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With the Patti Rutland Jazz Reunion Boot Camp underway, there’s a whole lot of dancing going on in Brundidge this week.

Forty-five kids from across the area are participating in the weeklong camp at the loft dance studio on South Main Street.

The boot camp teachers are former Patti Rutland Jazz students and Patti Simpson said having all this talent under one roof is amazing.

“The teachers are among my former company dancers who are now teachers and professional dancers in other cities, in movies and Broadway shows,” Simpson said. “They are role models that these kids can look up to with the possibility of being professional dancers or teachers or any other profession. You never know where dance can or will lead you.”

One former dancer with PRJ flew from Arizona with her daughter, so she could be a part of the reunion and her daughter could experience her background in dance.

Simpson said the intensive dance classes will include lectures with important information for dancers and athletes, who also benefit from dance, including jazz, ballet, hip-hop. 

“We will have a dancer from the Jersey Boys Broadway show and other dancers from professional dance companies,” Simpson said. “Our Reunion Boot Camp faculty is amazing. There’s not a better dance intensive camp for young people between Los Angeles and New York than the one right here in our loft.”

Brundidge City Manager Willie Wright had the opportunity to visit the dance boot camp and was impressed, with the quality of the faculty, the enthusiasm and abilities of the young dancers and the studio itself.

“What Patti Rutland Jazz and Chuck Caraway have done to transform this area into a dance studio is amazing,” he said. “We are very fortunate to have a dance studio like this in Brundidge. We hope more young people from all across the area will take advantage of this amazing opportunity.”