Children preparing for Riverside Dance Festival performances

I don’t know about you, but my summer is pretty much all about doing as little as possible until the thermometer decides to show some mercy.

For Adam Schnell and his team of instructors at Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theatre’s dance program, summer is anything but relaxing. 

Every spring, they begin holding auditions for local students interested in seriously hard work in a professional dance environment during the summer.

“This is not so much about current skills, but about the ability for these young people to handle dancing nine hours a day for two weeks,” he said.

Schnell said there always are 35 to 45 kids age 10 and older who apply for the limited openings, most of them return participants. This year, all but two are repeats.

Beginning Monday, they’ll kick off the intensive two-week workshop that will culminate in Riverside Theatre’s sixth annual Riverside Dance Festival showcase the first weekend in August.

The workshop combines the talents of the Riverside Theatre dance faculty and an invited professional dance company. For 2017, the company is an all-female contemporary dance troupe from the New York and New Jersey, Ariel Rivka Dance (ARD). Ariel Rivka was named a 2016 Jersey (New) Moves Emerging Choreographer.

For Schnell, each workshop begins up to two years in advance, with the selection of the professional company to invite. It isn’t a set procedure, he said. Sometimes he picks from what he knows is out there, and sometimes “it’s by application process and sometimes based on a recommendation.”

Ariel Rivka Dance performs at 8 p.m. Aug. 4 and 5 on the Stark stage. There is a single performance showcasing students along with ARD at 2 p.m. Aug. 5. It’s open to the public.

Aug. 5 also is the date of Riverside Children’s Theatre’s RT Star’s Back to School Party in Partnership with the Education Foundation. It’s on the Riverside campus from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and it’s free. iRascal KIDS is a set of three performances by kids 8 and older, offering classics from The Beatles on Aug. 4 and 5. Times and a full schedule of activities for the big weekend are online at www.riversidetheatre.com.

More on the calendar

Vero Beach Theatre Guild’s anniversary review continues this weekend. Remaining shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (www.verobeachtheatreguild.com or 772-562-8300).

The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra is at Community Church of Vero Beach at 3 p.m. Sunday with Fantasies (www.spacecoastsymphony.org or 855-252-7276).

Peter and the Starcatcher is on the Stark stage at Riverside Theatre at 1:30, 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (www.riversidetheatrecom). 

Willi Miller writes about Indian River County. Contact her at caribsea@bellsouth.net.