Choosing a Major
Wednesday, July 31st, 2024
TIPI CIRCLE circa 7:00pm—Except for a northern strip of sunlight sneaking in over the Stilt Field, the whole Tipi Circle is shrouded in the soothing shade of early evening. Camp’s downtown is completely still with only a faint clatter from the distant kitchen to disturb the quietude. Soon the area will be teeming with campers, freshly energized from tonight’s burger and pudding dinner, ready to obliterate calmness wherever it can be found with improvised acts of hyper-active hijinks. For now, there exists a few minutes of serenity to review my notes.
Last night’s evening program was Teacher Talent Night, which provides campers with a sampling of the classes we offer at Camp. As today was the first full day of classes, I decided to take a campus tour to hear what campers thought of their teachers’ talent, and how it is affecting their choice of classes.
“Improv was pretty fun; we got to do some acting,” said Henry, 8, of the Yellow Tipi. Clowning was cool too; we learned the mime wall. The clown teachers taught us a lot of miming tricks. In improv we learned about setting the scene, relationships, flaws, et cetera. The clowning act last night was so funny. The improv act was good too—not the funniest—but funny enough. It’s all about making people laugh.”
“I went to unicycle because I want to get better,” said Asa, 8, of the Lime Tipi. “The unicycle act was hilarious. Lucas was the baby and Dinklefritz was David Bowie. They played ‘Dance the Magic Dance’ as the song and they did an eight-person pinwheel. I think a lot of people were inspired by the act to go to unicycle class because the track was very busy today. Honestly, it’s just fun.”
“In capoeira I learned a special type of squat with one hand on the ground and the other on your cheek,” said Ellis, 14, of the Red Tipi. “We combined it with the ginga where you put your foot back and oscillated like that. It was cool; I had never considered the idea of dance fighting. I’ve taken karate before, and that has more swift movements. Capoeira is more fluid, sort of like using dance as a weapon. Yesterday I was wandering around confused, not knowing what to do. That’s when I saw Mniska playing an instrument and a bunch of kids following him. I started following too, thinking we were going to learn the instrument. Once I realized it was a martial arts class I thought it would be rude to leave, but I actually ended up liking it.”
“I took tightrope because I saw it and it looked fun,” said Ada, 11, of the Turquoise Tipi. “They act was really funny. They set a record for ‘World’s Lowest Tightrope’, but it was just a piece of tape stuck to the stage. Today I worked on walking without a spotter and walking backwards. When I’m up on the tightrope I feel like a graceful ballerina.”
“I went to Experimento because I really like theater,” said Sigrid, 10, also from Turquoise. “Tucket taught us about stage presence: ‘You need your mind and your body.’ The act was cool. One person recited a fast monologue while other people were singing and dancing in the background. It was intriguing.”
“I took tightrope because I want to be able to keep my balance and learn how to get back on balance,” said Meilyn, 10, also from Turquoise. “I also took unicycle because I liked their act last night. I liked how they did the choreography. It was joyful. Balance is important in case I’m ever in a spot where I’m falling over I can stop myself from falling and regain balance.”
“In improv we did scenes and stuff,” said Remi, 9, of the Gold Tipi. “We used the three-line technique, then we got our surroundings, and then we made a story out of those, mostly about gnomes. The teachers were really funny and made a bunch of jokes, but they were really nice too. It’s like pumpkin pie: I like pumpkin, and I like pie, and one fits the other.”
“The act last night was awesome,” continued Remi. “It’s one of the reasons I went to class today. Right now I’m painting a scene from our gnome story to make a card to send to my parents.”
“Diablo just seems cool,” said Chris, 10, of the Ultraviolet Tipi. “When Brian did the act last night he was throwing it in the air, between this legs and he even did a 360. I never knew diablo was a thing, but once I saw it, I knew it was for me.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor
