DAY 8: Tie-Dye, Talent, and Twinkling Stars
Today started as another foggy morning in Petaluma, and with breakfast burritos of eggs, cheese, sausage, and peppers.
Today’s meditative warmup was led by Eric, starting with breathing exercises on the floor and ending with a dancing version of “Meau Maria” to energize us before musicianship. Counselors Ken and Iain were a special feature as musicianship teachers, where they had their class work on identifying intervals.
In morning rehearsals, Ensemble played a fun name game and got their mentor-mentee assignments! They are having a blast trying to chart out the mentor-mentee family tree, to trace back to counselors or maybe even Eric himself. A new favorite in their repertoire is a beautiful Ukrainian carol about light, in which they are believed to be the first choir to perform it outside of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the second week of Camp Joyful Voices arrived at Walker Creek! Campers were welcomed by the sunniest afternoon at camp so far—just in time for them to take their swim test at the lake! After their swim test, campers rode in boats, while others returned to main campus to play Minecraft Uno.
After a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, we taught our choir birthday song to Joyful Voices and celebrated August, who turned 10 today! Campers also showed off their spirit day looks, which were themed “Red Carpet.” A stand-out spirit-wearer was Tilda, dressed in all sparkles to show off her celebrity-esque look. Campers then had a rest period - and got to catch up on some sleep.
At arts and crafts this afternoon, campers learned to tie-dye on a variety of clothing items. Isabella learned how to do a spiral design on her T-shirt, Una tie-dyed her sweatshirt rainbow, and Ava tie-dyed her hairband green and yellow!
After cleaning up tie-dye, Eve, Emma, Julia, Charlotte, and other campers worked on friendship bracelets while singing along to songs from Hamilton, and Nora V. got her hair braided with yellow Walker Creek flowers. And many chose to make good use of the pleasant weather and visited the pond!
At recital this evening, we heard an original ukulele composition by camper Audrey! Counselors sang an Eric Tuan composition, and Counselor Grace sang a longtime camp tradition, the “Vanilla Ice Cream” song.
Dinner tonight was a fan favorite—spaghetti with marinara, garlic bread, and Caesar salad—and a throwback to our first night of camp.
The performing department’s evening activity was Open Mic Night, a chance for the campers to present skits, songs, poems, dances, and parodies for their friends. Audrey played “Koit” on Ukulele; Daria recited her original poem, “Tales of the Wild”; Nora F. sang a theatrical rendition of, “Popular” from Wicked; Eleanor and Kerala performed a short & sweet skit entitled, “Dress Rehearsal Lessons”; Nora V. presented, “If Only” from Disney’s Descendents; Patrick Starr and Spongebob (AKA Avi and Josie) featured for, “Campfire Song Song”; K-Pop Demon Hunter’s “Golden” was sang by Ava Z, Audrey W, and Lenna; a small group of CC mentees and mentors did a comedic skit called, “Peppa Pig People”; Georgia and Isla wrote a choir parody of Justin Beiber’s “Baby”; and the night finished off with a beautiful Wicked duet of “What Is This Feeling?” from Ember and Roya. We are so proud of everyone’s bravery, and supportive behavior! Campers “ooohed” at the gorgeous night sky as they walked back to their cabins; the stars look gorgeous tonight. (We have video of all the performances, but they are taking a while to load - check back tomorrow!)
While Ensemble and Concert Choir were cheering on Open Mic Night performances, Camp Joyful Voices enjoyed a cozy night in where they learned camp song favorites, got to know one another, and prepared for the week ahead!
Campers now sleep soundly, eagerly awaiting seeing their tie-dye creations tomorrow!