Goodbye to Summer '09

Hello readers,

Here I am, writing to you from my house in Illinois, less than 24 hours after returning home from Ballibay. After a nice long sleep and spending some time with my family, I realized that I had to write just one more entry here because I never really got the chance to properly finalize my thoughts on this summer.

I don't know if it was partially because I directed "Peter Pan" for the last three weeks (one of the most fantastical musicals ever written) or partially because Ballibay seems to be such a transforming, life-changing place, but I really feel like the only word I can use to sum up this entire summer is magical.

As a staff member, I can assure you that yes, there were definitely stressful aspects of the summer -- especially during the 3-week session when my head was constantly full of thoughts like, "How am I going to teach the music, blocking, choreography and lines of a full-blown musical to 22 children in approximately 20 days while also making sure I keep a cabin of 10-year-olds happy and loving each other and camp?" But when those thoughts started swirling through my head, all I had to do was sit on the hill for a moment, breathe in the refreshing country air, and glance over at any of the activity areas to see campers doing something they loved -- be it acting, singing, dancing, horseback riding, drawing, painting, hula-hooping, gardening, cooking, jamming out on their instruments, or just holding hands with their camp-best-friend who they'll have to wait an entire year to see again. That is the only thing I ever needed to stop those thoughts and remind myself that Ballibay always has been and always will be about the journey.

The summer was magical for a thousand different reasons. Our new food program was a journey in and of itself and it ended up being a smash hit, as well as a way for campers to really engage themselves in an area of camp that never used to be hands-on. The intensive and Farm Arts sessions infused a great mix of campers who brought special skills and talents with them to camp, thus expanding the artistic knowledge of all Ballibay campers. And all the campers themselves, per usual, were phenomenal children -- smart, funny, talented, passionate, witty, loving, thoughtful, and just generally enjoyable to be with.

Is it too premature to say that I hope to be back at Ballibay next summer? I don't think so.

Thank you for reading this summer. Much Balli-love to you and your campers.

More next summer,
Elizabeth C. (EC)
Ballibay Blogger

p.s. In case you were wondering..."Peter Pan" turned out better than I could have ever dreamed. I literally sat backstage and sobbed for 50% of the time, and the other 50% was spent laughing my head off with a combination of pride and joy. Enjoy some pictures!

My two tiniest, but definitely fiercest pirates! Delanie as Noodler (L), and Hope as Cookson (R)

Grace K. as Peter Pan and Grace F. as Tinkerbell. What incredible talent.

How did we get here?

Hello readers!

Well, it's official: the last week of the summer at Camp Ballibay is upon us.  On Saturday, we said goodbye to the campers from Farm Arts 3 and Rock Intensive 2 -- a bittersweet feeling after ending their two week stay with an incredible art show and Band Night (check out this great picture of Sarah F.H.!)

However, the last week of camp doesn't mean that anything slows down around here -- quite the opposite actually!  We have jam-packed week, with a major show or performance every single night.  Our last week schedule is as follows, just so you can be kept up to date with what's going on here:

Monday: Tonight is our last-week comedy, "Just Desserts."  Tucker and his cast have been working tirelessly and I for one am excited to see it.  After typing up the program for the show this morning and looking at the cast list, it looks like it's going to be quite a crew of talented actors and actresses!

Tuesday: "Lord of the Flies" -- there is no way I'll miss this one, directed by Molly.  It's going to be on the Outdoor Platform and from what I hear, it's going to be unlike any other drama we've seen here before.  

Wednesday: The Ballibay Follies, complete with musical, dance, and instrumental pieces.  

Thursday: Another drama, this time set in a courtroom -- "The Night of January the 16th," directed by Andy.  

Friday: drum roll, please..."Peter Pan"!  I'm definitely more than a little bit partial to this one, because Mel and I have been working on it constantly for the past few weeks and I've been preparing since April to do this show!  Aside from the Follies, this is the only true musical production of the session and the campers in the production are really and truly engaged in making the show the best it can be.  I can't wait!

Doesn't it sound like we're going to have a great last week?  I think so!  

More soon,

Elizabeth C.

Ballibay Blogger

Catching up!

Hello readers,

I am so sorry that I haven't been able to write to you, but I promise there is a legitimate reason why I've been absent: I've been struck with a Balli-bug, of the stomach variety, and I'm just now getting over it.  I'm sorry!  I'm going to get you all caught up, though!

Wednesday night: The Festival of One Acts!  Honestly, I think it was the hardest I've laughed at any show so far this session.  Tucker's "An Evening with Shel Silverstein" was composed of small skits that were just delightful, and Laura's "Murder Most Fowl" had the entire audience giggling straight through at Michaela M., Jake S. and the rest of the cast's hillbilly hilarity.

Thursday night: Music and Dance Showcase -- we got to watch campers perform excerpts from what they're working on in their instrumental and dance lessons.

Tonight, the last night before closing day of Farm Arts 3 and Rock Intensive, is Band Night.  It's a full night of real rock-n-roll, and I love watching and listening to it because it's a chance to see the Rock Intensive campers (as well as plenty of rock-oriented Ballibay campers!) do their thing.  Is it too vague to say that they just rock out?  Because that's the best possible way to explain it.  I'll definitely get some pictures of them up tomorrow so you can see what I mean, but I'm sure it's going to be a truly awesome show, just as it was during the last Rock Intensive session!

Thanks for being understanding, readers -- now that I'm feeling a little better, I should be back on board for the rest of the session (despite my constant mourning at how rapidly it's all moving!).

More soon,

Elizabeth C.

Ballibay Blogger

Reason #2,981 to love Ballibay

Hello readers,

There are so many wonderful aspects of Ballibay, many of which I've written about here in past entries, many which I will continue to share, and some which are indescribable unless you're here, at camp, in the moment. But undeniably, the best part about Camp Ballibay is happy people. What can compare to walk around, anywhere on the entire campus, and seeing people smiling and laughing without holding back? Whenever I think back to my blissful days as a Ballibay camper and place them alongside the good times I've experienced working here for two years, I think of lyrics from the musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown":

Happiness is singing together when day is through,
and happiness is those who sing with you.
Happiness is morning and evening, daytime and nighttime too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all,
that's loved by you.

Did they mean to write those lyrics about Camp Ballibay, or is it just a coincidence?

More soon,
Elizabeth C.
Ballibay Blogger

Time is a-flyin'!

Hello readers,

I just can't understand it -- I really can't. Somehow, we are in our second week of second session. In less than two weeks, Ballibay will be over for the summer and campers and counselors will be back home. I've been at camp for six weeks, and some staff members have been here for longer than that, but I honestly don't feel as though it's been longer than a few days.


Ballibay -- and I mean this in a positive way (let me explain!) -- has something very time warp-ish about it. Campers enter Ballibay at the beginning of the session and before anyone has time to blink, the session is over and they're saying tearful goodbyes as they climb into cars or planes or busses to head back home. When they're at Ballibay, campers don't necessarily stop to think about the fact that they've learned how to trot on a horse for the first time and make a coil pot in the ceramics studio and tried amaranth porridge in the dining hall for the first time and performed in the musical and toasted the perfect marshmallow at campout, but somehow at the end of the summer all of that has been accomplished. Often the first things parents remark when they see their campers on visiting is, "You're so tall! You've grown so much." And indeed, when you see your campers at the end of this session, they will look taller, but trust me...they've grown in more ways than one.


More soon,
Elizabeth C.
Ballibay Blogger

"My House Was Collapsing Toward One Side"

Hello readers,

Happy Sunday! We just finished our first intense Sunday cleaning of the session and my-oh-my does it feel nice to have a clean cabin!

I wanted to let you all know that Friday night was our script-in-hand reading, "My House Was Collapsing Toward One Side," a post-modern play by Charles Mee. I know that I'm partial to the cast (I did direct it, after all!), but the show was, in a word, incredible. The play, which is quite conceptual and non-concrete, is loosely based off of memoirs of Hiroshima survivors, broken up into small monologues and dialogues. The actors performed with "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber playing in the background and it set an atmosphere that I had not yet seen in the Ballibay Theater once this session. It truly was a moving piece of theater. As a director, I felt proud of the entire cast, and especially for a few performers who had never been in a play before...ever.

After the show was over, one of the cast members, Kayla H., came up to me and said, "I've never had an appreciation for theater before. Thank you for helping me 'get' it." All I could say in response was, "Thank you, Kayla."

More soon,

Elizabeth C.

Ballibay Blogger