The Malashock Dance School and performance group will be twisting and turning San Diego youth at its new studios at Dance Place San Diego during the first Malashock Children’s Summer Camp. This July and August, the Point Loma-based nonprofit dance school is extending its school outreach programs and lessons during the academic year by offering weeklong dancing sessions for children ages 5 to 13.
The camp will split students into two age groups, with one session for ages 5 to 8 and two sessions for students ages 9 to 13 to teach jazz, ballet and modern dance techniques, according to Paloma Patterson, education director at Malashock. Teachers plan to engage the expected range of experience and skill level by incorporating challenging movement and balancing games into their daily lessons.
“The curriculum is designed to be conceptual, so that those who have never taken a class or someone who already has technique will all get something out of it,” said Molly Puryear, a Malashock faculty member who will be teaching at the camp.
Puryear, who teaches a children’s creative movement class at Malashock, plans to emphasize students’ creativity and problem-solving skills in class by asking students to invent choreography of their own in addition to the dance movements she will teach.
Puryear said Malashock instructors want students to have fun and “truly enjoy their environment “¦ so that they can continue with classes all the way up through the professional level.”
Puryear, who began dancing at age 3 with a focus on jazz and ballet, has taught in scholastic and private studios as well as participating in several of Malashock’s visits to local schools. Recent outreach programs have brought Malashock teachers to fifth-graders in Balboa Park through the Emotion in Motion program and the La Jolla Country Day Middle School.
The Malashock Dance School teaches modern dance to children and adults of all skill levels and trains pre-professional and professional dancers, some of whom join the Malashock Dance Company. The company, founded by professional dancer John Malashock in 1988, is in its 19th season of performance at San Diego venues, including the San Diego Opera and Old Globe Theatre, and on national and international tours.
The Malashock Children’s Summer Camp is offering three sessions, one for children ages 5 to 8 from July 16-20, and two for children ages 9 to 13 from July 9-13 and August 13-17. Classes run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Tuition is $175 per child. Priority registration ends June 15. Students participating in the final session will have the opportunity to participate in a special performance fund-raiser on Sept. 15.
The Malashock Dance School is located at Dance Place San Diego, 2650 Truxtun Road, Suite 202. For more information, or to register for the camp, visit www.malashockdance.org, or call (619) 260-1622.
