Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film at Warwick Drive-In

The Warwick Drive-In Theater will be premiering “Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film” on Wed., Aug. 19, at 8 p.m. The film features local students from the Warwick Center for the Performing Arts and the Warwick Dance Collective, including Arianna Henry, Jonathan Matthews, Nick Peregrino, and Tami Small, with a special appearance by local business owner Adam Powers. 

“Sleeping Beauty” was co-directed, produced, and edited by sisters Melissa Padham-Maass and Jennifer Padham through a socially distanced process, after the live stage production originally scheduled for this spring at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students and Dance Collective members attended online rehearsals via Zoom throughout the spring, followed by 10 days of video shoots held in Padham-Maass’s backyard with a small number of family members serving as the film crew. The team filmed students under age 10 individually, and older students were filmed in small groups and kept 6 feet apart at all times. The footage was then edited together into a feature-length film. 

Tickets are available now at warwickperformingarts.com, with admission by presale only as space is limited. 

The Warwick Dance Collective will be using a similarly creative approach for their Summer Dance Intensive, scheduled for August 17–21 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. for ages 8 and up. The program will feature in-person ballet, pointe/pre-pointe, conditioning, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip-hop classes, with small class sizes following all CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19, as well as an option to attend all classes virtually via Zoom. Registration for the Summer Intensive is now open at warwickperformingarts.com. 

The Warwick Center for the Performing Arts, with the Warwick Dance Collective, will be presenting “Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film” at the Warwick Drive-In on Wed., Aug. 19. 

Arianna Henry, originally from Warwick, will be featured in “Sleeping Beauty: A Socially Distanced Dance Film” that will be shown at the Warwick Drive-In on Wed., Aug. 19.