Young Girls Give Rock Stardom a Try

Ten local girls are training this week to become America’s next pop sensations.

It’s all part of the “Hannah Montana/High School Musical” dance camp being sponsored by the Scotch Plains Recreation Department.

Housed inside the town house at Green Forest Park in Scotch Plains, the camp is teaching girls ages 5 to 12 the moves and music of their favorite stars.

“We try to find different programs to get kids excited about dance, and consistently excited about it, that’s the key,” said Sherri McLaughlin-Ryan, owner of American Dance Studios in Fanwood and the director of this week’s camp. “All I do is watch the arts and trends, and see what will excite a child about learning. And they’re unbelievably excited about this.”

Monday was day one of the dance camp. The girls started the morning off with a warm up, and then began learning the steps to dance and sing along to Montana’s hit “The Best of Both Worlds.”

The girls jumped and twirled along to the song, all while singing into a pink and purple plastic microphone. McLaughlin-Ryan said the microphones add yet another learning dimension to the program: hand motor skills.

“They don’t realize that what they’re doing is helpful, they’re just having fun,” she said. “They’re still taking ballet, tap and jazz, but they’re doing it to this music. It’s like giving them their cod liver oil. We give them the medicine along with the candy.”

Each day of the week-long camp is broken up into several activities. When the girls aren’t practicing their dance moves, they spend time creating “rock-star”-inspired crafts, including cut-out guitars, posters necklaces and bracelets.

“Anything a young girl will like,” McLaughlin-Ryan said.

They also take a little time to play Hannah Montana/High School Musical DVD and Wii games.

This is American Dance Studio’s second year sponsoring a Hannah Montana/High School Musical summer dance camp. The group is also hosting several other performance camps this summer through the Scotch Plains Recreation Department. Registration is still open. Call the dance studio at 908-451-1979 for more information.

For a full list of the recreation department's camps, go here.