Happy 2021 everyone!  My name is Melissa McCrary and I am the president of the South Carolina Dance Association (SCDA) for 2021.  I am honored to be able to serve you this year and I encourage you to take advantage of the many opportunities we will be offering throughout the year.  Currently, we are in the process of updating and upgrading a database of dance teachers throughout the state.  Many of you have already completed the form to add your name and information to the list, but if you haven’t, please click HERE and complete the short form.  This database will be used to keep you informed of anything DANCE throughout the state.  If you know someone who teachers K-12 or college dance, please share this form with them so we can have an accurate database.  They do not need to be current members of SCDA to be in the database, but membership is necessary in order to take advantage of many of our upcoming opportunities.  A form and database for other dance professionals in the state will be coming out as well, so keep an eye out for that in the coming months.

SCDA’s ad hoc committee for high school dance teams has developed competition protocols that align with the SCHSL COVID-19 guidelines so that we can provide competition opportunities for our dance teams similar to that of other high school sports teams.  This need presented itself because we have teams across the state that have been practicing all year but competitions have been cancelled. While our teams have watched sports compete (because the SCHSL has made it possible) they have not been able to compete because we don't have any kind of league or state agency to represent us. Jennifer Coffey (SCDA Past-President) and her committee have worked diligently to ensure that we can safely and effectively promote competitions, including a SC State Dance Championship that SCDA will host!

Professional development opportunities exist in an on-demand, year-long virtual conference platform thanks to a partnership with the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and Palmetto State Arts Education.  We have many resources already posted on the site and have more to come each month.  As a member of SCDA, you have FREE ACCESS to this site so go check it out and see what it is all about.  If you joined SCDA/SCAHPERD after October 1, 2020, please email Jennifer Coffey at jcoffey@lexington1.net to make sure you have been added to the Insight roster.  As SCDA president, I have been involved with the Council of Arts Education Presidents (CAEP) in SC to determine the best opportunities to continue providing this virtual conference platform in addition to other conferences we typically host individually each year, once we can safely return to large in-person gatherings.  

We are currently in the process of reviewing our operating codes to make adjustments that can help us better serve our dance professionals, future professionals, and students across the state.  I am very excited about the awesome things that SCDA has coming along this year.  Please feel free to contact me, Jennifer Coffey (past-president), or Rebecca Lee (president-elect) if you have any questions or you wish to take on a more active role in SCDA at admin@scdanceassociation.org.  I hope everyone’s year is off to a great start and we can all be together in November for an in-person SCAHPERD conference, November 12-14 in Myrtle Beach!

Melissa McCrary, SCDA President