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Three Week School for Young Dancers (3WS)

3WS

Faculty: Elizabeth Corbett, Teena Custer, Sherone Price, Sara Procopio, additional guest faculty TBA
Learn more about the 3WS Directors and Faculty

The Three Week School (3WS) is a program designed specifically for the training and education of dancers from the ages of 12-16. The faculty has a committed interest in working with this particular age group and are experienced and dedicated artists in the field. The focus of the program is to provide excellent training in a supportive and nurturing environment, while introducing younger dancers to the range and diversity of the dance profession today.

Students take four classes a day, four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). These classes include Contemporary Technique, Ballet, Hip Hop, African Technique, Composition, and Repertory. Students will be placed in appropriate levels during the first few days of classes. They have the opportunity to attend performances by outstanding national and international dance companies and to participate in master classes, museum trips, panel discussions, and specially planned activities on Wednesdays and weekends.

The 3WS provides an exciting opportunity to grow as a dancer both technically and artistically and to enjoy the amazing and inspiring creative energy of the ADF.

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Three Week School tuition includes the cost of all classes, tickets to performances during the three weeks, special clothing for the African Dance class, and extra curricular activities (in 2011 some of the 3WS activities included the Eno River Festival, arts & crafts, movies, and indoor rock climbing).

Check In
On Saturday, July 7, 3WS Check in will take place in the morning on Duke’s East Campus, followed by an orientation for students and parents.  More information regarding the first few days of the program will be mailed to students after acceptance.

Housing
3WS students will live in an air-conditioned dormitory on Duke's East Campus. These are double rooms, although in special circumstances single rooms are available on a limited basis. Experienced counselors will live in the dormitory with the students. A curfew and lights-out policy will be enforced. 3WS students who live in the area have the option to commute from home.

Meals
Meals will be provided by Duke University Food Service. For students staying in the dormitories, the cost for three meals a day is included in the 3WS room/board fee. Commuting students may purchase a Lunch Meal Plan that allows them to eat meals in the cafeteria while they are on campus.

Supervision
Outside of class, students will be well supervised by carefully selected counselors. Three Week School tuition includes the cost of all classes, tickets to performances during the three weeks, special clothing for the African Dance class, and extra curricular activities (in 2011 some of the 3WS activities included the Eno River Festival, arts & crafts, movies, and indoor rock climbing).

3WS

Class Descriptions

Sara Procopio | Modern Technique
Class will take place in a movement laboratory (the studio) and will focus on developing our technique as a pathway to enhancing our alignment, embodiment and full-out dancing.  Through our daily dance practice, we will immerse ourselves into the wonder of the moving body and explore the relationship of an open mind to an open body.  Our discoveries in class will introduce us to new ways of dancing, as well as seeing and thinking about dance.  This class is influenced by Sara's work with Shen Wei Dance Arts as well as her own movement research.

Elizabeth Corbett | Ballet
A rigorous classical ballet class will be taught in the Three Week School with emphasis on clear direction of energy, alignment and musicality. The class draws from dance influences and experiences traditional to unconventional. It's a ballet class within which you'll explore organization of directions in the body and in space to clarify and simplify body placement issues and mechanics, differentiation in movement qualities, rhythm, speed and focus as major issues.

Teena Marie Custer | Repertory/Hip Hop
Students will gain an understanding of hip hop culture and dance through its original dance style of b-boying/b-girling. Students will be able to apply the techniques they learned in the context of a choreographed work with both commercial and theatrical influences, and will be encouraged to explore their own creativity and individual expression through freestyling.

Sherone Price | African Technique
This class will introduce students to a non-western dance form that has a long, varied history and plays a central role in the socio/spiritual life of the African people. The class will learn the dance vocabulary, perform and view a variety of styles and become familiar with rhythms and music of various African techniques.