The Spirit of Session V
There’s a busy week at camp and then there’s session V busy! Everyone at camp has been putting in the sweat and love required to make not one but THREE independent shows that culminate into the Session V experience. Our Roadshow people have been hitting the road over the past week and visiting everything from nursing homes, to children’s centers, to Church Street in Burlington. Our campers have brought the joy and the magic of circus performance to so many adoring people in the community. Another subsection of the session is the Individual acts. A handful of campers take one…
Three Ringed Circus Camp
We have arrived at our last session of camp, and it is a real tour de force for everyone. From the leadership team who organized and scheduled the three rings of session five: Ensemble, Individual Acts, and Roadshow, to the coaches, who serve as teachers and directors these weeks creating three unique shows. Not to mention the counselors who continue to guide the campers with their leadership and their dynamite personalities and to the campers themselves, all of whom have worked extraordinarily hard to put their acts together in Session V, and it shows! Click to view slideshow. Speaking of…
Camp Hits the Road!
Traveling is one of the most universal elements of circus life and this week at camp we followed in that time honored tradition! Our travels began on Saturday when we boarded buses and headed over to Hosmer Point (HP), a camp run through the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in neighboring Craftsbury, VT. HP is a more typical outdoor summer camp so they were thrilled to learn some circus-y things from our campers. In reciprocal we enjoyed one of HP’s favorite camp games, a tag type game with herbivores, carnivores, humans and others as the cast of characters. After the game we enjoyed a beach-side…
Inspiration Station
Session IV is about half way through and I am feeling very inspired. Our campers this week are really challenging themselves and working to improve their already impressive repertoire of skills. Not only are we running our usual camp programs this week but we also are rehearsing for Jr. Roadshow, a small ensemble of campers that will travel with a show they have created this week at camp around the local community. Jr. Roadshow will even perform on the Statehouse Lawn in Montpelier on Monday, August 1st. If you’re in the city, bring your lunch and stop by at noon…
Freshness Guaranteed
We are mid way through the summer now with Session III! It’s been a blast of a week here in Greensboro with a full slate of campers coming in to experience their time in the magic of Smirkus. From climbing to the cupola of Mamma Mia to rolling on the floor of Natalie, and it almost goes without saying, rocking some serious new-wave fashions on the Gravel Carpet to Dinner. Camp is really getting into its groove as we hurdle forward through the summer. Click to view slideshow. Some may wonder how as a staff we keep things fresh and…
Happy Campers All Around
It’s a trope, but we’ve got happy campers! When we last saw our heroes they were eagerly anticipating the joys of the second week of camp, and they got that in spades! We had a glorious chill day and a staff show bursting with talent. Not to mention a visit from our founder and new best friend, Rob Mermin. And of course, some breathtaking fashions on the gravel carpet for dinner dress-ups. It’s not been all silliness though, the campers buckled down and honed some seriously cool acts for the show. Everything from your traditional ball juggling acts to some…
Double the Session, Double the Fun
We are about halfway through with Session II and it’s been jam-packed with excitement already. Last night we saw the 2016 Big Top Tour, Up, HUP and Away!, which was fun and exciting for lots of people: Counselors Lucy and Abby got to see their brother Ivan perform, Clown Coach Chase Culp (a former trooper 11-13) got to revisit old friends and personally I got to see the tour for the 16th year (in a row.) Of course for all of us it was nice to see former campers performing their hearts out, and see present campers revel in the…
Session I a.k.a. Session FUN
Our first full week session of camp has come and the hits keep on rolling! This session is big not only in camper numbers but in range. Despite range of ages, and range of abilities, every single one of campers has been meet with challenge and magic here. From kids who struggle to pull themselves onto the trapeze to kids who can virtually fly on the silks, everyone came ready to roll, and roll they have! Acrobatics, Juggling, and Clowning have all been equally popular this week. Ask any camper what their favorite thing is and the answers vary, “Dead…
Let’s Chat (a word about Snapchat)
Hey All, I’ve plugged the Snapchat a couple of time on this blog and I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all about the app and how we use it. Snapchat is an app for smartphones that allows people to share photos and videos that doesn’t pile up over time. Brevity is the name of the game! This allows us to show you all a behind-the-scenes, up-to-the-minute look at our days here at camp that won’t pile up on your phone. We will be posting Snap Stories all throughout the summer here at camp. A Snap Story is…
Camp has Campers!
It’s been months of preparation and weeks of setting up but we finally have the first of our 2016 campers, and we (both campers and staff) couldn’t be happier! It’s oft been said that a camp doesn’t really come alive until the campers arrive and Smirkus is no exception. Until Sunday morning when our site was teaming with the excited shouts and joyous laughs of our Intro campers, I never really appreciated the nature of this magical place. The look on the faces of our campers as they went into the air for the first time or the frivolity in…