Tutu Camp! Summer Ballet Adventures to Explore
Have a Storybook Summer
Summertime is here, which means you’re probably looking for ways to keep your little one engaged, occupied and learning over the next few months. Tutu Camp at Tutu School Raleigh is the perfect way for little dancers to spend their summer days swept away in ballet adventures!
Whether you are already a Tutu School Raleigh Member or not, all children 3 to 8 yrs are welcome to join. Campers do not need to have prior ballet experience to participate, but they should be prepared for a lot of leaping, twirling, and imaginative adventures! Current Tutu School Raleigh Members receive a 10% discount on their Camp tuition!
What is Tutu Camp?
Well, let’s dive right in. Imagine spending fun-filled camp days exploring the enchanting and enriching world of ballet! On each day of Tutu Camp, your child will take a ballet class, decorate ballet crafts, explore the story of a famous ballet, and even prepare to take part in a production of their own creation. The end-of-camp performance of the week’s ballet story theme for caregivers, family, and friends is a truly special achievement!
Each of our camp sessions focuses on a different ballet story from the classical repertoire. Tutu Camp provides an immersive experience for children who want to be enveloped by the magic of dance and dive into Storybook Adventures in Ballet. Whether you’re joining us for your favorite ballet or want to experience the magic of several weeks of Tutu Camp, get ready for your dancer’s twirling adventure.
Our Tutu Camp Themes for Summer 2025 are:
The Nutcracker Camp – June 23rd – 27th
Sleeping Beauty Camp – June 30th – July 3rd*
*camp is not held on Friday, July 4th!
Our Tutu Camp Leaders for Summer 2025 are:
Learn a little more about our Tutu Camp leaders below:
Camp Leaders bring years of expertise in our curriculum, childhood education, and are given special Tutu Camp training, including CPR certification, to ensure your little one has an enriching and safe experience.
Social & Developmental Benefits of Camp
Tutu Camp is more than just a summer activity; it’s a thoughtfully designed experience that supports key areas of early childhood development, much like our carefully crafted ballet class curriculum. For children aged 3 to 8, day camps provide a unique setting to build social-emotional skills, physical coordination, and cognitive growth through creative, play-based learning.
Social and Emotional Growth
At Tutu Camp, children have daily opportunities to connect, collaborate, and communicate with their peers. These interactions help build empathy, teamwork, and emotional regulation. According to Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, positive early social experiences help develop the brain’s “executive function” skills, like problem-solving, attention, and self-control.
Being part of a small group outside of home or school also fosters independence. The American Academy of Pediatrics highlights the importance of play and exploration in helping young children build confidence, adaptability, and resilience.
Physical Development Through Dance
Ballet and movement-based activities are ideal for developing gross motor skills, balance, and spatial awareness. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) emphasizes that movement and music support physical health and early brain development. At Tutu Camp, leaping like a swan or twirling like The Sugar Plum Fairy doesn’t just feel magical, it’s also building coordination and strength in age-appropriate ways.
Cognitive Growth Through Imagination
Each camp session invites children to explore a classical ballet through storytelling, role-play, and performance. This kind of imaginative play has been shown to improve memory, language development, and narrative thinking. Research from the American Journal of Play supports make-believe play as a powerful tool for cognitive development and early executive function.
In short, Tutu Camp helps children grow socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively—all while having fun. Through twirls, tales, and teamwork, your little one is developing more than just dance skills—they’re building a foundation for lifelong learning.
Peek into a day of Tutu Camp
Curious about what your dancer is going to do each day at Tutu Camp? Take a peek below:
Camper Arrival & Check-In
You’ll drop your little one off in the morning and check in with our Tutu Camp leaders. Tutu School always makes sure campers have an emergency contact and designated pick-up person on file, so you can feel secure about your child’s time at Tutu School.
Tutu School Ballet Class
It wouldn’t be Tutu Camp without a ballet class! Campers have the opportunity to experience a Tutu School class. If your child is already a Tutu School member, they’ll get to experience what they already love, and if they’re new to Tutu School, this is a perfect, bite-sized taste of a typical class snuggled into a day of camp.
Morning Snack
After ballet class, dancers have likely worked up an appetite! We have a brief break for snacks in the morning. All campers bring their own snacks (Tutu Camp is also nut-free!) It’s also important that there is always a CPR-certified Tutu Camp leader on staff, so you can feel secure in the fact that your little one will have a safe camp experience.
Ballet Storytime
Pulled directly from our thoughtfully constructed Ballet Storytime curriculum used in our weekly ballet classes, it is at this point in our camp day that we explore the Ballet Story theme of that week — The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty — and learn a new section of the story each day. This includes listening to the classical score, showcasing a portion of a ballet through illustrations, discussing the plot and themes, and reinforcing that dancers are storytellers using our movements to tell the story we’re learning.
We are committed not only to providing our dancers with a rich early arts education but also to making sure we are impacting our students in a thoughtful, responsible way through the stories we tell them and the themes we choose to celebrate. At Tutu Camp, dancers get to fully engage with these stories and their messages as they partake in imaginative play.
Rehearsal for End-of-Week Performance
Dancers will get to perform the stories that they learn at Tutu Camp at the end of the week. All the hard work they spent learning their choreography and taking in the story all leads up to their big moment! The end-of-week in-studio performance is more relaxed than our biyearly Bravo Bash recital, but it is still such a proud moment for campers. It’s a moment you won’t want to miss!
Lunch Time + Free Play Time
It’s time for dancers to re-energize again with a healthy, nut-free lunch (provided by caregivers and able to sit without refrigeration). If the weather agrees, dancers may also have the opportunity for outside time over lunch with leader supervision. Our dancers get to picnic in the enclosed patio of our neighbor Chatham Station. After lunch our dancers get some unstructured free time to engage with new friends, play games, read quietly or rest.
Crafts
It’s not a ballet story without a themed craft! All of our ballet stories have special crafts including props and costume pieces to represent different scenes of the ballet we’re learning. These crafts created each day of camp will all be used in the end-of-week performance! Upon completion of camp, campers will get to take all their crafts home.
Creative Movement Games
Another central part of Tutu School’s curriculum are creative movement games. Camp leaders will guide campers through movement and ballet-based activities such as dancing like animals, freeze dancing, dancing like colors, and many many more. Our campers’ imaginations take over as they freely engage in playfully using their creativity along with their new ballet friends.
Cool Down + Coloring
Each ballet story has its own set of coloring sheets, of course! As our day winds down and we transition to camp pick-up, dancers will color these special, themed coloring sheets as they get ready to go home. At the end of the week will get to take home their own storybook of the Camp theme made from these personalized pages.
Little dancers will explore different ballet stories at Tutu Camp
Join us for dancing, crafts, magic and more!
On the last day of each week of camp, there will be a performance of the week’s Ballet Story, complete with the props and costumes the dancers made throughout the week. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Get ready to see your camper show off the dance skills they’ve practiced, sweet crafts they’ve crafted, and the confidence they’ve gained. You’re in for a treat.
Whether dancers are leaping through The Nutcracker or twirling through Sleeping Beauty (or both!), Tutu Camp is the perfect place to spend the summer in Raleigh! Our specially designed ballet camp provides an immersive experience for children who want to be enveloped by the magic of dance and dive into Storybook Adventures in Ballet. We can think of no better way to do just that and we can’t wait to twirl through the summer with your little dancer!
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