ANITA SUN PACYLOWSKI

FINE ARTS CENTER DANCE CHAIR

BALLET/PROGRESSING BALLET TECHNIQUE/COMPOSITION

Anita is a native of Columbia, MD. Her formal ballet training came from the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. She is a Princess Grace Award in Dance, National Young Arts Level 1 winner, and received the Presidential Scholar in the Arts in Dance award by the White House Commission in the Arts at the White House. She was a finalist at the New York International Ballet Competition and semi-finalist at the Prix de Lausanne competition in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a coveted Benois de la Danse Award, "the Oscars" of the Ballet world, nominee, and invited to perform in Moscow.

Her professional career started in The Washington Ballet under the direction of Mary Day. While there, her international touring was to Russia, Thailand, Singapore, France, England, and Spain. Highlights include performing the Grand Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center for President Clinton, the First Lady, and the White House Holiday Tea Party. She then moved to Charlotte Ballet as a principal dancer, where she met her husband, Hernan Justo. After seven years with that company, she joined her husband as artistic leader of Carolina Ballet Theatre.

For the last twenty six years, Anita has been the co-artistic director of DanceArts Greenville and Ballet Greenville. Anita served for two years on the Board of Directors of the Fine Arts Center as co-chair of the Parent Engagement Committee as well as four years part-time ballet instructor. As a Presidential Scholar in Arts alumni, Anita served on the Presidential Scholar Alumni Association's steering committee to build a network and platform for PSA dance alumni. From 2017-2020, she was the Associate Director of the Charlotte Ballet Academy. She continues to guest teach in the CBA summer intensive and consult for the academy.