Chronicle photo by Vanessa McGuigan Tea-party attendees enjoyed dance performances during the afternoon’s activities at Turning Point Dance Studio.

Turning Point Dance Studio held a princess tea party on Saturday for several dozen young princess wannabes with stories, crafts, treats and dancing. Turning Point is a non-profit associated with Rhythm N’ Motion Dance Studio in Martinsburg.

The tea party was a fundraiser for Turning Point’s upcoming production of Sleeping Beauty Mar. 3 and 4 at Mussleman High School.

As it is the purpose of Turning Point to teach about classical dance, Sleeping Beauty will not be the Disney version, but rather, the classic version, with some choreography that is 200 years old.

Kat Ward, artistic director of Turning Point said, “The purpose of Turning Point is to give young dancers the opportunity to learn dance as an art form and as a career path. It teaches them the ins and outs of all types of productions. They’re learning how to do lights, run the sound board, make and sew costumes, how to choreograph things, how to set pieces for a stage. Many of our dancers that are in Turning Point want to continue to dance in college or in their professional life so it gives them an inside look as to what that would be like. They have extra rehearsals throughout the week and throughout the summer. They have two full-length productions they have to do each year, have to participate in three festivals a year, have to maintain a 3.0 or higher and have to participate in upwards of 10 hours of classes a week at the studio.”

Ward continued, “We’ve never done this (princess tea party) before, but now that we have and we see the great turnout, I’m hoping we will do it again in the future. We had 43 or 44 kids show up today, some even coming from Frederick to participate.”

The upcoming performance of Sleeping Beauty will be March 3 at 7 p.m., and March 4 at 2 p.m. Go to 23715.recitalticketing.com for advance discount purchase. Tickets at the door are $12.

For more information about Turning Point visit rnmdancestudio.com /home/.