Personal Growth Through Performing Arts at CampPosted by Beigette Gill on July 28, 2017
The Performing Arts play a big part in the Fernwood Cove summer. Whether it be the daily focuses, the weekly performance night, a surprise special performance, or the Three-Week Musical. It is rare for a day to go by in the Extraordinary World without any performance aspects. Each camper, CIT, and counselor experiences moments of personal growth through performing arts opportunities at camp.
Performing Arts Daily Focuses
Fernwood Cove offers a range of Performing Arts activity options. The Performing Arts activity area includes Theatre, Dance, and Music. Each activity offers a variety of options each week of camp.
The Theatre Department offers:
- Vocal Performance
- Improv
- Mini Plays
- Mini Musicals
- A Cappella
- Musical Production
The Dance Department offers:
- Freestyle
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Dance Production
The Music Department Offers:
- Guitar
- Rockband
- Boom Whackers
- Bucket Beating
With all these options, most Fernwood Cove campers experience Performing Arts at least once. Many girls experience Performing Arts multiple times over the course of the summer. Performing Arts activities end with a performance in our weekly Performance Night. As a result, campers experience personal growth through skill development. And through performing on stage in front of the camp community.
Performance Night
Performance Night is the final evening program of each activity week. The campers in theatre, dance, and music activities showcase what they learned throughout the camp week. The rest of the camp is an enthusiastic and supportive audience. Whether it is a camper’s first or 20th time performing, Performance Night is an extremely supportive place to get up and perform. The cheers and positive energy flowing from the audience gives campers all the confidence and encouragement they could possibly need.
Special Performance
Each summer Fernwood Cove welcomes a surprise special performance. This summer, Fernwood Cove hosted a musical sister duo, The Kelson Twins. Maddie and Juliet Kelson are former campers who first performed together on Fernwood Cove’s Chick stage. Since their first time singing together as 8th grade campers they have grown into amazing singer-song writers. It was amazing to have them return to camp to share their beautiful music. They also talked to the girls about pursuing a passion. And how performing arts camp influenced their passions. Maddie and Juliet also taught songwriting workshops, helping campers to explore their own passions.
Three-Week Musical: Legally Blonde
Finally, Legally Blonde is this summer’s three-week theatre production. The campers in the musical spend one activity period every day for three weeks preparing the musical. It is always incredible to see the amazing performance they create in such a short amount of time. The musical resonates with this summer’s primary value of “Personal Growth.” The Legally Blonde plot line involves a girl, Elle Woods, who decides to go to Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend. While she initially thinks she needs a man to complete her, she realizes she is smarter, stronger and empowered all on her own. In the end, Elle Woods sings, “Look how far I have come without anyone holding my hand.” Elle experiences increased independence and strengthened confidence through her law school experience.
In the end, not only does Elle Woods experience Personal Growth. So does every camper here that goes through our Performing Arts Program. Whether it be through dance, singing, theatre, or guitar, the girls leave camp having had the experience of honing a new skill as well as getting up on stage in front of almost 300 people. And feeling incredibly supported as they do so. The Performing Arts instills dedication, perseverance and confidence in all campers who enjoy these activities each summer.