10 Reasons You Should Send Your Child to March Break Arts Explosion Camp

Our March Break Arts Explosion Camp takes place March 14-18, 2016, at the River Run Centre. Been considering signing your child up? Read on to be convinced. Here are 10 reasons you should send your kid to Arts Explosion camp.

1) Great Instructors.
Outreach Artistic Director Janet Johnson hires the most amazing teaching artists to work with Guelph Dance campers. They are all exceptional in their respective fields, as well as experienced teachers who love working with kids.

Adrienne Spier is our visual arts instructor who will work with all three camp groups. She has an MFA from Concordia University and has exhibited her work across Canada and internationally. She has been teaching art to children for more than 20 years at a variety of schools, camps, and after school programs.

Beautiful dancer Julia Garlisi, a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre Professional Training Program and veteran GTA performer, will be teaching creative and contemporary dance to all of the age groups in this year’s camp.

The delightful Shannon Kingsbury, who will be working with our youngest age campers, holds certificates in Early Childhood Music, Orff, Voice and Music Theory from The Royal Conservatory of Music and Kodaly pedagogy through Wilfred Laurier University. As an educator, Shannon has taught singing based music programs with many outstanding arts organizations and studios in Guelph since 2007. 

Camp favorite Megan O’Donnell is back to teach jazz dance to the Red and Blue campers. She is a graduate of the Ryerson University dance program, and her career has taken her to New York City and back to Guelph where she has performed with Dancetheatre David Earle among others.

Courtney Riddell will teach theatre to all three groups. She has worked with First Light Theatre for over five years working as a teacher, director, programme coordinator and more. She has recently started her own musical theatre class in Guelph and has been performing a one-woman kids show all over Guelph and the surrounding area.

2) Beautiful venue.
Have you really noticed just how beautiful the River Run Centre is? Nice lobby, the light-filled Canada Company Hall, the black box Cooperator’s Hall, the cool mezzanine, and access to the outside space for lunchtime play!

3) Pay for the day or for the week.
It’s March Break, so maybe you have to work while your child is off school. Or maybe you’re also taking a few days break from your job. Whatever the situation, we’re ready to accommodate your schedule. Come one day or all five – or anything in between.

4) Free pre- and post-care.
The arts programming of the camp is scheduled from 9:30 to 3:30, but your child is welcome to arrive anytime between 8:30-9:30 and they’ll be something for them to get involved with! Games, art, interacting with other campers or counselors. Same thing at the end of the day: from 3:30-4:30, your child can stay and play! No extra charge for this!!

5) Inexpensive additional post-care.
Can’t get to the River Run Centre by 4:30? No worries! For just $5/day, your child can stay at the River Run Centre until 5:30 pm, with an adult on hand to supervise.

6) An awesome showing at the end.
It’s an arts camp, so we make sure there’s an opportunity for the young artists to show off a little for family and friends. We have our show in a theatre, of course! All fun, low-pressure!

7) Keep your kids engaged in the learning process in a fun way.
Worried your child might forget how to be involved in the learning process while she has a week off school? No worries. There are many opportunities for your child to learn at our Arts Explosion Camp! Gosh…it’s so fun, he won’t even realize he's learning. (So you don’t tell, and we won’t either).

8) Your kid is surrounded by other great kids.
If you want your child surrounded by creative and enthusiastic kids, then this is the camp for you. Your child - along with all the other campers - will embrace creativity as they become explorers of the arts!

9) Sibling discount!
You have more than one child who wants to come to camp? Great news: we offer a 5% discount for sibling registrations.

10) Sparks creativity in multiple art forms.
At Arts Explosion camp, your child will experience a variety of art forms. Maybe she loves dance, but hasn’t really gotten into music; or he loves to paint, but has some caution around performing. Well, at Arts Explosion camp, our amazing instructors and nurturing counselors will encourage your child to participate and explore. Singing, dancing, acting, and painting are all entryways to a life of creativity, providing your child with skills to become a positive problem solver and a confident communicator.

For more information about the camp, including costs, visit http://www.guelphdance.ca or call 519-780-2220.

Ready to register? Visit the River Run box office website or call 519-763-3000.

Meet Our Team of March Break Camp Instructors

Our Arts Explosion March Break and Summer Camps are a fun-filled, pressure-free exploration of the arts. Renowned local and national artists encourage children from 4-13 in all art forms. This March Break Camp is perfect for the child who loves to create: they'll sing in a glee club, dance up a storm, make art, and get theatrical! Book with the River Run Centre now to have them join this fabulous roster of local artists from March 16-20, 2015! New this year, we are also offering full-day camp for the Orange Group (born 2009-2010) and an extra hour of post-camp care, perfect for busy parents! Read our last camp blog for more details.

On today's blog, our teachers tell us why they are excited to work with your kids and what you can expect from their workshops!

Music instructors Carey West (L) and Shannon Kingsbury (R) performing at our 2014 In the Park series. Photo by Pulse Photography.

Local songstress Shannon Kingsbury returns to our camp for music and stories with the Orange group. "Having had the pleasure of teaching with Arts Explosion for many years, I greatly look forward to being part of the excitement and energy that is co-created by the enthusiastic campers, youth volunteers and arts educators. It is especially a delight to witness first time campers sprout their creative wings. 

Young campers will love using their voices, bodies, small instruments, and props in creative music play. Each music session will conclude with a traditional song story, providing a comforting interval of calm in the campers' active day."

Having worked as a music specialist in elementary schools over the last decade and performing with bands from all genres, Carey West was a great addition to our camps in the summer! She will be instructing the Red and Blue Groups (campers born 2002-2008). "I’m excited to facilitate music and movement at this year’s March Break Camp because I had such a fantastic time working with Arts Explosion last summer! The kids were all so comfortable moving and singing. I saw a lot of musicality in their dance as well as in their voices. They were all so expressive! This camp hits the sweet spot between hard work and straight up fun. The result is a week of good times and great art.

In the music component we start with language, and add movement. These two elements serve as an anchor to help kids layer sounds and create songs. Campers can expect to use their whole body as an instrument, and play their unique part in order to create a larger whole."

Lynette Segal joins us for Creative Movement with the Orange and Red Groups. Photo by Eden Segal-Grossman.

Renowned local dancer and RMT Lynette Segal will be exploring Creative Movement with the Orange and Red Groups. "Another exciting March Break Camp! I'm thrilled to continue working with the wee ones again and with the 6-8 year olds. What a delight it is to learn about each camper, watching them express precisely their unique personalities. By exploring how their bodies move, the forms they can make and feelings evoked in-so-doing, we set compassion, coordination and confidence in motion."

It is a delight to watch Courtney Riddell in action with our campers of all ages!

Courtney Riddell, a First Light Theatre teacher and one-woman show extraordinaire, joins us again this year to work with all three age groups. "I'm super excited to teach this March Break Camp to see the campers come out of their shells and fall in love with the crazy world of theatre. For this camp I want to give some focus on how to create characters. We will explore this through some fun theatre games."

Local dancer Katie Ewald performed at the 2014 Guelph Dance Festival. Photo by Jacklyn Barber.

We are excited to welcome Festival performer and Pilates instructor Katie Ewald to our camp roster as the Contemporary Dance instructor for the Blue Group! "I am excited to meet the campers and to get to know each other through dancing. I have been very fortunate to study and work with some of the leading contemporary dancers and choreographers of our time. I am happy I can share that knowledge with the Guelph community. We will explore the space and the ways we can move through it!"

Visual artist Adrienne Spier poses with her exhibit of repurposed school desks.

Adrienne Spier is a multidisciplinary artist and educator who has exhibited her work across Canada and internationally. She has an MFA from Concordia University, completed the Independent Studio Program at the Toronto School of Art, and has a BA in Fine Art from University of Guelph. She is a qualified teacher, and has been teaching art for over twenty years to children and adults at a variety of schools, camps, and after school programs. She looks forward to exploring a variety of visual materials with campers this March Break.

Don't miss out on this amazing experience for your children ages 4-13! Now, in addition to the 5% sibling discount for our camps, we are offering 20% off your total order with the River Run centre when you purchase two full weeks of our camps, whether that is March Break and a week in the summer, both weeks in the summer, or all three! In-person and phone orders only. Take advantage of this steal of a deal now!

Meet Our March Break Camp Instructors!

Our Arts Explosion March Break and Summer Camps are a fun-filled, pressure-free exploration of the arts. Renowned local and national artists encourage children from 4-13 in all art forms. This March Break Camp is perfect for the child who loves to create: they'll sing in a glee club, dance up a storm, make art, and learn some hip hop moves! Book with the River Run Centre now to have them join this fabulous roster of local artists from March 10-14, 2014! 

For this week's blog, we caught up with our instructors about why they are excited to teach at our camp - some for the first time, and some for the dozenth time! 

Special Guest Artist Jasmin McGraw

Jasmin will work with the Dance Focus on Technique and Repertory in the mornings, and the Red and Blue  Groups in the afternoons.

Jasmin: What I am most excited for this March Break Camp is the amount of bubbling positive energy that will be in one room. Also, I am anxious to meet so many new faces and to see everyone moving to beautiful live music. I am ready to be inspired and thaw my winter blues!

Since being introduced to ballet at a young age, Jasmin McGraw has developed a great passion for dance. She is most drawn to the modest power and simplicity of contemporary dance. Jasmin has been a member of HNM Dance Co. since 2000. She moved to Toronto in 2002 to begin her studies at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. After graduation she danced for José Navas in Montréal’s Springboard Danse Professional Project. Next was a year at Codarts’ Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. This experience sparked the need to travel and the following year she was in Panama teaching dance workshops to the contemporary dance students at the University of Panama.

Jasmin has been practicing as a Registered Massage Therapist since 2010. Balancing Artistry and Healing as a member of both Dancetheatre David Earle and Speed River Physiotherapy, she feels blessed to allow each world to feed and inform the other. 

Lynette Segal

Lynette will work with the Orange Group on building their skills in Creative Movement.

Lynette: I'm excited to continue to work with wee ones again at this upcoming camp - it's an absolute delight! By exploring how their bodies move, the forms they can make and feelings evoked in-so-doing, we set compassion, coordination and confidence in motion.

Lynette Segal has studied at the Banff Centre, Concordia and York Universities, The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre, and with teachers from Les Ateliers de Dance Moderne de Montreal, and performed independently in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Guelph and with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and Dancer's Studio West (Calgary). More recently, she has focused on improvisational dance performance, working collaboratively with Ben Grossman, Susanna Hood, Karen Kaeja, Janet Johnson, Susan Lee, Lisa Nelson, the late Oliver Schroer, Catrina Von Radecki, Rebecca Todd, and Miranda Tufnell. Her study in somatic movement systems includes Mitzvah, Feldenkrais and Alexander techniques, and Body-Mind Centering. In the spring of 2009, she co-founded Fall on Your Feet, a movement collective based in Guelph focusing on teaching and performing movement improvisation. Other workshops and classes include experiential anatomy and creative movement for children, youth and adults.

Shannon Kingsbury

Shannon will lead the Orange Group through Songs and Storytelling, and run a Glee Club with the Red and Blue Groups.

Shannon: After summer camp, a grandmother told me that her grandchild had come home on Thursday in awe of hearing a harp (really, it was a rickety old harp I was playing! but apparently still beautiful to this child's eye/ear). Every time the child described the harp to her family, she started to cry. When her parents asked her why she was crying, her response was something like this: "When I think about the harp, its like its happening all over again. And its so beautiful". I look forward to collecting more stories about the ways that the arts touch the lives of our campers. 

Shannon Kingsbury is a singer, harpist, composer, and educator. Shannon has taught with many outstanding arts organizations including: Kingsbury Music, Guelph Dance Arts Explosion Camp, Creativity Greenhouse, Season Singers, Musikgarten of Guelph and Waterside Arts. Shannon holds certificates in Early Childhood Music, Orff, Voice, Music Theory and Kodaly.

Little campers will love using their voices, bodies, small instruments, and props in creative music play. The energetic music session will be followed by an enchanting visit to the "magic dressing room" for stories. Older campers will get energized by singing in their very own glee club-style group!

Carolyn Hebert

Carolyn will help campers in the Red, Blue, and Dance Focus Groups find their own unique hip hop style.

Carolyn: I look forward to exploring the individual personalities of each camper through hip hop! The many genres of hip hop that we will experiment with will encourage very different ways of moving. Each dancer will be able to find his and her own swagger, and will learn how they can incorporate their own style into all forms of movement.

Currently pursuing a Masters of Dance from York University with a focus on dance history and education, Carolyn Hebert has been teaching tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip hop for almost a decade. She graduated from Eastwood Collegiate Institute's Integrated Arts Program, majoring in Dance and Drama. Carolyn has since attained a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Ottawa while teaching and choreographing for several dance schools within the Ottawa-Gatineau region. Carolyn has been featured in music videos for Keshia Chante and My Favourite Tragedy, and has performed with Dance Dance Canada, Casino Productions, the Canadian Musical Odyssey, the Guelph Little Theatre, and ECI's Kinesis Dance Company.

Janet Morton

Janet will work with Orange, Red, Blue, and Dance Focus Groups to turn the Canada Company Hall space into an art gallery.

Janet: I'm excited to get back into the amazing space at the River Run Centre and watch how it is transformed through the course of the week from a big, new and strange space to a place the campers feel is their own.

 

Janet Morton is an award-winning artist who has exhibited across Canada and internationally. For more than 15 years, Janet has been teaching art to all ages, from preschool to post-secondary. The visual arts sessions at our Arts Explosion Camp are creative, tactile explorations of various materials, techniques, and themes. A camper attending the entire week can expect to work on 2-D and 3-D projects and contribute to a collective transformation of the River Run Centre's Canada Company Hall.

We still have spaces left in our 2014 March Break Camp, but they are filling up fast! Visit the River Run Centre Box Office or call them at 519-763-3000 to book your child's spot today! Visit our website for more information on programming and prices.

Shannon Kingsbury Behind the Scenes

As part two in our two-part story of the symbiotic relationship between musician and choreographer, Shannon Kingsbury adds her thoughts—and music—to Sue Smith’s post (below) about working with choreographer Karen Kaeja on the GCDF commissioned piece, Crave to Tell. 

Shannon: It's a crisp February morning and I am at Temple Studios with the Fall On Your Feet Dance Collective and choreographer Karen Kaeja. Karen is creating a piece for the troupe and Sue Smith and I will be writing the accompanying musical score. Today I have come to observe the dance rehearsal to give some context for the music composition. Sue is out of town so I am the lone singer in a room full of gorgeous women dancers. I feel like a voyeur.

We are sitting casually in a circle with notebooks and pens. The theme of the piece to be is “Secrets”.  Karen has a sentence for us to complete: “The most secret place inside of me is..........”

Scribble scribble go the pens. We share our answers. Karen urges us onto our feet to give physical form to our words. I'm not sure what to do. Karen coaxes me to join the dancers. Yikes! The instructions are clear: we are each to create a movement inspired by “the most secret place inside of me”, and then learn each others’ movements sequentially, creating a series.

And GO! Karen creeps along the floor like a wounded crab. The rest of us replicate. Tanya wraps her arms around herself, her right hand guiding her chin upwards. We add Tanya's chin lift onto Karen's crab. Kelly's slender frame spins and withdraws into itself. 3 movements. Now, my turn.

Gulp.

I try not to analyze or agonize since there doesn't seem to be any way out of this! With my secret word in the fore of my mind, I feel my body lunge forward, palm extending out beyond my parameters and then reaching sharply back behind me. The dancers copy. Exhilarating!

Georgia corkscrews down into a “thinking man” position, Lynette clasps her knee to her chest, Janet's wrist flicks and Karen adds a final swirl. I do my best to keep up with the lithe & fluid bodies around me as we move in tandem. I wonder how it is that I can remember thousands of lyrics and musical motifs and yet have trouble with the sequence of 8 relatively simple movements? The dancers cheer me on with their eyes and smiles.

I feel stiff and winded and ask to sit on the side and observe. They are amazing to me—the five of them moving like a flock of birds with Karen at the helm calling out the direction of their flight. The motion of their bodies, the swish of their clothes, the sound of their breath and pattering feet has a hypnotic effect and my lids grow heavy. The dancers become my dream muses and the next thing I know the clock has drifted ahead and they are gathered around me again, sitting casually on the floor as we began.

           

Did I dream it all?

           

Again we take to the pages of our notebooks, this time to complete the sentence “I crave to tell.........” This assignment takes more time than the first. Brows furrow, eyes seem to glaze over with memory. Pens alternate between energetic spurts and thoughtful pauses. We do not share our answers.

Karen instructs the dancers to choose a few words from their writings. She counsels me to observe and listen from the outside. She directs them into a heap on the floor, bodies completely relaxed and breathing as one. “Now, randomly speak your words.”

I grab my pen and record it all down through the lens of my lingering drowsiness. Sometimes their words overlap. Sometimes they assume each other’s words. Sometimes they even finish each other's words. There is a randomly beautiful rhythm and cadence to what arises, even a hint of melody:

“Laugh. Wait. Lie. Truth. Up. Up. Up. Crave. Choices. Causing. Wishing. Heartache. Heart. Wishing. Damage. Oblivious. Up. Up. Up. Living. Wait. Oblivious. Wait. Live. Truth. Laugh. Heart. My Heart. Ache. Causing. Heart. Choices. Causing. Oblivious. Heartache. Damn. Dawn. Laugh. Live.”

A shiver runs down my spine at the conclusion of this spontaneous musical score unknowingly being born. I can hardly wait to share it with Sue.

Shannon Kingsbury is a singer, songwriter, harpist and music educator whose eclectic

performance career has ranged from film soundtrack to stage to studio. Along with Sue Smith,

Shannon is Co-Artistic Director of Ondine Chorus, vocal ensemble, and SKSS Productions,

creating unique multi-discipline performance arts shows in support of environmental and

social causes.

www.shannonkingsbury.com

Sue Smith on Creating Music for Dance

We asked Sue Smith to tell us about her experience working with choreographer Karen Kaeja and fellow vocal artist Shannon Kingsbury on Crave to Tell, the piece the GCDF commissioned for Women's Voices.

Sue Smith

Sue: Working with Karen Kaeja is a most inspiring process. Working with Shannon Kingsbury is a delight. Together, the three of us are collaborating to weave together music and dance—newly found, original, moving, held, telling.

When the three us met up on a cold December morning, Karen introduced us to her concept for the piece—the exploration of secrets.  She asked us, “What secrets do you crave to tell?”   

Think about that for a minute and you will likely find yourself on an intense personal journey. We talked about the impact of secrets on our lives, generational secrets, how secrets were revealed, when we shared secrets, when we were implored not to tell—and thereby put into the arduous position of carrying a burden of knowledge.  Being alone with a secret.  Oh, the responsibility.  Oh, the emotional work.  Oh, the musical work; the privilege of taking these ideas and transforming them into musical expressions.

The exploration of the theme was a gold mine of sorts,  eliciting many ideas and avenues for musical expression. Along the way, Shannon and I composed musical elements and created structures for improvisation, knowing we would be working with an “orchestra” of 5 female voices. Singing with Louisa Kratka, Monique Vischrschraper, and Mosa McNeilly, our rehearsals have been a combination of  learning set pieces written by Shannon and me as well as improvisational explorations in which the uniqueness of each voice intermingles, responds, cajoles, soothes, harmonizes and blends with the group, creating one-of-a-kind moments and bringing forth music that could never have been born from a page or a solitary composer; a deeply satisfying musical communication.

The process of creating music for dance is fluid and conversational.  Having worked with Karen previously on the scores for “Wedding Threads”,  “Cold Beneath Me” and “Hangman”, I was confident in our process together. Karen creates a magnificent yet delicately held container in which to work—and into which she welcomes the fire of ideas and possibility. Shannon and I observed, created, responded, and contributed ideas, music, and voice, which Karen took into her process with the dancers.

Shannon Kingsbury and Sue Smith at work

The back and forth of:  “Look at this; listen to this; I LOVE IT!;  try this;  what about silence?; more energy required here; I LOVE IT;  a softer approach here; watch for the moving yoga tree,  wait for Kelly’s hand”, intermingle as the ideas grow and take shape and colour. Witnessing the dancers moving to our newly created musical pieces is a marvel—I think I am the luckiest person in the world to be able to do this work.

The absolute inspiration of observing Karen and the dancers at work gives me energy for months to come. Working with Shannon is always an enriching musical experience empowered by wonderful commitment and the ever-present twinkle in her eye. The dedication, artistry and communication that fill the studio during rehearsal is an elixir that moves us all.                                                                                                        

Sue Smith is a singer, musician, composer, and dancer and has performed on stage, on camera, and in the studio as a soloist and collaborator.  27 years ago Sue had the good sense to co-found Hillside Festival and is the founder, Artistic Director, and General Manager of the Season Singers. She has scored several pieces for Karen Kaeja, and has performed with Robert Kingsbury. She is a dedicated music educator, maintaining a vibrant teaching studio in Guelph and Toronto. 

www.suesmith.ca