The Warwick Drive-In Theater will be premiering “Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film” on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 8 p.m. The film features local students from the Warwick Center from the Performing Arts and the Warwick Dance Collective. Photo provided by Christine McKnight.
The Warwick Drive-In Theater will be premiering “Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film” on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 8 p.m.
The film features local students from the Warwick Center from the Performing Arts and the Warwick Dance Collective, including Arianna Henry, Jonathan Matthews, Nick Peregrino and Tami Small, with a special appearance by local business owner Adam Powers.
“Sleeping Beauty” was co-directed, produced and edited by sisters Melissa Padham-Maass and Jennifer Padham through a socially distanced process, after the live stage production originally scheduled for this spring at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students and Dance Collective members attended online rehearsals via Zoom throughout the spring, followed by 10 days of video shoots held in Padham-Maass’s backyard with a small number of family members serving as the film crew. The team filmed students under age 10 individually, and older students were filmed in small groups and kept six feet apart at all times. The footage was then edited into a feature-length film.
Tickets are available now at warwickperformingarts.com, with admission by presale only as space is limited.
The Warwick Dance Collective will be using a similar approach for its Summer Dance Intensive, Aug. 17–21, from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. for ages 8 and up. The program will feature in-person ballet, pointe/pre-pointe, conditioning, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip-hop classes, with small class sizes following all CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19, as well as an option to attend all classes virtually via Zoom. Registration for the Summer Intensive is now open at warwickperformingarts.com.
Registration for fall classes at the Warwick Center for the Performing Arts will begin on Aug. 10, and the school will be holding open house on Aug. 29 and Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 63 Wheeler Ave. in Warwick. All classes for the fall session will be available virtually via Zoom as well as in person.