Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Summer Music!

Me doing some beach dancing in Maine!
Hello all - hope everyone's summer is going good.. as we move into August, here's a list of the songs that have been getting the heaviest rotation on my summer dance playlists!


 


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Ballet Class - I like to use Sunny Choi's tunes during our stretch to keep things fresh - links open in YouTube since her covers aren't available on iTunes
22 (Taylor Swift Cover) - Sunny Choi
I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor Swift cover) - Sunny Choi
Just Give Me A Reason (P!nk Cover) - Sunny Choi

Stretch / Lyrical Class
All I Want - Kodaline - nice and slow for stretching
Pompeii - Bastille
Gone Gone Gone - Philip Phillips
Red Hands - Walk Off The Earth

Tap Class
Wake Me Up - Avicii - love this one!
You Make Me Feel So Young - Michael Buble - my favorite off his newest album
Wild - Royal Teeth
Mountain Sound - Of Monsters & Men
I Love It (Radio edit) - Icona Pop

Jazz Class
People Like Us - Kelly Clarkson
Cups (You're Gonna Miss Me) - Anna Kendrick
Treasure - Bruno Mars
Blurred Lines (clean) - Robin Thicke


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Monday, July 8, 2013

Western Week Day #5: Our Show!

Today's the day - it's show time down at the corral!

It's Day #5 at Western Week Dance Camp and all the parents and friends are invited to our show.

Day #5 Agenda

8:50-9:00am - Parent Drop-off / Student Sign-in
9:00-9:20am - Warm-up
9:20-10:15am - Show Practice
10:15-10:30am - Craft: Show Programs / Picture Frames & Yarn Dolls
10:30-10:45am - Snack Time
10:45-11:00am - Practicing one last time!
11:15-11:30am - Getting into costume
11:45-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down - Relay Race!


Day #5 Crafts: Yarn Dolls & Programs / Picture Frames

For the Yarn Dolls, you will need:

- Lots and lots of yarn
- Scissors
- Something to wrap the yarn around - we used CD cases, but stiff cardboard would work just as well

Here is a great post with many pictures that explains how to make a yarn girl or boy.  The only difference we had was that we used contrasting yarn for all of the tying off.

That's a lot of yarn! 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Western Week Day #4: Making Our Costumes


It's Day #4 at Western Week Dance Camp!  Today we are working on practicing our "show" and making costumes.

Day #4 Agenda

8:50-9:00am - Parent Drop-off / Student Sign-in
9:00-9:30am - Warm-up
9:30-10:00am - Jazz Dance class - practicing our dances in sequence
10:00-10:45am - Craft - Cowgirl Vests & Foot Print Horses
10:45-11:00am - Snack Time
11:00-11:45am - Tap Class - practicing our dances in sequence
11:45-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down - Relay Race!

Day #4 Crafts: Cowgirl Vests & Foot Print Horses

For the Vests, you will need:

- Large paper bags
- Ribbons
- Scissors
- Crayons, paint, markers - whatever you want to decorate with (we used crayons)
- Tin foil & large-eyed needle

Prep Work for today's craft: Cutting out the arm and neck holes for each vest, laying out all the "decorations".

We followed these instructions from Crayola's website.  Everyone got to decorate their own vest with as much ribbon and coloring as they chose.  Some girls made "fringe" at the bottom with scissors (you could also tear it if you have little ones).

Picking out just the right colors for her vest!



Having fun coloring on the vests

The hardest part was the tin foil "badges" or "rosettes" - to get them to stay on, a teacher needed to help  poke the ribbon through the vest with a large needle.  The kids were able to thread the needle, but it was too hard to push through without an adult's help.


Our vests waiting for the show tomorrow...

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Western Week Day #3: Into the Sunset

For Day #3 of our Western Week Dance Camp we are learning more new dance steps and finishing up our sunsets!

Day #3 Agenda

8:50-9:00am - Parent Drop-off / Student Sign-in
9:00-9:30am - Warm-up - we made Negative Space Statues
9:30-10:00am - Jazz Dance class - adding on to our dances
10:00-10:45am - Craft -
10:45-11:00am - Snack Time
11:00-11:45am - Tap Class - reviewing yesterday's dance
11:45-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down - we made an obstacle course

Day #3 Crafts: Cowboy Sunsets (Part 2) & Bead Pins

Part Two of Cowboy Sunsets:

Yesterday we made the "sunset" portion of the craft and had to let the coffee filters dry overnight.

Adding dye to the coffee filters

Prep Work for today's craft: Cutting out the rims of paper plates

Today we will make and decorate the frames.  Here is our set-up for today's portion of the craft:



Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Western Week Day #2: Cowgirls!

For Day #2 of our Western Week Dance Camp we are learning more new dance steps and making cowgirl neckerchiefs!


Day #2 Agenda

8:50-9:00am - Parent Drop-off / Student Sign-in
9:00-9:30am - Warm-up - we went on a "Bear Hunt"
9:30-10:00am - Jazz Dance class - adding on to our dance
10:00-10:45am - Craft - Neckerchiefs and Cowboy Sunsets
10:45-11:00am - Snack Time
11:00-11:45am - Tap Class - reviewing yesterday's dance
11:45-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down - we made an obstacle course

Day #2 Crafts: Cowgirl Neckerchiefs & Cowboy Sunsets

For the Neckerchiefs, You Will Need:

- Fabric cut into large squares (big enough to fold in half)
- Fabric Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Optional: rubber fabric stamps


Prep work:  My Camp Director cut out the fabric squares ahead of time and we made a painter's palette for each group of two.  

We have a collection of rubber stamps that grows each year--most popular are the letter stamps and flowers. Some of the campers preferred to stamp and other drew designs and scenes. 



Whichever they chose, they all turned out beautiful and the kids were excited to wear them for the show!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Western Week Day #1: Tie-Dye!

Our studio offers two types of camp: 5-day "Dance Camp" for ages 6-10 and 4-day "Princess Camp" for ages 4-6.

For both camps, the students come each day for three hours from 9am - noon and we dance and do arts and crafts.

Each year we do a different theme and base the week's lessons around that theme. We hold an impromptu little "show" on the last day of camp for family and friends.

This year, the older kids' camp theme was "Western / Cowgirls / Hoe Down", which my camp director had a blast planning and I enjoyed doing!  I wanted to share our week with you and hopefully it will give you some ideas for your camp or even just some fun crafts to do at home this summer!  Psst - if you're looking for another camp idea - check out last year's "Rock Star" Camp.

Day #1 Agenda

8:50-9:00am - Parent Drop-off & Student Sign-in
9:00-9:30am - Warm-up & "Get to know you" activities - I like doing the Name Game as an icebreaker
9:30-10:00am - Jazz Dance class - we learn our first group dance
10:00-10:45am - Craft - Tie-dye
10:45-11:00am - Snack Time
11:00-11:45am - Tap Class - we learn our first tap dance
11:45-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down

Day #1 Craft: Tie-Dye

You Will Need:
- T-Shirts
Fabric Dye 
Buckets
Rubberbands

The first day of all of our camps we traditionally do tie-dye, as the shirts take some time to dry and we sometimes use the tie-dyed shirts in later projects.  This year was no different and we took to the sidewalk outside our school to tie-dye.


Before heading outside, we wrapped our shirts with rubber bands.  Depending on the age of your kids, you can get pretty creative.  Our campers favored the Spiral, Stripes and Dots techniques.


We are fortunate to have a spigot in the front of our building, so we use that to fill up a bunch of tubs mixed with tie-dye and place them on the sidewalk and let the kids have at it.  We had a small group this time, so we let them all go at once, but if you have a larger group, you might have to break it up.
Wearing our T-shirts for the show!
Tip:  The younger children always want to dip their shirts in Every Single Bucket because... well, its just fun to dip in the buckets!  If you use dark colors, their shirts will end up a not-so-pretty brown color.  We try to get colors that are light and will mix well if layered (yellow, pink, purple, orange).  
More tips from last year.

After they have dyed to their heart's content, one of the teachers washes the T-shirt under the cold water  until no more dye runs out and then the kids hang them up to dry (we use a portable ballet barre on the sidewalk).

Day #1 Playlist

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