ummer Musical Theatre Camp has wrapped up.
“It gives kids a chance to work together to achieve a common goal,” says David Izik-Dzurko, who has organized and directed the Salmon Arm camp for the past 12 years. “For two weeks participants learn about staging and how to deliver their lines, and then, in the end they have one chance to get it right when we put on a musical theatre production for the parents and public.”
For Izik-Dzurko, a music teacher at Hillcrest Elementary and musical theatre teacher at Salmon Arm Secondary, it is an opportunity to awaken in the kids a love of musical theatre that they didn’t know they had - yet.
“There is also that special pride you feel when you see students, who have been through the summer camps, taking part in musical theatre programs at the high school level,” adds Izuk-Dzurko. “Some of the kids even come back to help out. Both of my children have taken part. So now after 12 years, I guess you could say we are all like an extended musical theatre family.”
The Summer Musical Theatre Camp began as an arts activity program for Japanese exchange students in 1999 and has since grown to become a highly respected summer program for young, aspiring actors, singers and dancers in the Shuswap area who do, indeed, end up discovering a love of musical theatre.