by Kate Evans
Berkeley Springs High School junior Ariella Didawick attended the West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon this summer from June 23-July 13 to study dance.
She was the first Berkeley Springs High School student to attend the program for dance.
The Governor’s School of the Arts is a free program for current tenth grade students who want to expand their artistic talents and experiences. Areas of study are acting (theater), creative writing, dance (ballet and modern), instrumental music, studio art, vocal music or digital media.
The Governor’s School for the Arts gives rising high school juniors the chance to work in a close-knit community with accomplished artists and to develop professional and personal relationships with other talented West Virginian student artists.
Didawick said as part of her application she had to provide two teacher recommendations, a principal recommendation, her transcripts and her grade point average. As an audition, she had to record a minute-long dance video of herself doing a contemporary/modern dance that she choreographed. Didawick also had to record herself doing some ballet moves.
Didawick also wrote an essay about what dance meant to her and what she loves about it. An extensive interview on Zoom with the dance instructor was part of the application process, too.
Dance was Didawick’s major discipline at the Governor’s School for the Arts. She took ballet in the morning and also after lunch. Each dance session was around two hours long.
Didawick also tried each of the other interdisciplinary arts. She really liked creative writing and vocal music. Instrumental music was fun, she said, particularly drumming.
“I liked all of them — they’re all great,” Didawick said.
Participants had field trips, performances and lectures. Students went to Washington D.C. one week and visited the art museums. They also went to downtown Buckhannon for Festival Friday and listened to a band and walked around town.
The West Virginia Dance Company came to West Virginia Wesleyan College and performed for them. Creative writers came in and read their works. A band came and played and students also got to do lip syncing.
Dance background
Didawick has been dancing for 12 years now and has studied ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, pointe, lyrical dance and theater.
She started out taking dance with Kelly Moon of InMotion Dance Studio and now goes to Twist and Turn Dance Studio with instructor Whitney Bryan-Chapman-Caldwell where she’s studied dance for three years.
Didawick has also been on the Berkeley Springs High School dance team her freshman and sophomore year with dance instructor Holli McCumbee. She is also in the high school choir and on the cheer team.
Didawick has given several public dance performances. She has danced in two productions –Nutcracker and Little Mermaid — with City Ballet School in Hagerstown at the Maryland Theater.
Didawick also attended the BlackCat Music Cooperative SingBig! singing camp this summer and really enjoyed it.
Recommends it
Didawick definitely recommended that high school students consider applying for the Governor’s School for the Arts. She learned a lot from going and made 20 friends from the program — all of them amazing and talented.
“You only get one chance to do it and I would say do it,” she said.
Didawick said it’s a once in a lifetime thing and her mom, Berkeley Springs High School art teacher Pam Didawick, encouraged her to apply for it.
“I ended up loving it,” Didawick said.
Pam Didawick has encouraged a number of high school students to apply for the Governor’s School for the Arts over the years. Some years several students would apply; other years none would. It’s really hard to get into the program. Not everyone is accepted, she said. She learned a lot about the program this year as a teacher and a parent.
The application process for her daughter Ariella’s Governor’s School for the Arts session took over two months to complete, Pam Didawick said.
“It’s an intense process, but if you get in, it’s worth it,” she said.
Didawick said that 84 students from West Virginia participated in the Governor’s School for the Arts in six different arts — that’s nearly 12 each for each discipline. Each participating student was offered a $3,000 a year scholarship to attend West Virginia Wesleyan College.
The students also got an offer to come back for a reunion in 2025 and could audition then for art school. Kids were also asked to be an ambassador for the program, Didawick said.
All of the kids that Pam Didawick has sent to the Governor’s School of the Arts loved it, she said.
