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! 

For the Program Picture Frames, you will need:

- Large pieces of cardstock or construction paper

- Scissors

- Crayons, markers

- Photos

Prep Work for today's craft: We took photos of each camper and one with a friend - I used Photoshop to make it look "old time-y" (you can use any photo program with a sepia setting) and printed them out the night before.  

To make our programs, we folded all of the cardstock in half and drew a picture of a boot on half of them and a picture of a cowboy hat on the other half, making sure part of the boot or hat was on the fold, so it made like a card.

Then we cut a hole big enough to fit the picture behind it out of the front of each program/card.

The dancers decorated the program/cards and taped their picture inside and handed them to their parents / guests as they arrived!

After craft time, it was almost time for our show to begin!

Getting dressed and pinning on the beads to our vests

Our show!

The keys to our show is to keep it short, informal and fun!  We just set up folding chairs inside the biggest studio and try to keep it simple.

As the parents / grandparents / friends arrive, the dancers go out and deliver their special program they made, then they come back and get dressed and ready.  

We decided to wear the cowgirl vests over our tie-dye T-shirts for our tap dances.  And our neckerchiefs were the best accessory!

Lined up and ready to go!

My camp director makes a brief introduction welcoming everyone and talks a little bit about what we've done that week and then the show begins!

Smiling faces!

Smiling faces (and cameras) over here too!

Jumping for joy!

The teachers made "lassos" out of crepe paper rubber-banded to a rhythm stick for our tap dance about Jessie the Yodeling cowgirl.

Using our lassos

After all of our tap dances (we do about a minute or two of 3-4 different songs - see our playlist here), we take a VERY short break and change our shoes.  The girls decided the vests were too cumbersome, so we took them off too!

Showing off our bare fee for the "Bare Footin" dance

Afterwards there was much applause and smiles all around!

 

And of course, some refreshments!  The cactus-shaped Jello Jigglers were my favorite part :)

I hope you enjoyed our week at dance camp!  Happy Trails, partner!