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By Shiann Sivell

The Lafayette Society for Performing Arts will collaborate with several area art entities to present a performing arts summer experience for the LaGrange area’s youth.

The LSPA, Lafayette Theatre Academy, Young Singers of West Georgia and Lafayette Center for Dance will host several workshops throughout June and July to assist participating youth with honing their acting, dancing and singing talents while immersing themselves in a constructive but creative environment.

LSPA’s musical theatre performance camps, Seussical Jr. and Elf Jr., will be led by director and theatre educator Valerie Longshore-Sargent and will provide participants with the opportunity to prepare for musical performances, design costumes and set designs. Rising third to eighth-graders will bring classic Dr. Seuss characters to life in Seussical Jr. Monday to Friday from June 20 to July 2. Each workshop will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rising eighth-graders to high school seniors will participate in Elf Jr. starting on Tuesday, July 5. The final class will be Saturday, July 16. All other classes will run on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Lafayette Center for Dance has two summer offerings for middle and high school dancers: The Ballet Maintenance Class and the Lafayette Dance Intensive. The Ballet Maintenance classes provide flexibility, allowing dancers to drop in as able on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The Lafayette Dance Intensive is a week-long course, starting on July 18 at 10 a.m., that will explore Ballet, Contemporary Modern and Jazz, all under the instruction of guest faculty members.

The Lafayette Center Dance will additionally host Stories are for Dancing and The Twelve Dancing Princesses ballet camps. These camps are for young dancers with previous training or who are completely new to dance.

Stories are for Dancing is for three-year-olds to rising first-graders while The Twelve Dancing Princesses will serve rising second to fifth graders. Both dance camps are set to begin on Monday, June 27, and end on Friday, July 1.

Young Singers of West Georgia will host a vocal intensive class. Geared towards eighth graders and up, the vocal intensive class will be led by vocalists Stacey Hardigree and Jonathan Pilkington. This camp will last from Monday, June 13, to Thursday, June 16 from 9 a.m. and ending at 1:30 p.m. Students are asked to bring their lunch.

For more information about summer programs, visit LSPArts.org or (706) 882-9909 during business hours.

LSPA office hours of operation are Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.