The Joffrey Ballet School’s summer dance camps introduce children to an exciting world of creativity, movement, and fun. During the summer we have camps for children ages 3 to 9. Below you will find sample schedules for the various age groups. All activities are held at the Joffrey Ballet School’s studios in the West Village and are conducted by our experienced and caring staff.
Each week long workshop is designed to encourage creativity through the exploration of a theme using dance, arts, crafts, music and food. A Friday In -studio performance culminates each week long workshop.
Week 1: June 28-July 2
”Stars and Stripes”
Following in the tradition of the great choreographer George Balanchine, and the legendary composer, John Philip Souza, the children will create a star spangled salute to the great American march. The children will munch on flag cookies and sip Liberty punch, while designing patriotic tutus, drums and flags.
Week 2: July 5 – 9, (No class July 4)
“Where the Wild Things Are”
Wild rumpus will be the focus of the week. How do those beasts dance under all of that fur and feather? The children will build Max’s land of the Wild Things from the ground up. To quench their monstrous thirsts and outrageous hunger the children will be provided with a daily feast of treats fit for the King of the Wild Things.
Week 3: July 12-16
“The Mad Hatters Tea Party”
A daily Tea Party will feature Mushroom Pops, Carrot Cookies, Queen of Heart Tarts and Alice’s Apple Tea. The children will decorate cookies, paint teacups, design a gown for the Queen of Hearts and create Mad Hatter Hats. Exploring the asymmetrical, accelerated movements of the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter, the slow laborious movement of the Queen of Hearts and the Caterpillar, and running the Carcass Race with the “Dodo Bird and his friends the children’s movement vocabulary will grow bigger than Alice in the rabbit hole, culminating in a final Tea Party all their own.
Week 4: July 19-23
“Dragons, Fairies, and Unicorns; Oh my !”
This magical week will find the children hard at work constructing massive Dragon puppets, wondrous Wizard hats, tutus befitting any Princess and a Castle fit for a kingdom. Each mythical creature will come to life with movement conjured up in the imagination only a child can harness. The children will piece together a movement story depicting a time long ago. A feast of Fairy dusted cakes, Dragon cookies, Wizard Soup and Princess Punch will quench the huger and thirst of these characters from long ago.
Week 5: July 26-30
“European Vacation”
We will travel, through the power of dance to four counties and four days, culminating on the fifth day with a living slide show of where we visited and what we saw. England, France, Spain and Greece will come alive in murals, architecture, native costume and snacks. The children will eat tappas from Spain, scones from England, grape leaves from Greece and sparkling grape juice from France.
Download a Summer Dance Camp registration form