Summers move in rather quickly around Edmonds, and with its approach our arts providers are quick to contact My Edmonds News and Artfully Edmonds with their plans regarding the opportunities for warming up school vacations.

Parents (and grandparents!) will want to book mark these wonderful enrichment programs offered by Edmonds Center for the Arts, Driftwood Players and Olympic Ballet Theatre.

As we hear from our other dance, music and performance venues we promise to pass on the word regarding classes and coaching meant to enhance the lives of Edmonds-area children.

– – –

Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 N. 4^th Ave. N.

2016 Summer Arts Enrichment Camps. Designed for students from ages 7-15, ECA’s Summer Arts Enrichment Camps create opportunities for young people to work directly with professional artists. Organized in partnership with local and regional arts organizations, camps are one-week long and meet daily from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on the ECA campus.

Seattle Shakespeare Company (Hamlet Acting & Combat Camp, July 11-15)

In Hamlet Acting & Combat Camp, students ages 11-15 will dive into one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, reading scenes and practicing acting techniques to bring these characters to the stage.

They will also learn improv games to hone their acting skills, and will practice stage combat to bring the duels of this tragedy to life!

– – –

Book-It Repertory Theatre

Book-It Repertory Theatre’s “Investigate, Adapt, Act!” to be held July 17-22 will see youth ages 7-11 dig into the juicy parts of a story – characters, setting, sequence, point of view – then take it apart and put it together again as a script to act out on stage for family and friends. 

– – –

New!

Rockin’ Rhythms Marimba Camp (July 25-29).

In this hands-on music camp led by veteran music teacher Teresa Catford, kids will learn to play melodies, harmonies and fun rhythms, as well as how to keep time on a variety of marimbas, hand percussion and drums.

– – –

3^rd Annual Hawaiian & Polynesian Cultural Camp (Aug. 1-5)

In collaboration with Kumu Krista Moanikeʻalanālehua Espiritu of Hula O Lehualani and teaching artist Daniel Pak, students will take ukulele and hula lessons throughout the week, as well as explore Hawaii and its Polynesian “cousin” cultures through song, games and cultural arts to include Tahitian drumming and dance.

Thanks to a generous grant in 2014 from the Harrington-Schiff Foundation, students participating in Hawaiian & Polynesian Cultural Camp will have free access to a ukulele for the duration of the program.

For more information about scholarships and an application, contact Gillian Jones, ECA’s Director of Programming, at gillian@ec4arts.org or 425-275-9483. To register for Summer Arts Enrichment Camps, visit www.ec4arts.org or contact the ECA Box Office by phone at 425.275.9595. Before and after-camp care is available through a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Edmonds. Please contact the Boys & Girls Club directly at 425-774-0630 to reserve your child’s space in this program.

~ ~ ~ ~

Driftwood Players
at Wade James Theatre
950 Main St.

Driftwood Players, the theatre company that has offered theatre training to generations of Edmonds young people announces a new teen education program, Driftwood Troupe.

Announcements for spring and summer classes and camps will be announced here at My Edmonds News as details become available.

You can also follow updates from the new Driftwood Troupe Facebook page

~ ~ ~ ~

This Saturday!

Olympic Ballet School auditions!
Frances Anderson Center
700 Main St.

Olympic Ballet School announced an open audition this Saturday morning for its 2016 Summer Intensive.

The audition will be held at 9:45 a.m. at the Olympic Ballet studios housed within the Frances Anderson Center, 700 Main St. in Edmonds.

The summer intensive is an exclusive, placement-based program for advanced students looking to further their training in classical ballet, pointe, variations, repertoire, men’s technique, partnering, modern, contemporary, jazz and character dance.

Pre-registration for an audition may be arranged by emailing dance@olympicballet.com.