Friends of PYDC
Monthly Update
April & May 2008
Published: June 1, 2008
The Palmetto Youth Dance Company’s mission is to take the passion for dance and theatre to the preprofessional and professional levels while striving to engage our community in the endeavor of nurturing creativity in our youth while fostering an appreciation for excellence in all areas of the arts.
Letter from the President
PYDC has been very busy in the last few months! Our dancers have performed at the Come See Me Festival in Rock Hill and at the Hemby Children’s Hospital Spring Fling in April. They also did a spotlight performance of an excerpt from Swan Lake at the spring recital for Kendra’s Academy of Dance.
We are so proud of what they have done during this first year of operation for PYDC. They have all grown as dancers and as individuals.
We have big plans for next season and can’t wait to see how we can expand on the foundation we set this year!
Regards and Best Wishes,
Emily Carpenter
Upcoming Events
Auditions for Company I & II -- August 24th, 2008
Auditions for Nutcracker -- August 24th, 2008
Parent & Participant Kickoff Meeting -- September 13th, 2008
Special Thanks to…
…all of our dancers for their time and dedication! PYDC came into being because of you! You have all worked SO hard and have learned SO much!
… Angela Howard for her VERY dedicated service to PYDC during its first year. Angela has been more than just our Company Secretary. She has been the creative genius behind many of
our sets and props and has been a tireless champion of all things PYDC. Angela and her family will be moving to Virginia this summer. We will miss their daily presence, but we will be with
them in our thoughts, prayers, hopes, dreams and frequently in their mailboxes, email in‐boxes, and voicemail!!!!!
…Abbi Howard for her beautiful talent, gentle spirit and bright smile. You will always be our first Clara!
…Alan Howard for his support, patience and expert planning. You held together a freight train that was moving faster than was prudent and got us safely to our destination!
…all of the Parents who supported us and their children and helped make our first season such a success!
…Edwina Gramuska for agreeing to be our Company Vice President and for bringing her energy and vision to our “merry band”.
…Linh Le, Entertainment Coordinator for the Come See Me Festival in Rock Hill for including us it this great event and giving our dancers their first paid performance!
…Hemby Children’s Hospital for allowing us to be a part of their Spring Fling event!
…Kristin Weeks, who has offered to be our liaison with Winthrop University!
…Esther Rivera, who will be our Youth Board Member-at-Large for the coming year!
…Lisa Zeitler, who will was elected as Parent Board Member-at-Large!
Future Plans
Nutcracker Twist 2008: We are planning a second production of The Nutcracker Twist for December 2008. This plan will remain tentative until we raise the $2500 minimum needed for theater rental, advertising and basic expenses. We are currently 52% to our goal with $1200 left to raise.
The Princess of Swan Lake 2009: We are planning to stage an adaptation of Swan Lake in Spring 2009. We are beginning to develop plans and budgets for this show.
Congratulations to…
…Haylee Pearson and Miles Sasser, who will be graduating from Fort Mill High School!
…Miles Sasser who will be attending UNC Greensboro in the fall as a member of their Dance Program!
…Christie Zeitler, who was crowned Prom Queen for Nations Ford High School!
…all of our dancers and extras for fantastic performances in their spring recitals!
…Kayla Eikenberry and Chelsea Resch who were selected as members of the Fort Mill High School Dance Team!
…Caelie King who was selected as a member of the Springfield Middle School Dance Team!
…Everett Johnson and Caelie King, who will be attending the Montgomery Ballet Summer Intensive Program!
…Abbi Howard for being selected for the NC Dance Theater Summer Intensive Program!
Our Dancers Past and Present
Best wishes to Abbi Howard as she moves to Virginia with her family.
Help Needed
We are looking for adult volunteers for the following:
A parent from Company I or Company II who can help Kendra in keeping track of
attendance and class logs each Saturday.
A point of contact to work with Fort Mill High School and Nations Ford High School.
This person can help us with scheduling of productions and finalizing arrangements when we use school facilities.
Someone to administer our Corporate Fund Raising Program. This person would be in charge of editing, printing and distributing letters to local businesses, tracking Corporate donations and providing the Board of Directors with information and lists of Corporate Donors for advertisements, banners, etc.
Someone to administer our Patron Fundraising Program. This person would be in
charge of editing, printing and distributing fundraising materials as approved by the Board of Directors, tracking donations from Patrons and will work with the Treasurer to provide records necessary for IRS reporting.
We will need volunteers to help out with Company auditions in August to collect audition
forms, assign audition numbers andanswer questions.
We did not meet our goal of raising $2500 by May 1st to fund The Nutcracker Twist 2008; however, as in the past, we are not going to let that stop us. We are hoping to raise the funds before auditions in August – to avoid holding a mandatory dancer fund raiser. We are
instituting a PYDC Patron Program. Please see our website www.pydc.net for more information and in order to make a secure on‐line donation.
If you can help out with any of these items, please contact Kendra or any member of the Board of Directors!
Contact Information
Palmetto Youth Dance Company
1974 Carolina Place Dr., Suite 144
Fort Mill, SC 29708
Email us at dance@pydc.com
Check out our website at www.pydc.net
Call us at 803-547-7414
Emily Carpenter, President
Edwinna Gramuska, Vice President
Laurel Fabian, Secretary
Marie Tetreault, Treasurer
Kendra Eikenberry, Artistic Director
Esther Rivera, Youth Member-At-Large