Music school camp gives kids an arts sampler
Youngsters get a taste of theater, dance and more
New London — Monique Nee turned on the instrumental track for “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” from the musical “Annie,” and stood in front of the group of kids, all dressed in orange.
The 7-year-olds copied her dance moves of marching, jazz hands, kicks and a lot of framing one’s face like a sunbeam.
“What happens if you mess up onstage? It’s fine! You just keep going!” she said animatedly. “They won’t know, because they don’t know your dance.”
Nee, who teaches language arts in Middletown and runs an anti-bullying program, has been an instructor at the Thames Valley Music School Arts Camp for the past 12 years.
The camp is celebrating 25 years in existence — more than two decades that have seen hundreds of kids come through Connecticut College during the summer for experience with art, music, theater, dance and circus arts.
“The most unique thing about the camp is the sampler aspect of it,” said Libby Friedman, who has served as camp director for 21 years. “Many camps are specialized.”
The camp was founded in 1992 as part of the Summer Music Festival at Harkness Memorial State Park, and in 2006, it became part of the Thames Valley Music School. The music school is located in the Cummings Art Center at Connecticut College, as is the camp.
Every summer, the camp runs for two one-week sessions, at the end of July and beginning of August. The Frank Loomis Palmer Fund covers 10 scholarships each week for students whose parents may not otherwise be able to afford the camp, which has a weekly cost of $275.
“There have been some kids that enroll the first week and love it so much that they say, ‘Can we come back again next week?’” said Simon Holt, executive director of the
Thames Valley Music School. “So that’s a really good sign.”
Color day
There are about 120 kids each week, ranging in age from 6 to 13. From youngest to oldest, they’re split into the groups red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
Thursday was color day, creating a rainbow sea when the kids gathered together for community time and for lunch.
In the morning, they broke into their color groups to rehearse for the hourlong Friday afternoon performance for their parents.
In the auditorium, Beth Bromley instructed the blue group, “Everyone, please get to your opening, depressed positions.”
“Only at camp,” Friedman laughed from a seat in the audience.
They were rehearsing “You Will Be Found,” a number from the hit Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen.” Bromley would explain to parents the next day that the performance was about feeling like just another face in the crowd but growing to realize you’re not alone.
The theme of this week was “faces” — past themes have included opposites, techno and things with wings — and this was even reflected in the circus arts.
At the end of each circus arts performance, instructor Carol Glynn had kids come together with their stilts, scarves, balls, devil’s sticks and balancing plates to create a Picasso-esque face together.
There are 15 counselors ranging in age from 15 to 21, in addition to the five camp instructors, three of whom teach at the Pine Point School in Stonington.
As kids practiced Thursday morning, camp counselor Amira Toivonen, 15, assisted a younger camper on stilts and offered the encouragement, “You got it! You’re doing so good!”
This is the first year that she and her twin sister, Annika, were counselors, but they were previously campers. With their parents working in the oil and gas industry, they go to school in Qatar, but they come back to Gales Ferry — where their parents are from — every summer.
“The camp has become a part of us, so we’ve grown with it,” Amira Toivonen said.
Kat Arcelus, 9, said her favorite parts of camp are art and circus arts, because “we get to go off and do our own stuff.” She was finishing up a self-portrait on Thursday.
This is Kat’s fourth year at the Thames Valley Music School Arts Camp, and she said through the camp, “I’ve become less shy, and I’ve met more kids.”