Our eyes fixed on each other with tears overwhelming in each of the students eyes seeing that the end is near, all their voices changing the dynamic of emotion by a long over due hug of friendship or a simple high five, and their hearts stolen and captured by the Arts-X-Press journey. Every student has a different story, lifestyle, passion, art and love for what the arts are for them, but all them have one common purpose. To share their love for the arts with the world. Before we got to the moment of realization where the end was coming soon, the day was filled with constant electric energy of joy.
We started of our mornings as usual. A cup of H2O-YEAH and something naturally GROWN to get the bodies pumping. There were no excursions today but this day required more energy focused on the last creative expression, art workshops, instrumental spotlights, parent presentations and the famous talent show to summarize a Telling Tuesday.
When all the kids were gathered for the instrumental spotlights the lights were definitely in their eyes as they saw professional musicians talk about their instruments. The kids were all attentive to the wisdom all the musicians had to offer. Let me tell you when a flutist, trombonist, violist, and cellist are in a room it was nothing but smiles and open minds from all the kids. The flutist talked about how her flute can play different sounds, the trombonist talked about how his instrument used to be called a sackbut (this brought out the innocent laughter from everyone), the violist talked about how his instrument didn't have solo music until later on, and lastly the cellist had the most interesting personal story. The cellist named Ian talked about how he got about to play cello. Ian wanted to play a violin eagerly, but when he missed the opportunity to pick to play violin-he ended up with a cello and stayed with it for life. It was a great lesson to show the kids how sometimes when we don't get something we want; it's life telling us something better is on the way. Also, he was at tugs between playing tennis and cello and could only pick one! He quickly showed us that the teacher who told him he couldn't was WRONG. Ian began to play his cello with a tennis ball to display that you can't believe in the limits other people put on you because they don't believe in you. Ultimately, the lesson is when you really want something you can't let people get in your way and when one door closes another one opens. From this moment, the kids began to play all the instruments available to them such as woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. Each child gravitated to a shiny golden trumpet or a beautiful resonate wooden cello and whether they were good or bad - they had a great time discovering what they like!
Arts-X-Press isn't only about the students feel joy but having a community feel joy. The parent presentations was a chance to show how performance whether it be the millionth time for some or the first time for others that it does make a impact. The perfect people to begin pleasing were the parents! Art workshops were set to teach kids new techniques and to work on parent presentations. All the workshops focused on the reality of the idea - imagination. The visual arts workshop consisted of showing how the kids got to play with different textures of canvas such as metal and painting with their fingers. When on stage most were grateful that sometimes mistakes can be made, but that mistakes can make the art even more beautiful. The next workshop was instrumental and kids used their imagination to compose their own compositions through group effort. The dance workshop used a hit-single from The Beatles called "Goodbye, hello" the students imagined the moves in their head and placed them on stage that definitely captured the greetings and farewells from both sides of the party. Following them were angelic growing voices that sang about the world and imagining a brighter future for the whole world. The final workshop was theater and the kids used their imaginations to best tell the story "The Wild Things" by roaring, dancing, and being the best acting creatures ever. At the end, all the workshops came together to reiterate the love of the theme-imagination. A beautiful arrangement of Imagine by John Lennon closed off the ceremony uniting all the workshops where all Arts-X-Press students really do hope for a better world where love and peace will reign from end to end and have a unity of people where their only problem is loving each other too much.
One of Arts X Press traditions is the end of the week talent show. Every student is required to perform for their peers in an attempt to get students to share their gifts with each other in a safe environment. The show encourages students to get out of their comfort zones, which can foster a zoo of different emotions. This year we had performances ranging from tap dancing to a mini orchestra to a reenactment of a scene in titanic. After each performance every student receives a standing ovation and is hugged and high fives on the way to their seats. We counselors also gave a stellar performance of the Arts X Press theme song on kazoos, and were eventually joined by the campers. Jocelyne, a first year counselor was surprised with a large magic moment poster, and thereafter gave a inspiring speech to the students that resulted in many tears and garnered a group hug from all the campers.
After the talent show we watched a slideshow of pictures that were taken over the course of the week, by our wonderful senior staff member Leslie. Lastly we surprised the campers with a dance party to close out an amazing day.
