So today was one of our progressively longer days with the girls. It was good, though. We had theater class with them from 9 to 12, and we pretty much were working for all three of those hours. They did good work today. We started off by reviewing the show that they performed for the other Mariposa group. They did infinitely better this time around. We had to work out a few kinks and problems, but all was well. The only downer was that Ingrid, the girl who did not know about any of the changes in the first place, was again not there today, so she will still be in the dark about this whole first section. Ah, what can you do?
We then moved on to staging "Color Esperanza". I would say that was a huge success. This time we had printed lyrics for them because many of them became very diva-like about trying to learn a song without lyrics yesterday. Sarah said (in Spanish, of course), "Bueno, where I live we never try to learn songs without lyrics. I simply can't." We laughed and told her that where we live, people learn songs without lyrics all the time. She is quite a character. But in any case, we got lyrics for them today, and it went much better. We had them at first just go around and sing their parts, then eventually we progressed to the girls who had solos standing when their time came to sing. Finally, we had them get up onstage and enter as appropriate and put them into a formation. They did a great job. They have such spirit when singing the song - it just makes you want to get up and join them. Best of all was when we directed them to form the same positions they had at the beginning of the show as they were singing, and instead of simply doing that, the girls had a creative spark. They arranged to go into position in pairs, but in a very cool way. It sounds simple, but it was super effective and we were very proud of them, not only for having a great idea and implementing it, but for feeling that creative spirit. Since they have been educated in this rather linear way, they don't really get the chance to express creativity, so although it seems small, it felt like a big step forward for them.
We then worked on the freestyle dance section, which is proving tougher than we anticipated, solely because they all want to dance to different songs. Some like Shakira, while others want Justin Bieber (gahh) while others want Usher while others want Daddy Yankee. Dios mio! :) So we are going to make an executive decision tonight about what song to use, and that will be the end of it. They also were talking about all working together outside of camp to learn choreography to some reggaeton song, which made us smile. Each day the girls are showing more initiative and more excitement about the project. In our minds, it doesn't really matter what they are working on just so long as they feel ownership over it and they have used teamwork and creativity to come up with it. That is a beautiful thing. We closed off the morning with some yoga (in English - to give them some stress-free immersion!) and then circled up and discussed the plans for the rest of the week.
Anna and I are working hard to make Friday a special day for the girls - we are trying to arrange for them to have a yoga class, a self-defense class, maybe swimming, and maybe a little movie night with snacks on Friday. So we would hopefully bring them over to Extreme Friday afternoon for the classes and find a space to watch the movie later on. We will see. Still working on all of the details. :) But also exciting news is that Rosailin was in camp today and she stayed afterwards to work on her solo song, "Oye", which is a Spanish translation of the song "Listen" by Beyonce. Rosailin has such a nice voice and she is just such an awesome kid, so we had a great time working with her. She was having some trouble (understandably) with the higher notes of the song, partially because her voice is a little strained. She is going to rest up and keep practicing tonight. We shall see what she comes up with tomorrow. But regardless, she did great work today and we are super proud of her. Apparently Rosailin is a pretty shy girl, which surprised us. She has been totally outgoing and forthcoming in theater class, volunteering to audition for solos and has emerged as one of the group's leaders. Can't wait to see what she comes up with! And Maria Ynez and Edileiza are working on some sort of scene/movement thing - we shall see what happens with that. Sarah is working on a song and a monologue, Emmanuela hopefully will do some choreography, and maybe Valentina as well. The more these girls can take initiative and use their own creativity, the better. We want them to feel ownership over the project - it is theirs and they should be proud of it.
Tomorrow we are with the girls all day, so our goal is to finish the staging of the show. Should be fun!! :) We are also going to come up with a title for the show - we are going to brainstorm some options tonight and then discuss it with the girls - who knows? Maybe they will have some ideas as well. That would be awesome. Our thought right now is "oye", which means "listen". For all you heartskin-ers - no worries, we will probably choose to capitalize the first letter of the title. Maybe. :)
More soon. Hope you are all doing amazing! (Dad, we will see you in a week!!!!)
Amor y paz,
Kelly and Anna
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