June 9, 2012
The multimedia activities of the CCA’s 2012 one-week summer camp encouraged students to explore different meanings of the word “movement.” How do we move through the world? What does movement look like? What songs make us move, and what songs move us—to laughter, tears, contemplation? How do ideas move and inspire?
The first thing 15 campers saw when they walked into the CCA gallery on the first day of camp was a line drawing. The cityscape that ran around the perimeter of the gallery included the U.S. Capitol building, row houses, a church, and a Center for the Study of Movement. With the understanding that to move, one must move through an architecture of space, the gallery walls invited campers to “Move Yourself” and complete camp’s alternative urban environment with their own artworks and performances.
The Mall Stars (campers aged 8-11) collaborated to make a garden of wind catchers and worked in teams to make their own kites. They used the city line drawing as settings for looped micro-animations that ranged from head portraits to full body actions. Watch each one for several minutes and move through a gamut of sensations from humor to melancholy to joy.
The Artistic Rangers (campers aged 12-17) investigated a history of manifestos written by U.S. founders, Alabama civil rights leaders, and artists from different movements in order to write their own manifesto, presented in front of the camp Capitol building. These campers also filled the city line drawing with alternative street signs that command pedestrians to move in specific ways, ranging from “love and be loved” to “eat pizza” to “run from the zombies.”
The Mall Stars and the Artistic Rangers all used Salvador Dalí’s painting The Persistence of Memory as inspiration for their own wall clocks, physical reminders of passing time and changeable memories. All campers also experimented in motion and reactions, using basic household objects and recyclable materials to create Rube Goldberg-inspired productions.
Finally, campers worked with musicians to learn songs that make you move and move you. The Mall Stars learned “It Takes Two” (Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock) while the Artistic Rangers learned “Parents Just Don’t Understand” (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince). Together, all of the campers sang “Everyday People” (Sly and the Family Stone) and performed a choreographed rendition of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” (from the Broadway musical Hairspray).
On Saturday, June 9, campers, family and friends gathered to present the week’s ruminations on movement. With the gallery’s drawn architecture filled in with camper artwork, performances that set everyone’s feet tapping, and a powerful reading of the Artistic Ranger’s manifesto, campers shared their ideas of what movement does and can be.
The diversity of lessons offered at summer camp was made possible by the creativity and dedication of camp instructors: Shana Berger, John Brown, Jocelyn Edens, Garland Farwell, Nathan Purath, Catherine Shelton, Kanita Sturdivant and Erik Witherspoon. A special thanks to guest choreographer Kate Hightower.
This program was made possible by support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Black Belt Community Foundation, AmeriCorps VISTA, the University of West Alabama and the generous contributions of individual supporters.