From Lydia Johnson Dance:
The Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD) Dance Camp allows kids to experience their creativity and to blossom with confidence as they dance for the joy of it. Each year children at this esteemed creative camp find their own niche as they experience the art of making their own dances. Lydia Johnson Dance School is a not-for-profit which focuses on the creative process by empowering kids to make their own works.
LJD School parent Tracy Guth Spangler, who lives in South Orange, expresses it this way:
“My daughters have always loved to dance, but before we found Lydia Johnson Dance’s school and camp they were never excited about going to classes. It was not enough just learning rote steps and, as parents, we were not happy with the expensive, uninspired recitals. Once we found LJD it was a completely different experience! Lydia and her dancers tap into their students’ inherent creativity and then give them the tools to create their own dances. It’s been truly stunning to watch them grow as dancers and as confident young people at LJD. They understand, through movement, how to create a story with an emotional connection. It’s a full artistic education in a warm and nurturing environment that never ceases to amaze me!”
Lydia Johnson Dance is now accepting registrations for Lydia Johnson Dance Camp 2016, which will be held July 11- 29 where professional dancers from LJD’s NYC company will lead a creative exploration of dance and the art of choreography.
The camp will run from 9 a.m-1 p.m. Monday through Friday at The Burgdorf Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood for students entering Grades 1 through 10 at all skill levels. Scholarships and one and two-week sessions are available.
An extended day is offered in partnership with Geralyn’s Art Studio so campers can dance in the morning and create visual artwork in the afternoons for a full day of the arts. The program includes Pizza Thursdays, dance games, snack on the patio, and special events.
Under the direction of choreographer Lydia Johnson, LJD company members and teaching artists will lead small groups through a varied day of creative dance including Ballet, Modern and guest artists will teach jazz and hip hop. The focus is the Choreography Workshop in which the campers create their own dances to show friends and families each week.
Lydia Johnson Dance has been consistently praised for its distinctive choreography, with reviews in The New York Times, Backstage, Oberon’s Grove, Dance Stuff New York, and The New Yorker
“What seems to count most for Ms. Johnson is music. The four pieces on the program all showed uncommon skill at matching ballet movement to music, both at the large scale of structure and in small, felicitous details.”
Brian Seibert, The New York Times, June 2015
“Ms. Johnson makes unadorned, soundly structured, musically adept ballets for a lovely, unpretentious group of dancers.”
Siobhan Burke The New York Times, March 2016
Lydia Johnson Dance has been seen in regular NYC seasons for 17 years and performs frequently at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. Please visit Lydia Johnson Dance School on Facebook or go to the school tab at lydiajohnsondance.org
Lydia is happy to answer your questions just email- info@lydiajohnsondance.org
