WCPA presents ‘The Snow Queen’ this weekend

The Warwick Center for the Performing Arts (WCPA) closes out a busy season at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center with their contemporary dance adaptation of “The Snow Queen” on Saturday, June 15. A fresh new take on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale that inspired Disney’s “Frozen,” this dance saga follows the journey of a young girl named Gerda as she travels through magical realms to rescue her best friend from the icy clutches of the Snow Queen.

“The Snow Queen” showcases a variety of dance styles, including contemporary, jazz, tap, Irish step and acro, and features WCPA students alongside the Warwick Dance Collective’s junior, studio and senior company dancers. The matinee performance at 2 p.m. will include all the students from WCPA’s non-ballet classes, while the evening performance will shine a spotlight on the studio’s older students and the Warwick Dance Collective Company. Tickets for both performances are on sale now at warwickperformingarts.com.

Directed by two Warwick natives — WCPA founder Melissa Padham-Maass and Jennifer Padham — “The Snow Queen” features choreography and staging by Padham-Maass along with Pamela Sorensen, Mara Davi Gaines, Joanna Barry, Elaine Sorce, Katie Weatherford, Sadie Weir, Jacob Taylor, Megan Natale, and Emilee Dupree.

Summer offerings

This summer, WCPA and its collectives will host a full slate of dance and theater programming, including camps, workshops and performance opportunities for students of all ages. The Warwick Broadway Collective recently held auditions for two musicals to be produced at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center in August: “Alice in Wonderland Jr.,” featuring students ages 4 through 13, and “Into the Woods,” starring students aged 12 through 18. Both musical theater camps will run from July 29 through August 9.

The dance department, meanwhile, will host its Summer Ballet Intensive from July 15 to July 25 as well as the Summer Dance Intensive August 12 through 23, both for students ages 8 and up. The Ballet Intensive will focus on ballet technique, conditioning, partnering, and variations for both pointe and pre-pointe, while the Dance Intensive includes comprehensive training in ballet, contemporary, improvisation, tap, jazz, acro and musical theater dance.

The summer intensive program will culminate at the Fuller Moon Arts Festival August 24 at Mountain Lake Park. This interactive arts festival celebrates the convergence of performance, art, and nature with two days of live performances, hands-on art activities, music, food trucks, an outdoor bar, a curated artisan maker market, and more.

For Warwick’s youngest artists, WCPA’s Fairytale Camp offers an immersive arts experience for children aged 4 through 7. Each week explores a different fairytale through dance, storytelling, arts and crafts, scenery design, and prop and costume creation, and each week culminates in a small performance. The featured themes include “Moana” (July 15-19), “Aladdin” (July 22-26), “Tangled” (July 29-Aug. 2), “Peter Pan” (Aug. 5-9), and “The Little Mermaid” (Aug. 12-16).

To register for summer programs, visit warwickperformingarts.com. For more information on the Fuller Moon Arts Festival, visit fullermoonartsfest.com.