Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mariana Espinoza
Instead of instructing campers to sit quietly and stop wiggling around, counselors at Grand Prairie, Texas Parks, Arts, and Recreation Department’s centers encourage their campers to get up and dance. In fact, counselors discovered dancing was so popular among children ages 5 to 15 that they created a “Theater Dance Day Camp” as a component of the programming. More than 500 campers took part in learning about theater concepts, dance, and fitness on a daily basis for six weeks to prepare for a special event—Theater Dance Day—in which they performed at the city’s historical Uptown Theater, a newly remodeled 1950s venue.
Creating A New Initiative
Incorporating a dance component into summer programming came to light when camp staff members realized how much campers loved to dance to their favorite Wii and Xbox 360 video games. And since various studies have proven that dancing fights childhood obesity by promoting movement and physical fitness, helps with coordination and self-esteem, and works on cardiovascular health, staff members thought it was a perfect way to teach campers that they can stay fit by doing something they love.
The initiative was introduced to all camp counselors at the pre-summer-camp training. Staff members were asked to incorporate dance as one of the daily fitness activities and to teach theater and dance concepts. Among the goals: