Our Summer 2025 course offering has grown! We're thrilled to expand next year's repertoire of classes with more high-quality arts programs for all creative disciplines. Check them out below!

 

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ART

PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT

Minor: Grades 7–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

For committed visual artists looking to fine tune their technique, receive personalized feedback, and prepare their art — and themselves — for admittance to selective programs or colleges.

Prerequisite: Statement of purpose and a sample portfolio.

 

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CREATIVE WRITING

PLAYWRITING

Minor: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week B

Study how words live on and off the page by exploring action, dialogue, and character development. Students deepen their understanding of playwriting by examining contemporary playwrights and plays, and by writing their own short play.

 

SPOKEN WORD & POETRY

Minor: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week A

Read the works of published poets who've examined themselves through vulnerable, revelatory pieces of poetry, and learn to identify the devices, tools, and imagery they invoked while maintaining their detachment from the page. Students create experimental spoken word pieces and collaborate to create an empowering slam piece.

 

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DANCE

BALLET

Major: Grades 6–12 | Session: 4-Week A

This class is tailored to meet each student's abilities while challenging them with classical barre exercises, across-the-floor combinations, and creative play. Students develop a foundational understanding of Ballet technique, including the formal positions, patterns of movement, épaulement, and modes of expression.

 

CULTURAL DANCE

Minor: Grades 6–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

Students build their technical skills and deepen their understanding of dance with a core focus on dance styles that are rooted in cultural traditions. This course intends to provide young dancers the opportunity to experience dance from a multitude of perspectives so they may explore, experiment, and broaden their avenues for creative self-expression.

 

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THEATER

PERFORMANCE: THE ENSEMBLE

Major: Grades 6–12 | Session: 4-Week B

A three-period Major that allows students time to refine their musical and theatrical skills, dive deeper into their roles, and explore new characters. Students participate in the entire process of making live musical theater, from audition to performance.

 

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MUSIC

COMPOSITION: FOUND SOUND

Minor: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week A

Students work collaboratively to discover, record, and evaluate the sounds of their environment, then turn what they hear into unique, auditory compositions. Equipped with various recording devices and the freedom to explore 140-acres, students turn what they hear into compositions that capture their individual, sonic personalities.

 

COMPOSITION: INTRO TO DJ BASICS & THE HISTORY OF HIP-HOP

Minor: Grades 7–12 | Session: 4-Week A

Learn what it takes to be a DJ from the creators of Hip-Hop: The Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee DJ Kool Herc and The First Lady of Hip-Hop Cindy Campbell. Learn the art of mixing, crate digging, selecting, and playing music using professional DJ controllers and software to create an original DJ set that gets the crowd jumping.

 

COMPOSITION: MUSICAL THEATER

Minor: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week B

Unpack how memorable musical theater moments are constructed under the guidance of an accomplished musical theater composer — Usdan’s own Ben Boecker (Camp U! The Musical and Better Than A Bully: The Musical). Students develop deeper understandings of musical theater’s vocabulary by experimenting with the mechanics of song, including how to enter a tuneful moment and return to a scene’s dialogue without missing a beat.

 

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

Minor: Grades 3–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

In supportive group settings of 2 to 10 musicians, students hone their skills through the study and practice of tone, interpretation, scales, intonation, and more. This course provides advanced students dedicated time to further their mastery of their instrument, deepen their musical vocabulary, and prepare themselves for admission to selective music programs or schools.

Prerequisite: Audition required.

 

JAZZ LAB

Minor: Grades 5–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

An introduction to one of America's most iconic and influential artforms. Students learn the history of jazz, explore its foundational repertoire, understand song forms, and discover the stylistic conventions and common practices that make jazz unique. In large group ensembles, students learn the art of improvisation and are given the space to experiment with improvising in a supportive environment of like-minded peers.

 

JAZZ COMBOS

Minor: Grades 7–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

Travel further into the world of jazz in an intimate, creative setting. This course offers students with 1–2 years of jazz experience the chance to play in small groups and contribute creatively with their peers and instructor on arrangements, form, harmony, and instrumentation. The small group dynamics allow students to further their performance skills and deepen their understanding of improvisation, collaboration, and creative interpretation.

 

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NATURE

ORGANIC GARDENING & SIMPLE FOOD

Major: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

This course offers young gardeners hands-on experience with planting, caring for, and harvesting herbs, fruits, and vegetables from Usdan's sunny organic garden. Students deepen their understanding of sustainable practices, learn to turn unconventional and found materials into garden structures, and travel to the Usdan kitchen to learn simple food prep and sweet and savory recipes.

 

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Major: Grades 4–12 | Session: 4-Week A & B

Turn objects of the everyday into unexpected sustainable design solutions. Students use unconventional materials — sunlight, wind, found objects — to address modern environmental challenges. In past years, students designed a wind-powered air conditioner, a bike-powered generator, and a solar barbecue. This course encourages thinkers from all disciplines to share their ideas and bring their visions for a greener future to life.

 

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MULTIDISCIPLINARY

FESTIVAL APPRENTICES

Minor: Grades 4–6 | Session: 4-Week A & B

For young artists looking for a different way to take centerstage. Students learn how to make audiences feel welcomed and engaged at a performance. Festival Apprentices may choose to either train to host or usher Festival, and learn important skills such as public speaking, how to respond to and engage a crowd, the ins and outs of front of house management, and all that's required behind the scenes to ensure the show goes on.