With only two days left of camp after today, things are slowly but surely starting to come together for our final performance, which will be at 11:20 AM on Friday, July 1st.

Before beginning our rehearsal today, Elaine helped us out with a warm up that was kind of like the game Duck-Duck-GOOSE!, but the difference was that instead of saying "goose", one could say any animal, and the chance had to be done as those animals!

Have you ever seen two sloths chasing each other?  I hadn't either, until today.  Let me tell you--it was riveting.

ABOVE:  See Elaine showing us what being a Peacock is all about. 
BELOW: We also had a chance today to finish decorating our spaceperson helmets. 

After snack the aliens made Antennae to wear in the show while the Astronauts made traveling suitcases for their space trip scene.

Done for the day at noon and looking forward to tomorrow and putting the play together.

      We are moving and grooving through this camp and having a blast doing it! The campers have really stepped up their game, learning another song and dance today, and proving to Miss Connie that they all practiced over the weekend.
       The morning began with a fun song/dance/game activity, led by Miss Susan called Thisaway Thataway, which allowed the kids to express their own individuality and got everyone up and dancing. We love seeing how each child interprets the song! This was followed by an activity that makes the kids not only demonstrate focus but also the ability to not draw attention to themselves. Needless to say Key Ninja was a huge hit with the kids!
       Next, the aliens and astronauts broke apart to learn their respective songs and dances, which will happen again tomorrow. We ended the day with a review of Space Jam and Across the Universe, both of which are looking and sounding awesome! (And of course there had to be a quick game of Captain on Deck!)
       The kids got their scripts at the end of camp so hopefully they all will go home and learn their lines... *hint hint* and here is the riddle for today:
A man leaves home and turns left three times, which brings him back home, where he sees two men wearing masks. Who are the men? *This almost always happens in the summertime.

It's hard to believe camp is already half over, but some might say it's only half begun! Mr. Brian prides himself on expanding the musical palettes of the campers, and today was no exception as he introduced us to some of the best harmonica action ever with J. Geils Band's Whammer Jammer. Mr. Shaun then led us in movement exercises exploring tempo, levels and emotion. Following that Mr. Brian worked on physical expression through stillness with a statue workshop focused on abstract concepts like freedom and love, but then brought us down to earth by creating frozen portraits of tangible locations - we were all blown away by how creative each camper was in coming up with their own unique pose. Before snack Mrs. Connie taught us the choreography to go along with Across the Universe, and the soloists were given their lyrics to sing. It was hard to pick who sings what because everyone has gorgeous voices, but that's the director's job! After snack the campers made stars to be a part of our set, and consequently Mr. Brian will never use glitter again. We wrapped up with a rousing game of Heads Up 7 Up. Below is some of the music we'll be learning for next week - get a head start and become familiar with it! The astronauts should listen to Sir Elton John, and the aliens ought to listen to The Byrds. Have a great weekend! 

We started our day by space jamming like crazy on our stage....man, do we loooove to dance! Things are heating up between the astronauts and aliens here at space camp!
Mr. Dana warmed us up with a game called "musical bodies." He also led us in a "diamond dance."  We chose characters and movement and took turns leading our group in that movement.
We auditioned in small groups for the song "Across the Universe." Ms. Susan thinks we sang like an angel choir.
Hey. Check out our very cool helmets. We made them today.
Here is today's riddle:
The very poorest person HAS this. The very richest person NEEDS this. Annnnd, if you EAT this, you will DIE.

Today we faced an important decision.  Dance and sing our hearts out at camp, or celebrate the historic victory of our Cavaliers in downtown Cleveland.  A few campers weren't able to join us today, and we missed them and hope they had an exciting day!  Others brought their Cleveland spirit here to camp, and we loved that too!

Today we began learning the music to one of the songs we will be singing in the performance next Friday: Across the Universe by The Beatles.  As you can see below, the campers were all very focused on learning the lyrics and the tune to this classic song.

And finally, we did our first craft session today--making flying saucers out of paper bowls.  These will become part of our set in the performance.  When you come to see us, see if you can see them hanging out somewhere onstage!

Today's Riddle: What has four fingers and a thumb, but has no hand or arm? 
We'll see you all tomorrow to find out!  Go Cavs!  Go Cleveland!  Go Camp!

Day two of the Odyssey Camp began by creating name-tags for all the campers which designated who were to be the "aliens" at the camp and who were to be the "astronauts"

Ms. Connie conducted the first exercise which had everyone dancing on smaller and smaller sheets of newspaper which gave us the idea of how to use the stage space most efficiently. Mr. Brian continued working on ways to be aware of the others on stage, how to balance the stage and how to accomplish tasks on stage while being aware of where everyone else is, using both focus and side vision.

The major job of the task of the day was Ms. Connie's choreography of Space Jam which everyone jump into with great energy and commitment. After snack we got the answer to yesterday's riddle and a new riddle for tomorrow. We wrapped up the day with a quick session of Captain on Deck. Find today's riddle at the bottom of the blog.

TODAY'S RIDDLE: If you have it, you can't share it. If you share it you can't have it. What is it?

Today was the start of the Space Odyssey camp! We began the journey with some out of this world free dancing and then played a tricky game with Miss Susan involving a penny that liked to jump from hand to hand. The campers all introduced themselves, telling us both their name and what they like to do.

We continued the fun with learning everyone's favorite game- Captain on Deck, followed by a hula hoop team challenge. It isn't easy getting through the hula hoop when you are an adult! The kids had a great time working together and cheering their team on. We continued the concept of working as a team with a robot activity and a movement game where the kids had to be both observant and sneaky!

Here is the riddle for today: You throw away my outside then cook my inside, then eat my outside and throw away my inside. What am I?
Good luck and see everyone tomorrow!!

And just like that, the week is at a close and performance day is finally upon us!  We have arrived, the lights are up, the seats are filled, and we are ready to perform.

Check out some of the pics below from our final warm up and dress rehearsal this morning!