Summertime at BAX

Welcome to The Duckling Blog, Summer Arts Program’s newsletter. The Duckling Blog is a publication written by the Summer Arts Program Counselors in Training (CITs) (who have been affectionately nicknamed Andrew’s “ducklings”) under the guidance of the Education Intern. The Duckling Blog features...

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Duckling Blog Week 7

Hello BAX Families! We are the CITs! Who are the CITs?  The CITS of week 7 are Sophie, Paula, Billy, Talia, and Maya. What do the CITS do? The CITS are helpers at the BAX Summer Arts Program: they are the people who clean studios, prepare snacks, provide classroom support for Group Leaders and Counselors, organize the park t-shirts, and facilitate smooth transitions between segments of the day.

Friday was the FINAL day of our Summer Arts Program here at BAX! Each week of the summer wraps up with a Thursday gallery share from the Nanos and Friday performance shares from the Megas and Gigas. Throughout the week, each group worked on several different arts-and-performance-based projects, including ensemble dance, decorative art (to celebrate Wednesday’s spirit day, “Valentine’s Day in August”), and recycled costume designs. With these different types of projects, the groups worked in various social and artistic forms, from individual performance, to coupled improvisational movement, to large ensemble tumbling presentations.

The Nanos, whose Week 7 theme was “Beach Blanket Bingo,” spent a lot of their week with Visual Art specialist Kelindah while also exploring tumbling with Tumbling Specialist Ellie Weinman, creative movement with Dance Specialist Mark Lamb, song and rhythm making with Music Specialist José Joaquin Garcia, and drama with Theater specialist Emily Wexler. Throughout the week the CITS and counselors helped students make their visual art projects, including cardboard binoculars and oceanic watercolor paintings, which emphasized fine and gross motor skill-building and collaborative resource sharing.

For Week 7, “Tumble Moves,” the Megas worked with Tumbling Specialist Maira Duarte. Maira infused her own environmentally-minded artistic practice with the week’s performing arts discipline to teach the Megas how to build alternative relationships to discarded waste, trash, and recycled materials by way of tumbling and collaborative embodied performance.

The Gigas, who also explored the performing arts discipline of “Tumble Moves” for Week 7, worked with Tumbling specialist Diane Tomasi to bring their AcroDance skills to new heights. Diane, who encouraged the Gigas to move in ways inspired by birds, explained that the collaborative aspects of tumbling and acrobatics are not so different from the ways in which birds fly and communicate with each other. Aside from the tumbling presentation they brought to their performance share, the Gigas also hosted the first annual “BAXchella,” a mini-concert inspired by Beyoncé’s headlining performance at Coachella, for which the choreographed their own dances to present to their Nano and Mega peers.

Goodbye/Closing:  Thank you for a wonderful summer and an incredible 7 weeks of art, performance, and laughter. We are excited for fall classes to begin in September, so check out our class schedule to see what’s offered this fall at BAX. Have a wonderful end of summer!

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings!)

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Duckling Blog Week 6

Hello BAX Families! We are the CIT’s (Counselor’s in Training, aka The Ducklings) for Week 6, Maya, Paula, Carma, Sophie, and Leo. What do the CITs do? The CITs do a lot to support the Summer Arts Program throughout the day, like going out to drop off park t-shirts at the Laundromat down the street, helping counselors prepare snack, spending time with the Nanos, Megas, and Gigas by participating in the activities, and going out to buy staff lunches.

Friday marked the end of Week 6 of the Summer Arts Program here at BAX, meaning we are now stepping into the program’s final week! The theme for Week 6 was “Around the World in five Days” for the Nanos and “Circus Berzerkus” for the Megas and Gigas. Specialists Ellie Weinman, J. Bouey, José Joaquin Garcia, Emily Batsford, and Kelindah Schuster helped the Nanos navigate geography and cartography in global and local contexts by way of visual art and performance-based projects and exercises. Circus Arts Specialist Naomi Shafer stepped into the big-top tent as ring-leader to the Megas in their collaborative acrobatic creations and Circus Arts Specialist Emily Batsford lead Gigas in exploring the ethics of trust, risk-taking, and community care at the heart of circus performance traditions and skills.

Nanos (Around the World in Five Days): 

Beginning on Monday, the Nanos worked on several art projects with Visual Art Specialist Kelindah, emphasizing fine-motor skills and sculptural installation. They did a very good job at listening and paying attention, asking each other politely to use supplies and collaborating to build group projects. Wednesday’s spirit day theme was ‘Color Day’ and all the students did tie dye. Nanos came up in their smaller pod groups while we, the CITs, helped them design and decorate their colorful shirts. The Nanos shared all their projects and performances inspired by places, people, and animals from “around the world” in their group exhibition and share Thursday afternoon.

Megas (Circus Berzerkus):

This week’s theme, “Circus Berzerkus,” gave the Megas the chance to study Circus Arts as a performing arts discipline, skill set, and community. Circus Arts Specialist Naomi Shafer introduced the Megas to foundations of circus performance like clowning, balancing, tumbling, acrobatics, juggling, and comedy. Students also shared their own show-stopping and silly talents with each other, including beat-boxing, contortion, belly-rolling, and super-flexibility!

Gigas (Circus Berzerkus):

Staying in line with the Megas, the Gigas also studied Circus Arts and practiced the skills of circus performance for Week 6. With Circus Arts Specialist Emily Batsford, the Gigas explored several themes including “Under the Big Top,” “Death-Defying Feats,” Comedy and Clowning,” and “Step Right Up!” With playfulness, safety, and entertainment as guiding principles, the Gigas created their own circus environment and even collaborated to build a special diorama of their dream circus!

(Emily will be teaching Object Theater & Puppetry and Circus Arts on Mondays at BAX. Check out https://youth.bax.org/semester-class-schedule/ to learn more)

We hope you had a wonderful weekend and that we’ll see you on Thursday or Friday for the Week 7 gallery (the Nanos theme is “Beach Blanket Bingo!”) and performance shares (the Megas’ and Gigas’ themes are “Tumble Moves!”). 

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings!)

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Duckling Blog 2019 Week 5

HELLO! We are the CITs of Week 5: Billy, Leo, Carma, Nina, and Maya. The CITs do lots of chores throughout the day, like going out to drop off park t-shirts at the Laundromat down the street, helping counselors prepare snack, spending time with the Nanos, Megas, and Gigas by participating in the activities, and going out to buy staff lunches.

This was the 5th Week of the Summer Arts Program. The Nano theme was Fairy Tale Fantastic, and the Megas and Gigas explored Dance Frenzy with specialists Diane Tomasi (Megas) and Donna Costello (Gigas). BAX Alum Jade Pinnock came back to volunteer as the Gigas Dance Assistant! On Wednesday, we had our spirit day which was Halloween in July - you can see some of the awesome costumes in the photos below. Each group got to work on a special dance with Andrew, which they shared at their gallery and performance shares. 

Nanos (Fairy Tale Fantastic):  The Nanos worked with their dance specialist on dancing and expressing themselves through imagination and putting themselves in a fairy tale forest with magical animals. This week they have been working on a dance where they imagine that they are fairies that waking up and dance throughout the night only to fall asleep once the sun rises. With Kelindah, they created many different art projects with recycled materials, and a special project with shaving cream that made a marbling technique. They also learned a special “fairy dance” with Andrew (see wings below!) where they embodied the movements and lives of fairies!

Megas (Dance Frenzy): The Megas have been working with their specialist and BAX faculty member, Diane Tomasi, on dances, including learning different styles of dance, including ballet, hip hop, modern and contemporary. They used dance to explore ideas about family, roots, and community, which was then embodied in tree imagery where the roots represented the things that ground us such as family and home, and the trunk represented our individual selves, and the branches held our dreams and aspirations. We also made a tree collage of these images. The Megas also created a special dance with School Breaks Arts Programs Director, Andrew!

(Diane teaches Modern dance and Tumbling/Acrodance at BAX on Mondays and Wednesdays. Check out https://youth.bax.org/semester-class-schedule/ for more information.)

Gigas (Dance Frenzy): While the Gigas have been working with specialist and BAX faculty member, Donna Costello, on dances about forces of nature and elements of the earth. The created their own choreography, worked on improvisation, and learned choreography as a full group. With Andrew, the Gigas also made dances in their pods inspired by parts of the water cycle: Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and Run Off.

(Donna teaches BAX’s Dance Performance Workshop Level I for ages 9-12 on Tuesdays from 4:30-7:00 p.m. For more information, check out https://youth.bax.org/general-information/performance-workshops/ or email [email protected].)

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and hope to see you for “Around the World in Five Days” for the Nanos and “Circus Berzerkus” for the Megas and Gigas.

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Duckling Blog 2019 Week 4

Hello BAX families, we are the CIT’s (Counselors in Training); better known as ducklings. Our names are Maya, Talia, Q, Billy, and Nina. What do the CITs do? The CITs do a lot to support the Summer Arts Program throughout the day, like going out to drop off park t-shirts at the Laundromat down the street, helping counselors prepare snack, spending time with the Nanos, Megas, and Gigas by participating in the activities, and going out to buy staff lunches.

On Friday we wrapped up the 4th week of the Summer Arts Program! The week’s themes were “Homelands and Heartlands” for the Nanos and “Producing Podcasts” for the Megas & Gigas. Specialists Kelindah Schuster, Diane Tomasi, J. Bouey, Jose Joaquin Garcia, and Emily Batsford guided the Nanos through creative explorations of big themes like “home,” “family,” “heart,” and “heritage.” With the Megas and Gigas, “Producing Podcasts” media specialists Ben Weber and Alex Romania and assistants Turner Zimmerman and Oliver Hagerty worked with students to develop their own radio-style podcasts recordings in live and documented performance. And Andrew (the Summer Arts Program Director) taught everyone “Love Me tender” by Elvis Presley in sign language, which the groups performed at the end of each gallery/performance share. Check out some photos of all this below below!

Nanos (“Homelands and Heartlands”): The Nanos kicked things off with tumbling obstacle courses. They then brainstormed questions to get to know each other, playing team-building and improvisational theater activities. The Nanos thought about what makes them feel like home and how they feel at home while making art with visual art specialist Kelindah. The Nanos learned songs from music specialist José and played dinosaur hide-and-go-seek with the outdoor and extended day group leader, Ian.

Megas (“Producing Podcasts”): For “Producing Podcasts” week the Megas learned about digital production and recording from specialist Ben and assistant, Turner. Students broke into small groups and built their own fantastical stories, interviews, and reports. They even made advertisements, theme songs, and cover art for their unique podcasts!

Gigas (“Producing Podcasts”):  The Gigas also created original podcasts exploring different genres like sci-fi, historical fiction, and fantasy. They experimented with sound cues, interviewed each other, developed original characters, and created storyboard dramas. These stories extended across time and space, including traveling to the Salem witch trials and ESPN sports center. They wrote and rehearsed their scripts and accompanying music as well as designed sets,costumes, and props.

We hope you had as much fun as we did and we look forward to seeing  you during next week’s “Fairytale Fantastic” with the Nanos and/or “Dance Frenzy!” with the Megas and Gigas. 

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings!)

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Duckling Blog 2019 Week 3

Hello BAX families, we are the CIT’s (Counselors in Training); better known as ducklings. Our names are Ben, Talia, Q, Billy, and Selayah. What do the CITs do? The CITs do lots of chores throughout the day, like going out to drop off park t-shirts at the Laundromat down the street, helping counselors prepare snack, spending time with the Nanos, Megas, and Gigas by participating in the activities, and going out to buy staff lunches. 

This week was the 3rd week of the 2019 Summer Arts Program! The themes for the week were “Mythical Mammals” for the Nanos and “Musical Madness” for the Megas & Gigas. Our specialists including Kate Bell, Kelindah Schuster, and Jose Joaquin Garcia, led campers through crafts, art making, and exercises to get their creativity flowing over the course of the week! Wednesday’s spirit day theme was “Animal Day,” Thursday was the nano gallery, and Friday was our final gallery shares! We took photos of the students throughout the week that you can see below.

Nanos (”Mythical Mammals”): The Nanos danced to a song about fish alongside the Nano counselors. The Nanos used animal cutouts from magazines to create art, collaging animal images and with watercolor marker paints. Nanos also learned about the selkie (half seal, half human of Celtic mythology) the griffin (half lion, half eagle from Mediterranean mythology), and the nine-tailed fox (a fox spirit from East Asian mythology). During morning meetings, the Nanos also had fun teaching Andrew his ABCs. 

Megas (”Musical Madness”): For “Musical Madness,” the Megas focused on songwriting and live instrumentation. Among their many creations, the Megas made mini art projects to decorate their performance.  One of these is a project where they trace their hands and then decorate them to represent who they are in art form. The Megas worked with Kate to compose original covers of “Here Comes The Sun” and “Pink Moon” with brand new lyrics which they presented on Friday.

Gigas (”Musical Madness”): Over the week, the Gigas learned about rhythm, melody, beats, and other components that make a song a song. As part of their performance, the Gigas created a rap piece with Jose. They choreographed a dance for the raps and put beat boxing in the piece too. They took those components from a variety of well-known songs and dance styles and stitched them together into a new set of musical possibilities for a one-of-a-kind performance!

Well, that’s all for now, so long parents! The themes this week are “Homelands and Heartlands” for the Nanos and “Producing Podcasts” for the Megas and Gigas. Stay cool this week! We’ll see some of y’all over the next few days!

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings!)

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Duckling Blog 2019 Week 2

Hello BAX families, we’re back! We are the CITs (aka, Counselors in Training, aka The Ducklings) and our names are Ben, Talia, Nina, and Selayah. What do we do? We help counselors and staff throughout the day, we prepare snack and organize lunches, we clean and run errands, we do it all! We’re here with the scoop on week 2 of the Summer Arts Program here at BAX.

The themes this week were “Mapping My Way!” for the Nanos and “Theater Mania” for the Megas & Gigas. Specialists Diane Tomasi, Rachel Freeburg, José Joaquin Garcia, Ben Weber, Steph Miller, and Kate Bell guided students through their workshops for the week, helped build the Nano gallery share, and the Mega and Giga performances. We took lots of pictures, so check those out below, too!

Nanos (”Mapping My Way!”): This week for “Mapping My Way!” the Nanos worked on making treasure boxes, maps, and globes with their visual arts specialist, Ben Weber. They also explored obstacle courses on Monday and Tuesday with tumbling and creative movement specialists Diane and Rachel. On Wednesday, José got the Nanos singing and dancing to a Puerto Rican song using conga drums. And on Thursday they prepared for their gallery with Ben, Andrew, and Marissa – hanging their artwork (from imaginary globes to original street signs) and talking about what it means to be a docent! Throughout the week, Nanos and their instructors talked and thought about geography, oceanography, and how our own lives can be reflected in all kinds of maps.

Megas (”Theater Mania”): This week for “Theater Mania,” the Megas put together a monster dance with their pod groups led by their Group Leader Natalia. Working with their specialist, Kate Bell, they developed original monster characters, coming up with what it wanted and where they lived (including giving each one a fake address!). Example: a friendly monster named Randall lives at 421 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215 and wants green slime. Or food. Or people. The Megas also made beautiful, bedazzled masks for their imaginary monster friends. After they put together their dances, Megas held a rehearsal performance in front of their Nano peers. Afterwards, everybody thought about what they liked the most about their performance and how they would prepare and improve their performance for their families and the Gigas that afternoon.

Gigas (”Theater Mania”): During the Gigas “Theater Mania” week, the Gigas wrote and performed skits based on the improvisation exercises and theater games facilitated by specialist Stephanie Miller throughout the week. They played with expressing different emotions using their body, face, and voice. The Gigas came up with a story about characters who got stuck on a NYC subway train. Some characters stayed calm while others got stressed or scared and they all had to work together to make it to safety.

Goodbye parents, that’s all for week 2! Today is the first day of Week 3 and we hope to see you this week for “Mythical Mammals” (Nanos) and “Musical Madness” (Megas & Gigas). Have a great week!

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2019 Week 1

Hello BAX families, we are the CIT’s (Counselors in Training); better known as Ducklings. Our names are Ben, Talia, Nina, and Selayah. 

What do the CITs do? The CITs do multiple chores throughout the day, such as at the end of the day going out to drop off park t-shirts at the Laundromat down the street, helping counselors prepare snack, going into groups and participating in the activities, and going out to buy staff lunches.

This week was the beginning of the 2019 Summer Arts Program! The themes for the week were “Free to be You and Me” for the Nanos and “You Gotta Have Art!” for the Megas & Gigas. We took photos of the students and they will be included in the blog. Our visual art specialists, Kelindah Schuster and Ben Weber, led campers through crafts, art making, and exercises to get their creativity flowing! Wednesday was our spirit day, “Pajama Day!” and Friday was our final gallery shares!

Check out photos from workshops and performances below!

Nanos (“Free to be You and Me”): Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at BAX the campers worked on completing their galleries for presentation on Friday, while getting to know each other through performing arts workshops, playtime, Group Leader Led Activities and much more! By Friday, the NanoBAXers finished their artistic pieces, including mirrors, butterflies, and watercolor paintings. The Nanos also had to help Andrew learn the Alphabet! The Nanos made butterflies out of spray bottles, markers, coffee filters and clothespins. They also made mirrors and designed them. The NanoBAXers also focused on expressing identity through song, dance, and movement. 

Megas (“You Gotta Have Art!”): Over the week, the Megas worked closely with our art specialist Ben Weber in creating portraits and family maps, generating conversations around artistic abstraction and self-representation. By exploring several art forms (from portraiture to visual poems to conceptual art) Megas fashioned portraits and poems of their own inspired by art historical figures like Joan Miro and Kehinde Wiley while playing in the spaces where artistic practice meets collective collaboration. On Friday, the Megas worked tirelessly to complete their song and dance performance for the final gallery presentations. They shared their best poses and collaborative gestures with parents and the Gigas who were in the audience for their sharing!

Gigas (“You Gotta Have Art!”): This week at BAX the Gigas worked on completing their galleries for presentation, by creating a huge amount of visual artwork in different mediums! The Gigas completed their diorama which included many dinosaurs and a very large volcano. The dinosaurs were even dressed in top hats and glasses! The Gigas did modeling clay sculptures, collages, clear folders, watercolors with markers and spray bottles (spraying them on coffee filters) with Kelindah. In their work the Gigas reimagined and repurposed common (mis)perceptions surrounding the uses of myth, magic, space, and place.

Goodbye parents! Have a great weekend and hopefully we will see you for Theater week! Hope you have a great week, Tootles!

- The BAX Summer CITs (aka the Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2018 Week 7

Hi everybody! We are the CITs (counselors in training) for the 7th and final week of BAX’s summer arts program. Our names Talia, Amalia, Selayah, Billy, and Leo. Some of our duties around here include (but are definitely not limited to) preparing snack, taking lunch orders, setting up for the performances, and handing out nametags.

Week 7 was especially fun since it was the last week of the summer program. The highlight of the week was Wednesday because each student got to tie dye their very own shirt!

Nanos (Surf’s Up) For Surf’s Up week, the Nanos had fun learning about the sea and the beach.  With art specialist Ben, they designed their own foam-core board surfboards, made beach collages, and whipped up their own paper ice cream cones.  With specialist Kelindah, the Nanos completed an obstacle course based on ocean littering. It was the Nanos’ job to save the entire ocean! They conquered their mission quite well.  With drama specialist Kate, the group played beach-themed theater games and learned the song, “My Bonnie,” by the Beatles.  The Nano gallery was on Thursday.  They got to show everyone their artwork, dances, and tumbling moves that they learned all week. To celebrate the end of the week, the group watched Shrek and ate popcorn on Friday.

Check out photos from their workshops below!

Megas & Gigas (Tumble Moves) The Megas worked with tumbling specialist Tamika all week.  They learned cartwheels, somersaults, backward rolls, backbends, partnering, and tuck-pike-straddles. The theme of their performance was “freedom.”  Leading up to the show, the group discussed times when they felt most free.  Then, they illustrated those memories on small paper surfboards. They also created body silhouettes by outlining their bodies on large pieces of paper and filling them in however they wanted! The Mega show debuted on Friday and it was so fun to watch!

The Gigas worked hard with their tumbling specialist Diane. They learned all kinds of tumbling twists and turns. Handstands too! Which turned out really cool.  Throughout the week, they focused on the word “change” and discussed what it meant to each of them.  They also talked about the emotions that they feel leading up to a big event as well as the relief and pride they feel after.  Program director Andrew also taught them an awesome dance to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” On Friday, the Gigas debuted their original tumbling performance. It turns out that the Gigas made it up entirely themselves! Great job Gigas!

Check out photos from their workshops below! 

Thanks for making this summer one for the books!  We had so much fun this week and we hope to see you all in the fall!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2018 Week 6

Hi, we’re the CITS for Week 6 of BAX’s summer arts program. The themes of the week are “Musical Madness” for the Megas and Gigas and “Heroes Come Along” for the Nanos.  Our names are Leo, Zach, Talia, and Billy. Part of our responsibilities here at BAX are to buy snack, buy staff lunches, do morning check in/name tags as campers come in, purchase staff lunches, and write this weekly blog aka the duckling blog, of course!

Nanos (Heroes Come Along)  For the Nano theme, Heroes Come Along, the group kicked off the week by discussing different types of heroes from superheroes to everyday heroes.  They learned about Martin Luther King, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, and Malala Yousafzai. They practiced moving like heroes with dance specialist Rachel, acting like heroes with drama specialist Kate, and they learned heroic circus tricks with circus specialist Billy.  With visual art specialist Ben, the Nanos made superhero capes out of paper, watercolor, and yarn.  They also used tin foil and plastic cups to create their own trophies. They looked at Tonys, Oscars, and Golden Globes for inspiration.  With the help of their group leader, Debbie, and the counselors, the Nanos created dances to the song, “Heroes” by David Bowie and performed them at the end of their gallery on Thursday.

Check out photos from their workshops below!

Megas & Gigas (Musical Madness) This week, the Megas worked with their musical theater specialist, Kevin, to create an original musical based on Where the Wild Things Are.  All week, they practiced singing, dancing, acting, and even helped write some of the dialogue!  To go along with play, the Megas created their own props and set pieces by using cardboard and paint. To wrap up the performance, the group sang the song, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day.  After their musical, they surprised the audience by performing a dance that they had been working on all week with program director Andrew.

With the help of the musical theater specialist, Tony, the Gigas created their original musical titled, “Bobby Plus Ocean.”  It was about a yeti and a sea dragon meeting for the very first time!  The play taught us how to embrace our differences so that friendships can grow. They rehearsed all week long so that it turned out perfect!  They also created their own choreography, set, and props.  Our favorite song that was featured in the performance was “In My Feelings” by Drake.  We loved seeing their version of the iconic dance!

Check out photos from their workshops below!

We all had so much fun during Week 6! Hope to see you back in the fall. -BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2018 Week 5

Hello families!  We are the CITs for Week 5 of BAX’s Summer Arts Program.  As CITs (counselors in training) we help make snack for the kids, get lunch for the counselors, greet kids in the morning, give nametags, organize T-shirts, clean the studios (how exciting), and many other things that happen behind the scenes (that’s right- we’re kinda special). We also spend a lot of time with the Nanos and it’s lots of fun- they are so cute! Our favorite day last week was Wednesday because it was Halloween day and all the students and staff wore their costumes to BAX!

Here are more of last week’s highlights:

Nanos (Fairy Tale Fantastic) The Nanos explored this week’s theme of Fairy Tale Fantastic through, visual art, drama, dance, and circus.  Not only did they create their own fairy tale creatures, but they also made masks, shadow puppets, and illustrations to bring them to life. Then, they slipped into their fairy tale characters and learned how to dance and move like them. They also became playwrights for a day by writing their own fairytale to perform.  Andrew taught the Nanos the song “Over The Rainbow” in sign language. They performed it along with their gallery on Thursday and the parents loved it!

Check out photos from their workshops below! 

Megas & Gigas (Dance Frenzy) The Megas did a lot of dancing this week! Since Wednesday was Halloween Day at BAX, the Megas learned the iconic dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” They looked so cool while doing it!  If only they each had one glove. The Megas’ performance stunned the audience on Friday with their original modern dance that specialist Maira helped them choreograph.  They also performed a surprise dance to “Cheap Thrills” by Sia that they had been working on all week with Program Director Andrew.  To prepare for all of their performances, the Megas learned movements such as roll, stretch, push, and gathering and sending to incorporate into their dances.

This week, the Gigas worked with dance specialist Donna to realize their strengths and obstacles while also exploring the ideas of Reality and Fantasy through movement.  They each created a partner dance to symbolize how they overcome their obstacles by creating movements that represent “over,” “under,” “around,” and “through.” Program Director Andrew also worked with the Gigas all week to create a dance to Imagine Dragon’s “Whatever It Takes.” We even have a quote from Carma Maneca, a Giga herself: “It was fun!” she said of the dance. They performed it on Friday and it was a huge success!

Check out photos from their workshops below! 

Thank you for leaving your talented kids with us for some summer art fun! Somehow, we got through the week pretty smoothly! (Insert generic celebratory dance here)  Hope you all join us for the rest of the summer!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2018 Week 4

Hi everybody! We are the CITs (Counselors in Training) for Week 4 of BAX’s Summer Arts Program: Ben, Talia, and Amalia. Our job is to help clean, buy and prepare snack, and take pictures of all the action going on! Oh- and write this blog of course! This week was super fun. On Wednesday, it was raining all day, so we have decided to have movie day instead of going to the park. We watched “The Incredibles” and each student got popcorn as a special snack for the movie (which we organized ourselves!).

Here is a little bit more about everything the students were doing last week: 

Nanos (Where the Wild Things Are) The theme for the Nanos this week was Where the Wild Things Are.  With visual art specialist Kelindah, the students used paint, oil pastels, baby oil, and collages to create warrior headbands and to illustrate their very own wild creatures!  They also learned how to move, think, and act like wild animals through dance, circus tricks, and drama. Throughout the week, the Summer Arts Program Director, Andrew, not only taught the Nanos how to sing the song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” but he also taught them how to sign it in American Sign Language.  The Nanos performed it along with their gallery on Thursday, and it was a huge success!

Check out photos from their workshops below!

Megas & Gigas (Making Media)  With the help of the media specialist, Ben Weber, the Megas created their own commercials and mini podcasts for their Friday show.  To prepare, the group played theater games and discussed what the word “media” really means.  For their commercials, the students invented products to help solve problems that they see in the world such as smoking, gun violence, and homelessness.  The Mega podcasts (titled “One Question”) featured the students interviewing each other about the things they do best.

This week, the Gigas put together a montage of short films, news broadcasts, and stop-motion videos for their screening on Friday.  They worked closely in small assigned groups organized by the media arts specialist, Alex Romania. They developed their own scripts based on issues that they felt most passionate about such as racism, global warming, and technology.  Along with their group leader, Kyle, the students created props, organized costumes, and illustrated backdrops, making their films nearly Oscar-worthy!

Check out photos from their workshops below!

It was so exciting to see how passionate the students were about their activities this week.  We had so much fun and we hope to see you all again soon!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Ducking Blog 2018 Week 3

Hello everybody! We are the Counselors in Training (CITs) for the third week of the 2018 BAX Summer Arts Program: Janeen, Zoe, Talia, and Ben. As CITs, we help out with a little bit of everything throughout the day including preparing snack, setting up for the performances, and taking pictures of the students.

Take a look at some of the highlights from Week 2:

Nanos (Imagining Future Cities) The theme for the Nanos this week was “Imagining Future Cities.” They worked with specialists, Kelindah, Billy, Erin, and Tamar. Throughout the week, they used their imaginations to think of what they would include in their own cities and what they would leave behind.  Then, with the help of Nano Group Leader Debbie, they made their cities come to life by drawing blueprints and making 3D models with cardboard boxes. The group even practiced using their bodies to mimic the shapes of trains, buildings, and bridges. The Nano performance and gallery were on Thursday. We could tell they worked super hard on it because it was very entertaining and a lot of fun to watch!

Check out photos from their workshops below! 

Megas & Gigas (Circus Berzerkus) The Megas worked with circus specialist, Rachel, for “Circus Berzurkus” in week 3. They had lots of fun learning circus activities with their Group Leader, Claire. The activities for the Megas were plate spinning, stilt walking, juggling, and tumbling.  With each day, the Megas became more and more advanced with their circus skills- they even learned how to tightrope walk! 

Circus specialist, Stephanie, worked with the Gigas all week. She taught the group lots of circus tricks such as stilt walking, plate twirling, flower sticks, diablo, Rolla Bolla, tumbling, and juggling with both scarves and balls. Giga group leader, Kyle, assisted and supported the students with each activity. They also had discussions about what makes each of them unique and how those attributes can help them stand out in a crowd! 

Both the Mega and Giga performances were on Friday. We CITs worked non-stop to make sure everything was prepared.  For the backdrop, we helped display circus-themed artwork made by the Extended Day group. We also hung streamers from the ceiling to make the stage look like a circus big top.  Both shows were awesome, and the entire audience was cheering non-stop!

Check out photos from their workshops below!

Week 3 at BAX was super enjoyable!  It was very entertaining to watch each group’s play and help them perfect their acts. Week 3 was hectic, but extremely fun. Hope you enjoyed reading the blog and that you will all return soon!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

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Duckling Blog 2018 Week 2

Hi everyone! We are the Counselors in Training (CITs) for the second week of the 2018 Summer Arts Program: Janeen, Billy, Juno and Ben. We take pictures, buy and prepare snack, and help out with a little bit of everything!

Take a look at some of the highlights from Week 2:

Nanos (Makebot Robot) This week, the Nanos’ theme was Makebot Robot and they were led by their group leader, Debbie. They started out the week by working with the dance specialist, Donna, where they practiced robotic dance moves. Specialist Billy taught the group circus tricks.  On Thursday, specialist J. led the Nanos through a creative movement dance about expressing emotions. They worked with visual arts specialist Kelindah to make their very own massive robot and also with Stephanie to practice some tumbling moves. One cute thing that happened was when the Nanos taught the Gigas how to do the song, “Rainbow Love” in sign language.  Both groups later performed it at the Nano showcase on Thursday.

Check out photos from their workshops below!

Megas and Gigas (Theater Mania) This week, the theater specialist for the Megas was Kate Bell. With their group leader, Claire, they practiced theater activities such as improvisation and tableau. Their theme for the week was “Other Worlds” where they focused on real planets as well as made-up ones. On Wednesday, each Mega laid down on a large piece of paper while their partner outlined their body shape.  After, they each transformed their body outline into a fantastical creature.  Summer Arts Program Director, Andrew, taught a dance to the Megas that went along to the Harry Potter theme song.  On Friday, the Megas showcased their art work, original plays, and group dance to BAX and their families. 

The Gigas worked with performing arts specialist Julia Cavagna along with their group leader, Kyle, to create their own play based off the book, Pearl Moskowitz’s Last Stand.  It is about leadership and standing your ground. To prepare, the group talked about what it means to be a leader and what they each stand for. Not only did they create the play, but they also made their own set pieces for it such as trees and buildings.  In our opinion it was super funny and creative.  All the parents loved it!

Check out photos from their workshops below!

We really enjoyed seeing all the students’ progress this week at BAX!  We had such a fun time and we hope to see you all back here soon!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

[summertime-at-bax]

Duckling Blog 2018  Week 1

Hi everyone! We are the Counselors in Training (CITs) for the first week of the 2018 Summer Arts Program: Zoe, Janeen, Billy, Juno and Selayah. So far, being a CIT has been great! Being a CIT means that we help out around BAX and we get a good look at what all your kids are doing in the BAX community. 

This was a short week because of the 4th of July but here are all the awesome things that happened. (We may not be professional bloggers, but we are getting pretty good at it!)

Nanos (Home Lands and Heartlands) This week the Nanos had visits from many different Guest Arts Specialists. They had dance with Donna, Physical Theater with Billy, Tumbling with Stephanie, and Visual art with Kelindah. During the day on Monday, we got to help Kelindah with one of the projects for the NanoBAXers’ gallery. They created a collage to display, painting, gluing, and drawing what the home and the heart means to them. They also learned the song “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana and performed a dance to it. Nano Group Leader Debbie got really into it! On Thursday, the Nanos had their gallery where they showed their artwork song, and tableaux of their “homes.” They did a great job and were super cute!! At the Gallery, the Megas and Gigas surprised the Nano’s with a flash dance mob! 

Check out these fun photos from their workshops and gallery share: 

Megas and Gigas (You’ve Gotta Have Art) The Megas and Gigas did a lot of visual art this week. The Megas worked on their gallery with Visual Arts Specialist, Ben, and each person made their own deck of trading cards. They took inspiration from card games such as Uno, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, as well as baseball cards, oracle cards, and tarot. We got to see them all at their gallery under the guidance of Ben -- the Mega BAXer’s “Comic Con!” But before we could even start the Comic Con, the Nanos surprised us with a flash mob of the Chicken Dance! To close the gallery, Mega Group Leader Claire led them in an awesome dance to Imagine Dragon’s “Thunder.” While the Megas worked on the gallery, the Gigas traced their bodies on different types of paper to be used in their gallery. Working with their art specialist, Kelindah, the Gigas created an art project in which they put shaving cream in a tray, put paint on it, swirl the paint, dip the paper in the paint, and finally scrape off the shaving cream to reveal a beautiful masterpiece. They talked about what it means to be at home and what is in their hearts. 

Check out photos from their workshops and gallery below!

Thank you for joining us for a fun and artsy week! We had such a good time getting to know everyone and WE HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE AGAIN SOON!

-BAX Summer CITs (aka The Ducklings)

[summertime-at-bax]

[summertime-at-bax]

[summertime-at-bax]

Duckling Blog 2017 Week 5

Hi! We are the CITs for week 5: Emily Boyer, Billy Weaver, and Victoria Perez. We do daily tasks such as cleaning the dishes, getting snack, doing laundry, cleaning up rooms, etc. Our job is to help counselors with the behind the scenes activities.  

Gigas -Dance Frenzy

This week the Gigas are working with dance specialist Donna and Rachel to learn about how the body moves during dance. When they are not learning about dance, the Gigas are participating in group led activities. They are working with partners to trace each other on large sheets of paper, and to design their tracings using memories/colors/ideas from their own personal, individual histories.

 Megas -Dance Frenzy

               The Megas are also working with specialists Donna and Rachel. In the mornings, they work with the specialists to learn and memorize new steps.

 Nanos -World Shakers and History Makers

Working with the theme, the Nanos created Egyptian style bracelets and learned about the ancient culture. The Nanos get to work with different specialists each day. By the end of the week they have had lessons by specialists in creative movement, music, tumbling, dance, and theater. When they aren’t working with specialists, they are playing fun games like bowling (with paper as pins and a juggling ball) and sharks and minnows.