Building Friendships, Dreaming Big

We jumped right in and had such an amazing week!! The magic of camp is in the air and the friendships that have formed in just 5 days are amazing to witness! Our first week of StarQuest is very intentional and is spent bonding, creating our camp culture and getting familiar with all that camp StarQuest has to offer – friendships, singing, acting, dancing, bringing out your inner artist, and so much more! At StarQuest we focus a lot of our energy during week one to set the tone that will ensure our campers feel inspired, supported and safe so they are empowered throughout camp, in all activities, to rise to each moment and greet it head on! We encourage our campers to set daily intentions, to try new things and to express themselves fully. We take time for mindfulness meditation, we share our positive affirmation of the day and we discuss how it looks to be a kind and supportive friend to others and to ourselves. It is from this foundation that our campers stretch their comfort zones and have a creative blast!

Here’s the Inside Scoop

On the first day of camp, we jumped right in by taking fun group pictures with photo booth props and making group banners. We then had our morning huddle by our creative tree (ask your camper more about our tree) and we jumped right in with getting-to-know-you games and our famous skit in the bag game was a hit! This was a great way to get our campers interacting, laughing, and having fun! We continued the week with bonding exercises, participating in our karaoke and lip-synch lunches, learning about the process of theater (education, auditioning, ensemble work), soaking up the secret sauce of StarQuest empowerment, and of course spending time in acting, dancing, voice classes and auditions and rehearsals for The SpongeBob Musical, Youth Edition.

All of our counselors worked with their groups, daily, on gaining trust in one another and achieving comfort levels that allow all the campers to feel nurtured. Our voice, dance, and acting specialists focused on setting up basic skills and foundations, helping our stars gain confidence in their abilities. We also had auditions, and casting, started our character and scene work and learned several songs and dances for The SpongeBob Musical, Youth Edition.

To top off the week, our appreciation circle today brought all of our campers together to share their gratitude for each other and for the moments they loved most all week! We also gave everyone a bracelet on the first day of camp to remind them we are all a part of a theater family, our StarQuest family… where you are safe, supported, loved, and loving! Oh and don’t forget the ice cream bar we had today YUM!

Voice

  • Week one was Rhythm Week!
  • For our daily warm-ups, we practiced good singing posture and added a few physical and vocal warm-ups to our toolbox to set us up for a relaxed, healthy, singing experience.  
  • We worked on our camp-wide song of the summer, “ Count on Me”  by Bruno Mars. By the end of camp, we will have a fun video to share with you.!
  • We learned the difference between a steady beat and rhythm.  To understand rhythm we learned the names of different notes and rest values.  How did we do this all?  By playing so many fun games.  Ask me about our rhythm chairs game, and the game we played with note cards taped to our backs

Acting

  • We defined acting:  acting is loving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
  • We established the purpose of an ensemble:  an ensemble doesn’t just include the chorus members of a cast, it refers to the entire cast.  Any group of people is an ensemble, even the title character.
  • We determined that the more specific your body is, the more legible it is to the audience.  
  • We established that you DO NOT need lines to act! 
  • Ask your camper about “build a machine” and “slide show” game! 

Dance

  • Dance started off with a bang as we learned our choreography for our auditions.
  • We discussed the importance of warming up our bodies and how we need to tell our muscles we need them by activating them.  We learned a warm-up dance we will do every day! and learned a warm-up routine.
  • We learned a dance comb to Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself by Jess Glynne.   By the end of camp, we will have a very cool video for you to share! 
  • And finally, today we played fun dance games!

Auditions/Rehearsals

Before we started auditions, the entire camp was guided through a visual meditation to bring in the love and release any anxiety they may be feeling. Our meditation when our cast list was revealed, focused on self-love. Couldn’t be prouder of our campers! Everyone did a fantastic job auditions. The camp celebrated each other’s success at our cast list reveal and read through and rehearsals went great this week!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an intrinsic component of StarQuest. We meditate every day to help build our well-being strategic toolbox. We learned how to give ourselves a Heart Hug this week. Hands-on heart… deep breath in, deep breath out, and repeat “I am ok, I am safe, I am loved and I am loving” as many times as you need.

Conversation Starter

Ask your camper what our camp contract/agreement says. Ask them what they said in our Friday morning appreciation circle. Ask them about our complimentary wall. Ask them what wish they made on their star. Ask them about our Worry box.. and if they fed it any worries. Oh and ask them if they “took what they needed” from our words of encouragement poster. AND… ask them about the Creative Tree and Sunshine Lane.

Big Announcements, Dates & More

The SpongeBob Musical, Youth Edition. | Wednesday, June 28 at 6 pm – Zale Auditorium

Every camper will be given 2 complimentary tickets for their family and friends and this will be available at Will Call on the day of the performance. We want the house to be packed for our campers, therefore, tickets are currently on sale on our website… here is the link. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. Tell your friends to come and support Camp StarQuest!

Please remember how critical it is for your children to be here for all rehearsals. Since our time is limited to get this show up on its feet, strive for being present for all of it. At every rehearsal, campers will be learning new numbers.

Spongebob Musical Music

This is How We Do It at Camp StarQuest

To see more pictures of our campers and continue to get updates please download the J camp app from the app store, become a friend of our JPAS page and follow us on Instagram.

Can’t wait to see what happens next week at StarQuest!

Shine Bright,

Alise Robinson
Director Camp StarQuest