SCDA

Dance Teacher of the Year and the SC Dance Advocacy award are given annually at the SCAHPERD conference in November.  Winners are nominated by their peers and voted on by the SCDA Board of Directors.  This year's winners are truly deserving of their awards.  

Dance Teacher of the Year: Melissa McCrary

SCDA presented the 2020 Teacher of the Year Award to Melissa McCrary. Melissa has been teaching dance in SC public schools for 13 years. When she started in Fairfield County, she was instrumental in rebuilding the dance program, starting both a dance company and competitive dance team. She is responsible for vertically aligning the district’s dance curricula to create a sequential curricular progression for elementary, middle, and high school dance programs. In just under a year in Chester County, she has solidified arts instruction in the district and has pushed arts integration into her school’s overall curriculum plan to grow the arts programs.

 Melissa is a master teacher and one of the most dedicated educators in our state and is capable of building something powerful from the ground up.  Melissa's students and fellow educators are lucky to have her and SCDA thanks her for her dedication to her students, colleagues, and SCDA as she continues to serve.

Dance Advocacy Award: Dr. Stephanie Milling

SCDA presented the 2020 Dance Advocacy Award to Dr. Stephanie Milling. Stephanie is SC’s own dance education and advocacy superhero. Her vast teaching experience spans from three different universities in Texas to New York City public schools to Winthrop University where she served as Assistant Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. And now she is currently the Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance and also the Head of Dance Education at the University of South Carolina.

Stephanie helped write our state standards for dance education in 2010 and again in 2017. She is a fierce advocate for the arts at both the state and national level. She currently serves as the Advocacy Director for the National Dance Education Organization and is also serving as the SCDA representative on SCAHPERD’s advocacy committee. She has served on the SC Arts Alliance Board of Directors since 2012 and is currently occupies the role of President for the organization.

Not only has Stephanie’s work has appeared in some of the biggest venues in dance, but she is also nationally and internationally published. Her work continues to influence future educators and artists as she instills a passion for arts advocacy in her dance education students. She invites each and every one of them with her to the state house to actually take part in conversations with our legislators, to network with other arts advocates, and to empower them to continue to advocate for the art of dance in our state.

SCDA is incredibly lucky to have Stephanie as an integral part of our advocacy network and we greatly value her tireless efforts to speak up and promote dance and the arts for our organization and across the state.  Your powerful voice is heard and appreciated.

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