Big Busy Thursday

Today was another big busy day at Rockbrook as the campers began their second set of activity choices, trips went out of camp in several directions, and we enjoyed all-camp special events. Down in the Lakeview Lodge, which this session is the meeting lodge for the Middlers, the dance classes were swinging. All three of our historic (built in the 20s) stone lodges have wooden floors, a big fireplace, and windows wrapping around, and the Lakeview Lodge has mirrors on the wall of one end making it a really cool dance studio. The dance classes always have several things going on, usually a new move or dance step to learn, a group choreographed dance to work on, and a silly game like “Freeze Dance” to keep things lighthearted. It’s a good balance of action, coordination, concentration, musical rhythm and goofball fun, and the girls really enjoy it.

We’ve been having lots of families visiting camp this week, having guided tours, in anticipation of next summer (already!).  We always encourage new families and their girls who are interested in Rockbrook to visit camp, and for some reason this has been a big week for that.  Getting a firsthand sense of the place— just how friendly and relaxed the people are here, for example —is a welcome spot of reassurance that may not come through from just reading our catalog.  It’s so great to meet these new families and to hear their stories about how they’ve found out about RBC.

In gymnastics, Elaine our head instructor is working with the girls and teaching them a few moves on the mini trampoline. She sets up the tramp at the end of the carpeted runway and positions landing pads all around. Then, with a couple of counselors spotting, the girls run down, plant both feet firmly on the tramp and jump up and onto the landing pads. Starting off with a good solid jump, they can advance to doing tucks, splits, pikes and even flips in the air. Over on the Alpine, they’re doing a different sort of trick— climbing blindfolded! It’s one of the new challenges over there; after climbing all 50 feet of the tower, up one of the many different routes, the girls can elect to climb again without being able to see. They get plenty of help from their friends on the ground shouting out instructions (“A little higher with your left foot!”), so they do quite well, sometimes climbing even more confidently than without a blindfold.

Clyde and Kelsey signed up a group of girls to go whitewater kayaking on the Tuckaseegee River all day. This is an intermediate river suitable for kayakers who are comfortable in their boats and who have previous whitewater experience. It has several excellent rapids and offers great opportunities to practice catching eddies and ferrying. It is a dam control river, and the water was up nicely, making it a fantastic trip. By the way, “Tuckaseegee” is a Cherokee word meaning “place or river of the turtle,” and sure enough, we just about always see turtles in the river over there.

For our evening program tonight, our friend Gary Greene, who is a wonderful storyteller, singer and musician, came over for an all-camp campfire. He brought his guitar to teach us a few songs, and of course presented several stories for us to enjoy. He’s really talented and quick to involve the campers in his performance, animating different parts of the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, for example. This was also a chance for some of the counselors to get in on the act. Grace and Gracie transformed themselves into gypsies, acting as occasional story and joke tellers throughout the evening. They had all of us cracking up with their flamboyant accents and witty vignettes.

One last thing… If you haven’t heard the news about Malia Obama, the President’s daughter, attending summer camp, here is an article discussing it. It’s a very nice article, well worth reading, because it affirms the benefits of camp for all children.

We Love Camp Dances!

It’s been a long tradition at Rockbrook to spend an evening or two each session having a camp dance with a local boys camp. Just like in the movies, our girls will travel over to the boys camp, or the boys will come over to Rockbrook. We’ll set up a sound system in the gym, get dressed up and dance around to music selected by the CITs. Over at High Rocks, the boys camp over the mountain from us, we held the dance last summer, which was a square dance, outside on their tennis courts. When we go to Camp Carolina, the other boys camp in town, they clear out their dining hall for the dancing.

These dances are always very exciting for the girls, partly because they are so infrequent, but also because they involve boys. Since Rockbrook is an all girls camp, having boys around is infrequent too! Of course this can make things a little nervous and awkward at first, but once everyone gets moving, both the girls and the boys relax and have fun.

When you’re really dancing, it’s all smiles. We love camp dances!

You Can Dance

Dance, Dance, every day! Yes, you can because the overnight summer camps dance program at Rockbrook includes our scheduled dance activity. Camp girls of all ages sign up for the classes down in the Lakeview Lodge (seen here in this photo). One side of the lodge is mirrors and the hardwood floor is perfect for all kinds of dancing: Jazz, Hip Hop, Latin, Country, even some Irish now and then. Of course, the dance instructors will be ready to show you plenty of new cool moves. And don’t forget the great exercise you get zooming around.

Can you imagine it? It’s lots of fun.

Summer's Time for Dancing

You just never know when the Rockbrook girls will be ready to perform! Here’s a group of “Juniors” (K-4th graders) down at the lake showing off some of the moves they’ve been learning at the dance activity.  At a summer youth camp for girls, it seems dance and dancing is always just a moment away.

Summer Dance Camp

Dance continues to be one of the more popular summer camp activities we offer at Rockbrook. The stone “Lakeview Lodge” (shown in this picture) is set up for dancing— one wall with mirrors, a good smooth wood floor, and plenty of space to move around in. Girls love it because no matter how much you know about different kinds of dance (for example, Jazz, Tap, Irish, Hip Hop, Modern, or Abstract!), you’ll find something fun to try. The counselors are great at picking dances appropriate to the age and experience of each camper. Another chance at camp to be creative, learn something, and have big fun with your friends!