2025 Theatre and Dance Youth Summer Camps

The Department of Theatre and Dance is thrilled to offer programming beyond our formal degree programs. This summer, we have a variety of exciting opportunities for young artists to grow their skills, showcase their talents and explore The University of Texas at Austin. 

June 23-27, 2025

Ages 13-17 (8th-12th graders) | To avoid injury and maximize enjoyment, participants should be dancing at least 10 hours per week.
Camp Instructor: Leah Cox 

In this contemporary/modern dance intensive, you'll further your dance technique, deepen your artistry and develop your collaborative skills in a community of passionate dancers.  Each day will include classes in contemporary/modern dance technique, phrase-work and collaborative choreographic methods.  The week will culminate in a showing for friends and family of the dances we choreograph together based on a theme we choose. Our time together will be rooted in positive reinforcement, exciting challenges and shedding perfectionism for curiosity and imaginative play. Join us for a week of inspired, joyous and shared dancing! 

SCHEDULE

9:00-9:30 a.m. | Drop Off
9:30-11:00 a.m. | Contemporary/Modern Technique Class
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | Phrase Work
12:15-1:15 p.m. | Lunch
1:15-3:45 p.m. | Collaborative choreography
3:45-4:00 p.m. | Pick Up

Friday, June 27 | Informal Performance (Times to be announced)

ABOUT LEAH COX

Leah Cox grew up in Spring, Texas. Her senior year of high school, she attended North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating with an emphasis in ballet. Cox attended Texas Christian University, where she realized she loved ballet, but was more at home in modern dance forms. She spent fourteen years performing, creating new dances, teaching, setting repertory and developing education programs for the New York City-based Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Currently, Cox dances with Liz Lerman in her latest project, Wicked Bodies, and makes dances for herself or for dancers in universities. Cox’s current role as an associate professor of dance at The University of Texas at Austin provides her with many opportunities to dance and collaborate with students and colleagues.

July 7-11, 2025

Ages 7-11 (2nd-5th grade). No audition/portfolio required. Spots are limited. 
camp director: madison palomo

8:30-9:00 a.m. Drop off (Camp sessions begin at 9:00 a.m.) | Pick-up 3:30-4:00 p.m. 

Exploring the Arts, Exploring the Self is a week-long day camp at the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin where youth going into grades 2-5 (approximately seven to 11-year-olds) will explore the self through art, music, dance and theatre. Each day, the group will engage the arts to present and perform ideas of who they are, as individuals and as a community. All youth will be involved in each of the disciplines and be challenged to further develop their skills in art forms they are more familiar with as well as try art forms that are less familiar to them. On the final day (Friday, July 11), the group will showcase their art in an hour-long, youth devised exhibit and informal performance for invited family and friends. The full week-long workshop will be interactive and youth should come prepared to move, explore and collaborate every day.

Youth who are entering 2nd - 5th grade at any school or homeschool setting in Fall 2025 are encouraged to register. No audition or portfolio is required and youth new to the arts are encouraged to join! All levels of experience with the arts will be supported and those with more experience will be challenged to learn and develop their skills. Some scholarships are available.

Imagine arriving at UT, walking into a dance studio, gathering in a circle, participating in some community building exercises, discussing where your name comes from, then writing a short piece of prose or poetry about your name and reading that to a small group of other youth, drawing or creating an abstract art piece about your name and sharing with a few peers, shaping the letters of your name with a partner and sharing with others, finding sounds or using your voice or an instrument to create the sound of your name (without using your actual name) and then sharing with others. That is what one day of this camp might look like. If you want to have fun exploring and sharing who you are through the arts, join us!

ABOUT MADISON PALOMO

Madison Palomo (She/They/Ella) is a performer, theatremaker, and educator from the Rio Grande Valley based in Austin, TX. Palomo is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin, studying Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities. In Austin, Palomo has worked with community theatres and non-profit organizations as a teaching artist, actor, writer and collaborator, including Glass Half Full Theatre, where she toured nationally as an actor/teaching artist with their one-woman object puppetry show, Cenicienta. Her most recent works include Things That Happen To A Girl Walking To A Bus Stop, premiering in The Cohen New Works Festival 2025, and Abuela, which premiered in the 2023 Austin Puppet Incident Festival, a collaboration between Glass Half Full Theatre and Troubled Puppet Theatre Company.

June 9-21, 2025

Ages 14-18 (9th-12th graders) 
Workshop Director: Michael Ávila

The University of Texas at Austin invites you to the 2025 Summer Theatre Workshop. This year, participants will have the opportunity to create and perform a new and original play. Under the direction of UT Theatre and Dance faculty member Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, cast members will work together to develop stories based on issues important to young people. Throughout this two-week devising process, you will also explore a variety of skills including voice and diction, improvisation and ensemble work. No prior experience is required, and all levels of singing, dancing and acting are encouraged to attend. Be ready to have fun, share your creativity and celebrate your story.