Third graders at O.P. Earle are participating in a dance artist-in-residency funded by a grant from the Susan Patricia Hodge Fund Spartanburg County Foundation.

Carlos Agudelo, artistic director with Ballet Spartanburg will be the guest artist-in-residence providing the dance instruction to the third graders. Students will be learning the art and history of dance as well as participate in a dance routine.

Students will have a culminating performance for the public during the last PTO meeting in the spring. PTO meeting date to be determined.

The mission of Ballet Spartanburg is to promote dance and dance appreciation in Spartanburg County and surrounding areas by providing quality dance training, education, performance, and outreach.

Since 1966 Ballet Spartanburg has been presenting national and international dance companies. Today Ballet Spartanburg is recognized as a regional dance company with an exceptional commitment to education and outreach activities in the Upstate. Ballet Spartanburg has performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, at the Kroger Center in Columbia, at the Peace Center in Greenville, Tryon and Forest City, North Carolina, and at Lander University.

In 1976, the Dance Center was established as the official school of Ballet Spartanburg. Today the Dance Center instructs nearly 500 students from Spartanburg, Greenville, Union, and Cherokee Counties, and also from Asheville, Tryon, and Rutherfordton, North Carolina.

Ballet Spartanburg offers lecture/demonstrations, in-school residencies and performances, after school programs, an annual free performance of Peter and the Wolf, summer programs for at-risk youth at inner city housing projects, the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Spartanburg, and Weed.