<p>I'm new to this site...so still trying to navigate!!?
My daughter is a Junior and heading into the college MT waters and applying to summer programs. She just sent me a link to US Performing Arts Camp and looking at both Webster Musical Theatre week and the College Audition Workshop. Also interested in the 2-week Broadway Conservatory at George Washington.</p>
<p>Anyone have any experience with this camp? Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>My d attended this program at American U. Campus in DC, but as a middle schooler. She enjoyed it, but it was not very serious “training”. Lots of talented kids, very nice staff and great resources like the Kennedy Center were made available to the attendees. </p>
<p>During highschool she attended Stagedoor Manor which met more of her training and performance needs.</p>
<p>D attended the USPA workshop last summer at UCLA. She found it very worthwhile. Got feedback on which mologues and songs to use, as well as how to dress. Also met lots of kids going through the same process and sharing ideas together was helpful. She would give it a big vote of approval. Just completed Unifieds at LA and all the kids wer so happy to see each other and very supportive. Many had changed their monologues and songs to what they had seen from fellow students at the workshop. Now, we are waiting to see what schools she will get into.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your D’s experience with USPA. I am considering the MT one for my D this year and was wondering about it.</p>
<p>I would love for her to do the College Audition workshop but the schedule won’t work with her summer dance team commitments.</p>
<p>My daughter went a few years ago and having attended other programs did have a point of reference and was not overly impressed. This perspective is a few years old and I would hope the program has evolved. If you were to ask her, she would not give them any credit for preparing her for college auditions (she is a BFA MT student and would credit others). She did the MT workshop… had some fun… but that is the extent of it…</p>
<p>My daughter attended the USPA workshop “Voice for the Musical Theater Stage” at George Washington two summers ago. We were greatly dissapointed in it. It did not follow the cirriculum shown on the website at all. There was no focus on voice and she only received 10 minutes of instruction relating to voice. The entire week was spent preparing for the parent show and virtually all of her instruction consisted of learning simple choreography for two song and dance numbers to be performed at the parent show. My daughter had a really good time and thought the counselors were very nice, but she didn’t come away having learned anything.
I believe the USPA camps differ greatly depending on where you go. The UCLA camp is well established and I have heard nothing but good things. Unfortunately our experience as not the same in D.C.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I concur with kb1127 & stagedad32. My daughter attended a US Performing Arts Camp three years ago. We were not impressed at all. She got much more out of a local/community theater camp that cost half as much the following summer. They spent all of their time preparing for a parent showcase at the end. And I was livid to find out that they “ran out of time” in one of the workshops when it way my daughter’s turn to get up and perform (i.e. receive an evaluation/assessment of her singing from the staff). She and a few of the others who left out in the cold complained and asked if they could perform later on in the week. They were told “we’ll try” but were never given the opportunity.</p>
<p>I think the quality of the experience may greatly depend upon the campus at which you attend the program. My daughter attended camps at UT Austin (Theatre Arts) and UCLA (musical theatre) several years ago. She enjoyed both of them and it was a good way to interact with faculty members at different schools.</p>
<p>Her experience at UT was broad and general and her experience at UCLA was more focused and intense. What UCLA demonstrated for the parents was quite impressive in not only musical theater, but also acting, improv and acting for the camera (all separate camps happening simultaneously.) The more general programs are better for rising freshman, sophomores. I strongly considered sendind her back to UCLA the summers before her junior and senior years.</p>
<p>We are on USPA’s mailing list for auditions in LA because of attending the UCLA camp.</p>
<p>My son just finished up with 3 straight weeks of US Performing Arts Camps at Georgtown U in DC. As the person who paid for them, I can say that they were all well worth the money. The staff were all upbeat, focused, professional, and above all, demanding. My son came away a much better singer, actor, and dancer. He commuted to the camp each day as opposed to some of the other campers who flew in and stayed in the dorm rooms. Each evening he commented on how intense it was which was music to my ears. I told him this may be what college would be like for a Musical Theatre Major. He loved every minute of it. Also, the talent of the campers was high, which served to further challenge my son to perform better. There were even a set of twins who flew in from LA, of all places. And all the campers were very collegial, with everyone enjoying each others talents and being very encouraging to one another. There were also some younger less experienced kids who may have been struggling with the demands of the teachers but they all seemed to enjoy the intensity of the experience. If these camps at this locale are indicative of the US Performing Arts Camps in general, I recommend them.</p>
<p>Is the Webster Musical T week through Webster University? If so who is running it? If it’s Lara Teeter then definitely do that program. Webster has a great MT program and probably does a very good summer camp. Just check out who is in charge?</p>
<p>I wanted to point out that US Performing Arts camps have different types of camps. I believe (but do not KNOW) that the 3-week intensives are much more “professional” than any of the 1-week camps. Make sure you know what you’re getting when you sign up.</p>
<p>My D did a 1-week camp at UCLA last summer and was extremely disappointed in the quality of the “training.” She felt that it was more geared toward the student with a casual interest in theater and a need to be kept “busy” during the summer than to the serious student with plans to pursue a professional career. </p>
<p>Most of the workshops were very superficial and there seemed to be a lot of “social” time built into the schedule. She had fun and met some great girls, but quite honestly, she felt it was a waste of the money that would have been better spent taking extra dance classes and extra private voice at home.</p>
<p>It was nothing like the intensive experiences one would get at MPulse, BTP or others (including The Arts Edge, I hope! I’ll let you know in 3 weeks!)</p>