The Route 1 corridor has worked hard to develop a great arts district, but a local performing arts scene for kids has quietly flourished for years.

School programs, after-school classes, dance studios and summer camps all offer local children opportunities to learn how to dance, sing and perform.

Hyattsville Middle School offers a Creative and Performing Arts program through audition for seventh and eighth graders, while Northwestern High School has the Jim Henson Center for the Visual and Performing Arts Academy, a rigorous four-year program, also through auditon.

After school, kids can take classes at Adinkra Cultural Arts Studio in Mount Rainier; Impulse City, Ballet, Tap and All That Jazz, Espaco Cultural Samba Trovão, Link Education, Just Rock Enterprises and the Maryland Performing Arts Academy in Hyattsville; and Connect the Dots Dance Company at the Parish House in College Park.

Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mount Rainier and Impulse City in Hyattsville offer after-school and summer camp programs, many of which have a performance aspect.

And the Clarice Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, in conjunction with the Prince George’s Parks and Recreation, runs the Junior Academy for the Performing Arts for kids 8 through 16 offering camps during the summer as well as a 12-week intensive programs throughout the school year. There is also the University of Maryland Summer Youth Music Camp for grades 5-10 also at the Clarice.

These opportunities tend to feed off each other, as kids who become interested in performing arts through one may end up attending another.