by Kate Evans

Ariella Didawick, an eleventh-grader at Berkeley Springs High School, attended the West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon this summer from June 23 to July 13 to study dance.

She was the first student at Berkeley Springs High School to participate in the dance program.

The Governor’s School of the Arts is a free program for 10th grade students who want to expand their artistic talents and experiences. Areas of study include acting (theater), creative writing, dance (ballet and modern), instrumental music, studio arts, vocal music, or digital media.

The Governor’s School for the Arts provides rising 11th grade high school students the opportunity to work in a close community with accomplished artists and develop professional and personal relationships with other talented West Virginia student artists.

Didawick said that as part of her application, she had to submit two teacher recommendations, a recommendation from the principal, her transcripts and her GPA. As an audition, she had to record a one-minute dance video of herself performing a contemporary/modern dance that she had choreographed. Didawick also had to record herself doing some ballet steps.

Didawick also wrote an essay about what dancing means to her and what she loves about it. An extensive interview with the dance teacher via Zoom was also part of the application process.

Dancing was Didawick’s major at the Governor’s School for the Arts. She took ballet classes in the morning and after lunch. Each dance class lasted about two hours.

Didawick also tried all the other interdisciplinary arts. She really enjoyed creative writing and vocal music. She said she enjoyed instrumental music, especially drumming.

“I liked them all – they’re all great,” Didawick said.

Participants participated in field trips, performances, and lectures. The students went to Washington DC for a week and visited the art museums. They also went to downtown Buckhannon for Festival Friday, heard a band, and walked around town.

The West Virginia Dance Company came to West Virginia Wesleyan College and performed. Creative writers came and read their works. A band came and played and the students also got to sing backing tracks.

Dance background

Didawick has been dancing for 12 years and has studied ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary dance, pointe dancing, lyrical dance and theater.

She started dancing with Kelly Moon at InMotion Dance Studio and has now been going to Twist and Turn Dance Studio with teacher Whitney Bryan-Chapman-Caldwell for three years, where she studies dance.

Didawick was also a member of the Berkeley Springs High School dance team her freshman and sophomore years with dance teacher Holli McCumbee. She is also in the high school choir and cheerleading team.

Didawick has made several public dance appearances. She has danced in two productions – The Nutcracker and The Little Mermaid – with the City Ballet School in Hagerstown at the Maryland Theater.

Didawick also took part in the BlackCat Music Cooperative’s “SingBig!” singing camp this summer and had a lot of fun.

Recommend it

Didawick definitely recommends that high school students apply to the Governor’s School for the Arts. She learned a lot there and made 20 friends – all of them incredible and talented.

“You only have one chance to do it, and I would say do it,” she said.

Didawick said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and her mother, Berkeley Springs High School art teacher Pam Didawick, encouraged her to apply.

“In the end, I really enjoyed it,” said Didawick.

Pam Didawick has encouraged a number of high school students to apply to the Governor’s School for the Arts over the years. Some years several students applied, others none. It’s really hard to get into the program. “Not everyone gets accepted,” she said. She’s learned a lot about the program this year as a teacher and a mother.

The application process for her daughter Ariella’s academic year at the Governor’s School for the Arts took more than two months, said Pam Didawick.

“It’s an intense process, but once you get into it, it’s worth it,” she said.

Didawick said 84 West Virginia students participated in the Governor’s School for the Arts in six different arts – that’s nearly 12 per discipline. Each participating student was offered a $3,000-per-year scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The students were also given the opportunity to return for a reunion in 2025 and then apply to the art school. The children were also asked to become ambassadors for the program, Didawick said.

All the children Pam Didawick sent to the Governor’s School of the Arts loved it, she said.