Day 11

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today was a fun day! We started off with our usual warm up, continued by our quote of the day, and then we ran through all of our dances for the end performance. Today we focused on cleaning our dances and making sure we all know the choreography. Around 11:30 we ran through all of dances on stage with costumes! We finished the day off by working on our collaboration piece with all the other students.

Tomorrow is the big day and we couldn't be more excited! Everyone please get a good night of sleep, eat a yummy lunch, and be ready to rock and roll tomorrow! 

Details for the final show can be found on the "Final Performance" page!

Reminders:

-ArtSummer begins at 1:30PM tomorrow

-If you are a bus rider, you should report to your pick-up location at 12:45PM. 

-The buses will NOT return to the pick-up location after the show. 

List of items you will need tomorrow:

-Black flare yoga/jazz/dance pants

-Black tank top

-Yellow ArtSummer shirt

-Jazz shoes

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com

Day 10

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

As week 3 of ArtSummer progresses on, we're getting more and more excited about our dances and the end performance! Today we started with our warm up and quote of the day, and then learned our Carolina shag dance for the performance.  The Carolina Shag is the state dance of South Carolina, and a famous tradition in the south. The girls caught on quickly to the choreography and are masters at the famous "pretzel" partner step!

We're so proud of everything the girls have learned, and are super excited to show it all off in just 2 short days! Continue working hard and practicing at home, girls!

Reminder:

-Please wear/bring your black flare yoga/jazz/dance pants to class every day this week along with a black tank top. You will need both of these pieces of clothing for the end performance. 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com

Day 9

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today we began week 3 of ArtSummer 2015! We're excited to take on this last week head first and to finish with a strong end performance!

We started our day off by trying on our costumes for the end show!  The girls looked great, and we can't wait to see how it all comes together with the costumes, choreography, and lighting!

We continued cleaning our jazz dance and even had the opportunity to run through it once on stage with an audience full of band and string students!  We also finished our contemporary dance and began cleaning it. We're excited to learn our Carolina Shag dance tomorrow which will be our third and final dance in the end performance. 

We are so proud of all the hard work everyone has put in to making ArtSummer 2015 a success, and we can't wait to showcase everything we've learned!

Reminders:

-Please wear/bring your black flare yoga/jazz/dance pants to class every day this week along with a black tank top. You will need both of these pieces of clothing for the end performance. 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com

Day 8

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today brought a close to our ArtSummer 2015 week 2.  This week has been filled with rehearsals, improvements, and incredible growth. We started our day off with a warm up, our quote of the day, and our choreographer of the day.

Mr. Alvin Ailey was today's choreographer of the day. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City in the late 1950's and began creating his famous works. Ailey's signature work is "Revelations" which is based around blues, spirituals, and gospels. Ailey passed away in 1989 but his company, famous works, and legacy live on. 

After our choreographer of the day, we rehearsed our jazz dance, continued learning our contemporary dance, and starting piecing together parts of the collaboration piece. 

We ended our ArtSummer week 2 on an awesome note and are excited to wrap up our lessons and put the finishing touches on our dances next week. We hope everyone has a great weekend and we can't wait to see everyone Monday!

Remember to practice, practice, practice this weekend!

Reminder:

-Please bring a white or black tank top and a pair of long black flare yoga/dance/jazz pants with you Monday so you will be able to try on your costume. If you do not have black flare yoga pants please email me at the address below!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com!

Day 7

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today was Day 7 and it was a great day for our ArtSummer students! We started the day off with our usual warm up, quote of the day, and dancer of the day.

Today's dancer of the day was the American Ballet Theatre's soloist, Misty Copeland. Misty is the fourth African-American soloist with ABT in two decades, and one of ballet's biggest names. She began dancing at the age of 13 and was denied by several dance schools because of her late start. But Copeland, being the determined fighter she is, never took no for an answer and followed her dreams to become a professional ballerina. In addition to being a star ballerina and an inspiration to young girls everywhere, she is also a sponsored athlete for Under Armour and the face of the "I will what I want" campaign.

We continued working on our lyrical dance, and made huge strides in finishing our collaboration piece with the other ArtSummer students. We are very pleased with all the improvements everyone has been making, and are excited that our hard work is starting to show through! We look forward to ending week 2 on a strong note tomorrow!

Day 6

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Day 6 was such a success! We began cleaning our jazz dance, learned a verse of our lyrical dance, and learned 2 new sections of our finale collaboration piece!

Today we began our contemporary/ballet unit of study, and our first choreographer of the day for this unit was the legendary Mr. George Balanchine.  Mr. Balanchine is known as the father of American ballet and the co-founder of the New York City Ballet. His stylized ballets are adored around the world for their genius choreography, fun musical elements, and famous themes. Mr. B is one of the most influential men in ballet, and a brilliant choreographer!

We began working on our lyrical dance and it already looks so beautiful! The girls look amazing dancing the flowing, graceful movements, and we're excited to see how smoothly the rest of the dance goes!

We're very excited with all the progress we have made so far, and if we keep our focus we will finish all our dances on time for the final show!

Day 5

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today was an awesome start to our second week of ArtSummer 2015!  We finished our jazz dance and worked on our finale collaboration piece with the other students.

Our choreographer of the day today was Stephen "tWitch" Boss, a famous freestyle hip-hop dancer from the hit tv show "So You Think You Can Dance". tWitch placed 2nd in season 4 of SYTYCD, but has returned for several years to perform as an all star and choreograph dances for the contestants. tWitch has created several legendary dances including, "My Chick Bad" and "Outta Your Mind", and is known for his hard-hitting sharp hip-hop movements. 

Today was the last day of our jazz and hip-hop focused lessons, and tomorrow we begin our contemporary and ballet lessons. We were able to finish our jazz dance on time today, and we're super excited to begin working on our lyrical dance tomorrow!

We had a great start to our second week, and we can't wait to see how the rest of the week goes!

Day 4

More pictures can be found on the "Photo Gallery" page

Today we went on our field trip to Winthrop University! Winthrop is a public, liberal arts college located in Rock Hill, South Carolina that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and has a current enrollment of about 6,000 students.

We started our day off at Winthrop with a scavenger hunt for those in grades 6th-8th and a campus tour for rising 9th graders. During the scavenger hunt, students were separated by grade and last name and were assigned an ArtSummer teacher for the first part of the day. Around 11:30 everyone met at the Byrnes Auditorium for a short speech and lunch. The ArtSummer staff provided all campers and teachers a delicious Panera Bread box lunch! After lunch, students broke off into their majors and attended afternoon workshops.

Our girls were split into four groups and followed their escorts to see different classrooms. The students were able to view dance classes including, jazz, contemporary, ballet, musical theatre, improvisation, choreography, and many other styles. We loved being able to see all the different kinds of dance the students were learning!

Today was an incredible learning experience for our students, teachers, and district administrators! We thank Winthrop University for treating us to an awesome day full of art on their beautiful campus, Ms. Brown for organizing our fun trip, and everyone else who helped make today such a success!

We hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, and we can't wait to see everyone Monday morning!

Remember to practice, practice, practice this weekend!

Day 3

Today was Day 3 of ArtSummer and we couldn't be more excited about all the hard work we've been doing! We started our day off with our daily cardio warm-up and stretches, and then moved on to decorating our quote of the day. 

Our choreographer of the day was the Emmy-award winning husband and wife choreography team Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo. The team is most commonly called "Nappy-Tabs" and has been one of America's favorite hip-hop choreography teams for several years.  Nappy-Tabs has choreographed dances on several hit shows including, "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Best Dance Crew". The duo is known for their signature lyrical-hip-hop style that is set to Pop, R&B, and Rap music. 

We continued working on our jazz dance for the Finale performance and our collaboration piece that will also be showcased in the end show.

We are so excited for our field trip to Winthrop University tomorrow! You can find more information about the trip on the Winthrop University Field Trip page, as well as in the paragraph below. 

Letter from the ArtSummer director Ms. Brown:

Tomorrow June 11th, the ArtSummer students will be traveling to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.  We will be departing HMS at 7:30AM and returning by 6PM.  If your child is a car rider, they need to arrive at HMS by 7AM. If your child is a bus rider, they should report to their pick-up location by 6:15AM. Lunch and drinks will be provided for the trip; however, your child will be responsible for additional snacks. Please make sure your child's snacks are placed in a closed/sealed container or paper bag with their name on it. Students are required to wear their yellow ArtSummer shirts, which they received today. It is suggested that students wear comfortable shoes since we will be doing a lot of walking on campus. 

I have asked the girls to bring a bag with their jazz shoes and a change of pants/shorts that they can dance in so they can participate in the dance class that will be given by a Winthrop University professor. 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com!

Day 2

More pictures can be found on the 'Photo Gallery' page

Today we started our day off with a quick cardio warm-up and our stretches. We then moved on to our quote of the day and choreographer of the day.  Today's choreographer was the American musical theatre legend, Bob Fosse. Mr. Fosse is a respected name in the jazz dance world and known for choreographing iconic works including, "All That Jazz", "Big Spender", "Chicago", "Pippin", and "Billion Dollar Baby". Fosse's notable style includes turned-in knees, jazz hands, sideways shuffling, and rolled shoulders. 

We continued to work on our jazz dance for the Finale performance and began to learn the collaboration piece with all the ArtSummer students. 

We are making great progress on our dance instruction and performance dances, and we can't wait to showcase all our handwork in a few short weeks! Please visit the Photo Gallery page for daily pictures!

Reminders:
-If you would like to purchase a piece of pizza at break on Wednesday please bring $2 with you tomorrow.

-Our field trip to Winthrop University will take place this Thursday, June 11th. Please visit the Winthrop University Field Trip page for more information!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com!

Day 1

More pictures can be found on the 'Photo Gallery' page

Today was Day 1 of ArtSummer 2015! We had a blast getting to know our classmates, dancing to fun music, and learning the first two sections of our jazz dance! 

We started the day off by writing down and decorating our quote of the day, "You can, you should, and if you're brave enough you will". Next, we looked through dance magazines and cut out pictures to decorate our inspiration board. 

We then moved on to learn about our choreographer of the day, Busby Berkeley. Busby Berkeley was a Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer in the 1940's-1970's.  Berkeley is famous for his use of large numbers of showgirls and props to create his signature kaleidoscope on-screen performances.

As the day progressed we were able to get a head start on our jazz choreography for the Finale show! The girls picked up the choreography quickly and put in an awesome effort to nail the steps down. 

Please check out the Photo Gallery page for daily pictures! We are so excited to see what Day 2 and the rest of the week bring for our ArtSummer Dance program! Listed below are a few reminders for the week!

Reminders: 
-If you would like to purchase pizza at break on Wednesday please bring $2 with you Tuesday or Wednesday!
-I ask that everyone please buy a pair of jazz dance shoes so the students will be able to participate in all parts of the camp and final dance.  Black/tan jazz shoes can be purchased for $30 at Academy Sports in Florence, SC or online at the link provided on the Supply List page. If you need financial assistance to purchase shoes please contact me by email or have your child talk to me!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns contact me at ArtSummerDance@gmail.com!

Meet the Teacher

 Julia Flowers is a Darlington native and graduate of Mayo High School for Math, Science, and Technology.  Julia is currently a Junior at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina majoring in Dance Performance and Choreography with a minor in Business Administration.  She is a member of the University of South Carolina Dance Company and a proud Gamecock.  Julia boasts of a 3.8 GPA, the officer position of Risk Management Chair in the Alpha Lambda chapter of Delta Delta Delta, membership in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and much philanthropic and community involvement.  

Julia has danced with several dance schools and companies as a student including the Dance Academy of South Carolina under the direction of Leslie Tunstall-Weiner, the North Carolina Dance Theatre (Charlotte Ballet) under the direction of Jean Pierre-Bonnefoux, the North Carolina School of the Arts under the direction of Ethan Stiefel, and Dizzy Dancin under the direction of Sheila Schmotzer.  However, she credits most of her ballet experience to the South Carolina Dance Theatre and Artistic Director, Susan Rowe. Julia has performed lead roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Tales of Mother Goose. 

Julia has a strong passion for dance and working with children. She has assisted in summer dance camps for years and currently teaches a summer ballet camp at Dizzy Dancin in Hartsville, South Carolina.  She is excited to see what her first year as the dance instructor of ArtSummer brings and looks forward to working with each and every student.

Workshop and Audition Week

The week of March 9th- March 12th was workshop week for the ArtSummer Dance program! We loved being able to connect with students, encourage them to attend ArtSummer, and meet the awesome teachers at Hartsville and Darlington Middle Schools!

Monday March 9th, Miss Flowers taught workshop classes to the Hartsville Middle School gym students. Students were taught a short choreographed jazz combination to Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”, allowing them to get a taste of the choreography that will be offered at this year’s ArtSummer camp.  Tuesday March 10th, similar workshops were held for the Darlington Middle School gym students.

The ArtSummer Dance auditions were held Wednesday March 11th and Thursday March 12th after school for students interested in participating in the ArtSummer Dance camp. The audition consisted of a short choreographed lyrical-contemporary combination to Sam Smith's acoustic cover of "Latch" and the jazz combination students learned in the workshop class. To say auditions went well is an understatement! The students' excitement and motivation to master the combinations were extremely encouraging and showed that they are the ideal students we are looking to work with this summer. 

We are more than excited to see all the students and parents at ArtSummer Orientation on May 19th, and we look forward to an awesome and unforgettable ArtSummer 2015!

Join Us for ArtSummer Dance!