Usdan Center Workshops Begin Today, 7/17

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the acclaimed summer arts day camp now in its 45th season, will once again present on-site teacher education workshops for elementary music and classroom teachers, taught by distinguished education professionals and featuring the newest, most innovative teaching techniques. The 9 AM to 3 PM workshops will be on-site at the 200-acre woodland campus of Usdan Center, 185 Colonial Springs Drive, Wheatley Heights (Huntington) Long Island 11798. The fee for each workshop is $95, and an application can be obtained by calling 631-643-7900, or visiting www.usdan.com.

A Certificate of Completion will be provided at the end of each course. Teachers should check with their school districts for prior approval.

Today and Wednesday, July 17 and 18, Angelo Truglio, a music educator in the Connetquot schools and Founder of I Can Do That! Kids and an Instructor and Learning Readiness Consultant for Teacher In-Service Training and Parenting Workshop, will, in his Usdan Center debut, present his child-friendly strategies that encourage children to set goals, be musically creative and to practice efficiently. Each participant will receive the I Can Do That! Teacher’s kit, and enjoy lunch and attendance at a Usdan Center Festival Concert in the 1,000-seat McKinley Ampitheater.

On Tuesday and Wednesday July 24-25, Elaine Gates, whose career as a choral conductor and clinician for almost 40 years has taken her from the Huntington School District to Usdan Center to New York and Long Island Universities, returns to present her Music For Learning – Music For Fun! This will be a hands-on experience with 6 and 7-year-old students, introducing ways in which music can enrich the classroom curriculum by inspiring critical thinking through improvisation. Processes will also meet State requirements. In addition, participants will, once again, enjoy lunch and attendance at a Usdan Center Festival Concert.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), is the nation’s premier not-for-profit summer arts day camp. Usdan, now entering its 45th season, has been declared a “Best Of” camp TimeOutNY/Kids, and by NY Metro Parents, and Long Island Press. Usdan is open to all young people from age 6 to 18, and no audition is needed for most programs. Admission to Usdan is based on an expression of interest in the arts. The Center is situated on a 200-acre woodland campus in Huntington, Long Island, to which 1,600 students travel each day on buses that depart from neighborhoods throughout the New York metropolitan area. Although Usdan’s mission is for every child to establish a skill-based relationship with the arts, the unique inspiration of the Center has caused many to go on to professional careers. Usdan’s 60,000 alumni include actors Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby and Lisa Gay Hamilton, singers Jane Monheit and Mariah Carey, Broadway playwright Michele Lowe, Grammy-Award winning producer Adam Abeshouse, Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra conductor Adam Glaser, and members of major American orchestras, dance, and theater companies. Usdan was formed to provide children with the arts as a companion for life through great teaching, and the camaraderie of fellow students whose bond is their love of the arts. Usdan offers more than 40 programs in orchestra, band, chorus, guitar, piano in the Music Department; ballet, modern, jazz, and tap dance in the Dance Department; musical theater or drama in the Theater Department; creative writing, fashion design, chess nature and ecology, and organic gardening. A special feature of each student’s program is the Center's series of Festival Concerts, daily educational performances by distinguished artists. Some of those who have appeared at Usdan include James Galway, Yo-Yo Ma, Canadian Brass, jazz artists Jimmy Heath, Arturo O’Farrill, Jon Faddis, Cark Terry, and Jane Monheit, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Limon Dance Company, and stars of numerous Broadway shows.

Usdan’s Long Island campus includes 70 state-of-the-art studios and theaters, each providing an inspiring collaboration with the Center’s magnificent woodland. Usdan is a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation of New York, and the Center is chartered by the Regents of the State of New York.

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