Camouflage and ballet slippers are generally thought not to go together. But this summer here at Fort Bragg, military dependants who choose to take advantage of the post’s summer dance academy will be spending their summer at the barre practicing ‘elves’ and ‘ronde de jambres’ to the sounds of distant field artillery fire, C-130s overhead and Miley Cyrus.

The summer dance academy, part of a Department of the Army program called SKIES Unlimited or Schools of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills, is one of many summer camps that are held each summer under the auspices of Child, Youth, and School Services at Tolson Youth Activity Center.

“The SKIES Unlimited program has been a big push from DoA, allowing all bases to have similar programming no matter where the military Family is based,” said Paul Driessen, an instructional program specialist at Tolson YAC. “Fort Bragg is considered a mega-installation so we are able to offer a large amount of programming.”

The summertime dance academy is different from the school-year program in that classes are offered in a block format: four classes in one week, rather than four classes spread out over a month.

This maximizes “the ability of the parents to go visit Family and friends, travel and just getting away from Bragg,” said Driessen. With block scheduling it also “provides the kids the ability to learn a lot in a short amount of time. They retain a lot more, instead of taking a class one week and perhaps forgetting about what they learned, having to retrain and then move on,” he said. With block scheduling “we can go full speed from one lesson to the next. The kids get a lot more out of it and move very fast in their skill development.”

The summer sessions provide a quick introduction to the many formats of dance that are offered, such as ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop.

The lesson plan is the same during the summer as it is during school year, said Erika Hernandez, the academy’s instructor, but coming during the summer intensive gives the children the ability to try something new in a short period of time.

The dance academy, like other summer programming, is also a great way to keep kids involved and sociable during the summer break from school.

“It’s real fun and a good thing to do,” said Jacqueline Cushman, 8, a summer ballet student. “I like the dancing and get to meet other kids.”

“It also keeps her busy and happy and lowers her stress level,” said Linda Cushman, Jacqueline’s mother, “especially with her father deployed.

As a benefit for families of deployed Soldiers, the Army Family Covenant provides a certain amount of classes for free, which can be a welcome respite for those young children.

This program and art in general are so very important for military children, said Hernandez. “With one or both parents deployed it really help to give kids some structure. They always know that they are going to have a class this day, at this time with the same group of people.”

The dance academy, open to the children of all Department of Defense ID card holders, has four summertime sessions and generally sell out quickly.

“The classes we provide are very competitive for what is available off post, with the convenience of being on post in a secure area,” said Driessen.

So grab your children and sign them up, just be sure to keep your paratrooper boots out of the studio or Ms. Erika might make you run laps.

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