It is amazing to me that the show opens in less than two weeks!! AHHHHH!!!! These kids have been working so hard at remembering everything the director, Alex, has been throwing at them. Although I have been keeping record of their blocking (what they do on stage), these kids have hardly been needing my assistance in reminding them. The leads have particularly been impressing me. Sometimes, they have even been reminding me of what they do on stage! It is awesome to watch their characters come to life as they work onstage! At this point the only things the kids have been working on are singing while dancing and fitting each scene together. It is like each scene, song, and dance is a puzzle piece, and the kids are now trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together. I cannot wait to see what this puzzle looks like in the end :) Aside from working on "Beauty and the Beast Jr." we have been really testing the kids' knowledge on Broadway and stage trivia. We have been asking certain questions that have even been stumping the staff members! I must admit, the trivia questions for this week are pretty challenging. For instance, "What musical won the FIRST Tony Award?" I mean, I know the Tony Awards have been around for over 60 years, so that question involves a lot of research (considering the fact that none of the kids were around when the first Tony was given :D ). If you think you've got what it takes to conquer our trivia questions, check out this week's questions located on the front of our sign-in table! Thanks lovely :D -Chelsea
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I can't believe we have ended our third week at camp! Time is flying and I wish I could tell Cogsworth to slow it down. Haha. : ) In dance classes we started out the first week with audition prep. We did some get-to-know you games and learned that dancing isn't something scary, it's just movements put together (and that should be easy since our bodies already move every day - heartbeat, walking, etc). Then we learned our audition dance to "Be Our Guest." Just a few 8-counts to see how well the campers could follow moves I gave them. I made it a little challenging, but everyone tried their best with a good attitude and everyone did great! Week two we moved onto ballet. Before you can learn to read, you need to learn your ABC's. Before you learn to dance, you need to learn ballet. It's the basis of dance. We learned the 5 ballet positions (and the kids each earned a broadway buck for correctly performing them back to me). We worked on strengthening our muscles and "stretching ourself" with daily warm-ups. We have learned ballet turns, in-place and across the floor, and leaps. We plié (bend) and rise, tondue, and kick.Then we ended the week two with yoga. Cat, cow,downward dog, tree - these words mean a lot more to us now. Week three we moved onto jazz and modern dance styles. We twisted to the ground, turned across the floor, grapevined, jazz squared. Our bodies became "full of sand" as we explored how to move freely without hurting our "body points" (ie. elbows, knees). We ended our week with... partner dancing! Besides our Friday Zumba (taught by Alex) we did some Salsa, cha-cha, and waltzing with partners. Besides all the things we have been learning in dance class, each day we have been learning choreography to our show songs - "Be Our Guest," "Gaston," "Belle." Some students have even been dancing after camp twice a week in the advanced dance workshop lead by Alex. Everyone has been doing a great job and have been challenging themselves this summer to learn more. I'm so proud! Happy dancing to everyone! -Ms Carli Ps. Tell Miss Carli you read this for some Carli Cash : ) Once a week, the campers enjoy ALEX.0! It's a bunch of videos from Broadway shows (past and present) that Alex is OBSESSED with. Themes have been Production Numbers, and Broadway Divas. This week was slated for Broadway Dudes, but we got caught up in Beauty & the Beast, so we crossed it off the schedule! Click "READ MORE" to see this week's selections for ALEX.0: Broadway Dudes! We are about mid-way through camp and the kids have already accomplished so much already! In music classes, they have been learning all about different types of music: rhythmn, intervals, and a little bit of music theory. Last week, the kids split into groups and created their own rhythmic songs which resulted in a rhythmn flash mob during lunch time. Also during classes, we are working diligently on learning all the musical numbers for the show. There are 5 big group numbers that all the kids will be singing in, so they have a lot of music to learn. They are doing a spledid job with learning the music and learning how to sing not just the melody, but also harmony parts within the songs as well. I am so impressed with all the campers and how well they are picking up the music and how hard they are working. I am especially impressed with all the soloists in the show. All of them have come into rehearsal so prepared and I know they take their music home and practice at night. We are going to have an AMAZING show and I can't wait to see how much more will be accomplished in the next 2 1/2 weeks!! When it comes to the technical side of theatre, there are some projects that need to be completed only by people with a special talent…Wait, that’s totally not true! Even the most difficult and involved tasks can be done by anyone as long as they put their minds to it! This week we started a project that will be used in the show, and it’s a project that involves scenic painting. Scenic painting is used to create backdrops and other pictures that give the audience a sense of where the play takes place. These paintings can be anything from detailed cities to huge landscapes to crazy fantasy worlds. There is a scene in Beauty & the Beast that would be particularly difficult to put onstage without a backdrop…I don’t want to give too much away, but Center Stage campers have done wonderful work on it already! Can’t wait for everyone to see the finished project! Come see the show! -Sarah We have been creating so many fun tech projects for the show these past two weeks, and everyone has excellent ideas! It's great to see as much enthusiasm for the technical side of theatre as there is for the performance side. We learned about the basics of lighting and how color can create a certain mood. We also made some fun lighting props that will be used during the show, but I won't give those away - you'll have to see for yourself! We also had the chance to create our own set designs for Beauty and The Beast Jr. Everyone in each group collaborated to draw a ground plan for a chosen scene in the play, then from those ground plans we made small scale models. We have plenty more props to build and set pieces to paint, so the weeks building up to opening night will be filled with amazing technical theatre awesomeness. As for the performance side of the camp/show, the actors/dancers/singers are doing a lovely job. The singing keeps getting better and better, the dancing is always a step up from the day before and the character building exercises seem to be helping everyone learn more about their character. In between all the hard work of technical theatre, dancing, singing and acting; the improv games have been my favorite, because I love improv! Always remember the number one rule to improv is... "Yes, and..." -Bobby AHH! We are almost done with our first week of Center Stage Camp! And what a crazy, fun and exciting week we have been having! The students have been on scavenger hunts, competed in Minute to Win It, and played some awesome improv games! On Tuesday and Wednesday we had our auditions: dance, music and acting. I thought everyone did FABULOUS! I could tell some people really practiced and worked hard on their audition pieces. Let me tell you, it was not an easy job for our staff to cast this show! Today, we found out the cast list!!! It was such an exciting moment because for most kids, this was their first show! I know some students didn’t get the part that they wanted, but it’s not the end of the world! Every character in a show is important because without all the parts, Beauty and the Beast Jr. just wouldn’t be right! Just remember: In theatre, there are no small parts, just small actors. Congratulations to the cast of Beauty and the Beast Jr.!!! This summer has just begun, and I can’t wait! -Jenna Our theme this year is STRETCH YOURSELF! No matter how hard song appears to be, or how impossible a dance step seems to be we will stretch ourselves to get through it! (That picture is a rubber band!) Students have been working very hard during audition week! The rest of the week we'll begin workshops and rehearsing our parts. I must say, EVERY student rose to the occasion. My team and I are confident in our casting decisions, but there were so many talented kids that could have been many different parts. Luckily, every student has a name in the show and can begin working on their character Facebooks/sketches next week! We're also having a blast getting to know everyone at camp. Everyday (well... almost everyday... sometimes we forget) we'll sing our goodbye song. If any of you are obsessed with the goodbye song, like I am, here it is! Alex Who would have thought, out of all of the suspects, ALL of the counselors were Agent X! It sure took a lot of sneaky spy skills from us counselors to be able to keep our cover throughout the entire camp - and hopefully Kids Possible picked up some of those awesome skills! Everyone must have been so surprised to witness, for the first time, the new revealing ending of the Spy Camp's "The_(top secret)_Musical" Show! One by one, the counselors admitted they were Agent X and the audience was on the edge of their seats in anticipation. First it was Anne who admitted to stealing the snacks on the first day, then it was Chelsea who admitted to writing clues and bottling up the water and mulch, then Jenna admitted to stealing the name tags on the first day, then I admitted to stealing the boom box and locking everyone out of the tech room - which caused a wave of "I KNEW IT's" from the secret agents, then Susan admitted to being Agent X (who also stole my Agent X hat!) and then finally Alex (who we all suspected was the top Agent X) admitted to setting up the clue that fell from the ceiling and tying himself up at the secret hide out! After all of the hard work completing many missions, all of the eager suspicion and dedication to find out who Agent X was, the smarts and expertise to unscramble clues and hints - the Kids Possible Secret Agents advanced themselves to become EXPERT AGENTS! Congratulations to all of the Kids Possible Agents! They never gave up the search and they were always ready for the next mission! -Bobby |
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