SAAC announces summer camps

The South Arkansas Arts Center will offer a variety of summer camps in art, ballet, drama, filmmaking, music, and 3D animation to entertain and educate during SAAC’s “Emerald Summer: Adventures Beyond Oz.” Registration forms are currently available in the SAAC lobby at 110 E. Fifth St. in El Dorado.

Everything begins the week of June 8-12 with the drama camp’s presentation of “The Wonderful World of Oz.” Instructors for the week-long musical theatre camp will be Darrin Riley and Stacy Hawking. The theatre camp will include singing, dancing and “plenty of fun as we go over the rainbow to the merry old Land of Oz. All of your favorite characters will come to life as we tell Frank L. Baum’s magical children’s fantasy that has enthralled our imaginations for over 100 years,” Riley said.

Students entering grades one through three will meet from 10 a.m. until noon. Students entering grades four through eight will meet from 1 until 4 p.m. A public performance will be held at 6 p.m. on June 12 in the Callaway Theatre.

“Life in the Green” art camp will begin the week of June 15-19. Instructor Maria Villegas and her students will create a green world full of habitats and collage, pastel and multimedia techniques will be used to bring these habitats to life. “Instructor Jorge Villegas and his students will go green building our ‘Emerald City’ of the future and instructor Mike Means will explore the world of lions and tigers and bears – as well as flying monkeys,” Riley said. Students entering grades one through eight will meet from 9 a.m. until noon.

Ballet camp will begin the week of June 22-26 with “Fractured Fairy Tales.” Traditional fairy tales are turned on their head and all is not as it seems. Students ages 11 and up will start the “all-day” ballet class focusing on advanced classical ballet techniques with guest artist Marilyn Russell and SAAC instructor Melissa Spears.

In the afternoon, students in grades seven through 10 will join the older students to create a ballet based on the “Fractured Fairy Tales” with instructors Stephanie Lowrey and Melissa Spears.

A public performance will be held at 6 p.m. on June 26. Students 11 years and up will meet from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Students 7 through 10 years old will meet from 1 until 4 p.m.

“Wizard of Viz—Katy Callaway’s Fishual Animation Workshop,” is a 3-D animation workshop that will be open to students in grade 9 through adult. In this two-week workshop, students will learn each part of the animation pipeline: modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, lighting and rendering in order to produce a brief animated project.

Class size is limited to eight and will meets from 1 through 4 p.m.

“Adventure Beyond Oz” will be a fantasy film camp with instructor Mike Means, which will meet the week of Aug. 3-7.

Students will learn the basics of filmmaking in a “fun and relaxed atmosphere where you are the director, actor and crew. Follow the yellow brick road to castles, dragons, swords and digital magic,” Riley said.

Class size is limited to eight and is open to students in grades five through eight. The class will meet from 9 a.m. until noon.

Private instruction in voice and piano will be available with instructor Karen Watkins. Contact the instructor for more information.

For a complete listing of all camps offered and prices, including information of full and partial scholarships available, contact the SAAC office at 862-5474 or visit www.saac-arts.org.

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