Our School

The Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SLSPA) is sponsored by the Salt Lake City School District as a public charter high school for students grades 9-12 who are passionate about the Performing Arts; Music, Theatre or Dance in 2006. SLSPA was voted Utah’s Best Charter School in 2013, 2014 and 2015 by www.bestofstate.org.

SLSPA students have the unique opportunity to gain exceptional training in all aspects of the performing arts and to also reach a high level of academic success. SLSPA seeks to instill in its students the life skills of creativity, confidence, collaboration, communication and leadership. Faculty, staff and administration encourage self-expression, nurture self-esteem, and challenge the imagination. SLSPA offers unique performing arts curriculum focused on the individual.

Along with the unique performing arts curriculum, through a partnership with the Salt Lake City School District we are able to offer a complete array of academic classes, including AP and Honors courses. Our faculty and staff work with students to stimulate intellectual, artistic and technical originality. By providing such an environment, we strive to graduate young people who can work independently and creatively.

THERE ARE NO AUDITIONS AND NO TUITION! This is Utah’s premier arts charter school, and it’s FREE to attend. The school has yet to reach its enrollment cap and consequently still has open enrollment.

Curriculum

Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts exists to provide students with a wide variety of exceptional educational training and unparalleled opportunities in the performing arts. Through a diverse range of academics and rigorous, disciplined performing arts instruction, we prepare our students to compete successfully in pursuit of higher education, professional careers and life-long learning.

Academics

At Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, we pride ourselves on having students who are successful performers and outstanding academics as well. Though our charter focuses on the richness of the performing arts, many of our students go on to successfully study a variety of subjects in college including mathematics, engineering, science, and business. It is our goal to prepare our students to be successful in any subject of their choosing and to be responsible, upstanding members of the community. We hold SPA students to high academic standards, requiring all students to maintain their academic performance while they participate in shows, conservatories and extra curricular activities. In fact, our graduating class of 2015 had an average GPA of 3.4 and collectively our 42 graduates generated over 2.1 million dollars in scholarship offers. SPA also has the highest SAGE test scores of any high school in the Salt Lake District.

Dance

The Dance Department of the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts focuses on empowering our future generation of dance artists through a thorough study in classical Ballet, Modern, Tap and Jazz along with classes in Improvisation, Choreography, and Anatomy of Movement. We believe that with a foundation of strong technique students will be able to support the artistic expression required in the ever-changing art of dance. We offer master classes and guest choreographers to expose our students to a rich and diverse training in other genres of dance such as hip hop, break-dancing, musical theatre, tap, and other cutting edge dance forms. The rigorous training provided maximizes academic and artistic potential, so our graduates are prepared for acceptance to conservatory and university programs alike and to work professionally in the dynamic expanding field of dance.

Music

The Music Department of SLSPA recognizes that talent alone is seldom enough to guarantee success: that talent must be trained and challenged, weaknesses identified and nurtured, and growth directed appropriate to the needs and abilities of the individual student. We provide in-depth, focused training rather than a broad exposure as is found in most high school programs. The aim of this training is to prepare our students to compete successfully for placement in the best, most competitive music programs in the country. We differ from other training in that our teachers are professionals with a successful, ongoing career. This affords our programs a view not only of the rigorous methods necessary to success in advanced academic and conservatory training, but also a first hand current view of the day to day realities of the business of the performing arts.

Theater

The Department of Theatre at Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts is dedicated to the academic study of theatre through process (curriculum in the classroom) and product (production) learning. SPA Theatre will achieve excellence through quality instruction, a college prep-curriculum and high performance standards in productions of classical, contemporary, and new works. SPA Theatre will engage, enrich, and inform students and community through collaboration.

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Salt Lake Performing Arts High School

Salt Lake Performing Arts High School

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