by Tommasio Albinoni.  It was performed at the end of February at the Koger and again with the Lake Murray Symphony, which is conducted by my husband Einar Anderson.  It is ethereal and very emotional.  I have choreographed this work as a gift and as a celebration of our marriage.

What do you find most appealing about the arts community at Carolina?
The Arts at Carolina do not exist without the Columbia community. They are our patrons, donors, and audience.  Without the community the Arts at USC could not afford performances at the Koger, since ticket sales fund a portion of each organization's budget.
I consider myself the gura of collaborative endeavors. The dance program has performed with the School of Music in over 50 productions. Also dance has been an integral part of theatrical presentations on campus and in the community.  Our work with the Art Department with the work of artist Brian Rutenberg was indeed ground breaking and a great lesson in multi arts collaboration with Media, Poetry, Music and Dance.

What artist in your field, living or dead, do you admire most, and why?
Too many to choose!!!

If you had a million dollars to give away, what would you do with it?
I have always wanted to start a dance program for children who could not afford truly professional dance education.  I will do this project one day with or without one million.  This would be the Center for Dance Education at USC .I would audition the children from the surrounding Columbia Community and select the gifted and talented and most of all eager young artists.

What kind of place do you think art has—or should have—in the larger global community?  And how does what you do in the classroom connect to the larger world?
The Arts are about humanity. It is a different way of educating, but in the big picture I think people and communities that are exposed to the Arts are more compassionate, more tolerant, less prejudiced, and in general  better human beings.

What’s the last book you read, and what did you think of it?
I have no time for leisure reading but I do read dance biographies. The most recent is by Twyla Tharp. The USC Dance Company recently performed her work Deuce Coupe.

Tell us about your work in progress—what can we expect from you next?
Just wait and see.  I am always thinking of what will I do next year to top this.  Our new building opens next year and I am planning a one-year celebration.