The evening dance program at camp

Camping Magazine, May, 2002 by Dr. Jim Cain

I was recently asked to provide an evening dance program for a summer camp staff-training weekend. Personally, I remember the joy of dancing at summer camp under the evening stars, so I said yes. After a bit of discussion about the program, I discovered that during the previous summer, a summer camp board member had visited the camp and witnessed a rather unsuccessful evening dance program in progress. Most campers were somewhere outside the dance hall; few if any were dancing; the lights were out; and there was little leadership and no social interaction. In short, the board decided on a policy of "no more evening dances!" until the camp staff could create a program that truly delivered an engaging and socially interactive, community-building event.

For nearly thirty years, I've had the opportunity to assist camping programs with recreation, games, evening programs, and challenge and adventure activities. My favorite of all is the dance -- and here are a few ideas to help your evening music and dance program be successful.

Evening programs in general, and summer camp programs specifically, have the unique opportunity to build community and help campers feel a part of the whole. Few things, however, are more threatening to a young camper than feeling awkward dancing. To avoid this situation, I specifically sequence an evening dance program to maximize the comfort level of the participants and create an atmosphere of fun and involvement.

The Start of the Program

Begin the evening dance program with some general musical activities, and save the actual dancing for later in the program. Name games, activities with and without partners, small group games, and activities with the entire camp are good places to start.

Next, introduce musical activities that don't actually involve any dancing. Singing is a good choice, especially those songs with some movement as well, but here are a few more activity ideas:

1 Name that Tune. Visit your local library or music store and collect music from television programs, game shows, and movies. Then play a few seconds from each tune and let the audience, working in small groups, try to identify as many tunes as possible. CDs are a good choice for this activity. Then, replay the music in the same order, and let groups shout out their answers.

2 Music Around the World. For an international theme, try collecting music from different countries, and again play a short segment of each selection. Small groups are asked to guess which country or what style of music each selection represents.

3 Sing a Song about _____! With the entire camp split into small groups of about eight to ten campers, select a single word, such as "blue." Groups are then given two minutes to brainstorm as many songs as they can with the word "blue" somewhere in the lyrics, and then be prepared to sing this line of the song. Groups take turns, singing one song per round. As the activity continues, any group that runs out of songs or repeats a song previously sung by another group are out for this round. Next round, try another word, such as other colors, camp themes, holidays, animals, or countries.

4 What Are We Singing? Provide each small group with a song tide and lyrics. Each camper selects one word from the opening line of the song and with the rest of the group sings this word at the same time. So, for the song "I Love the Mountains," several campers would all sing their word from the first line, "I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills," in one, mashed chord of words. The object for the rest of the audience is to guess what the song title is.

Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum

This next level introduces music, but still provides some security for young campers by providing structure and the unity of a group. I call this activity, Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum. Collect a series of different music segments (popular songs from various artists, music styles, and locations, but especially music with a definite beat). Different Drum begins with each group counting off, and each camper remembering his or her number. Camper number one has the opportunity to lead the very first song. If it is a marching band number, they can march -- or use any other movement that is safe and appropriate for the physical ability of the rest of the group members. Song segments are typically only about thirty seconds long. The next song belongs to camper number two. The unique thing about this activity is that everyone in the group has the opportunity to lead, even if only for a short time.

Hint: For younger groups, the first leader can be a counselor to demonstrate how to lead the group.

Another large group activity that can be performed with a variety of music is a grand march -- where campers join hands in a large circle and one counselor begins to lead this long line in a series of spirals, twists, and circles, until they are again in a large circle.

Dances without Partners

There are a variety of musical activities and dance styles that don't require partners -- line dancing, step dancing, jump roping, tinikling, and limbo dancing. In many cases, some of the older line dances can be taught using recent songs from current artists.