“They gritted their horrible teeth! They rolled their horrible eyes!”
As a trio of young narrators read a script from Maurice Sendak’s book “Where the Wild Things Are,” several of their fellow Arts in Motion summer campers bared their claws and roared, their efforts to look menacing aided by the pointy party hats they wore like horns on their heads.
It was all part skit and part fun as eight weeks of creative activity led by Anna Malsky of the Annamaly Gallery at 900 Rutter Ave. in Forty Fort concluded with a final presentation for parents and grandparents.
As the program began early Friday afternoon, “Miss Anna” passed a cordless microphone from one young person to another and asked them to tell the audience what they liked most.
While some named a specific teacher (Miss Anna had several helpers) or an activity like drawing or a game (ships and sailors had more than one voice), some children enjoyed the whole package.
“I enjoyed everything about summer camp,” said 8-year-old camper Tommi Eagan.
And soon the family members in the audience had the opportunity to see what the camp was all about.
Yoga instructor Patrick Brown had the youngest campers demonstrate mountain pose, tree pose and warrior pose, followed by the older campers who demonstrated a sun salutation.
If family members felt something special every Tuesday morning around 10:30 a.m. over the past few weeks, Brown said, “it might have been your son or daughter giving you a smile.”
Camp participants also demonstrated their knowledge of American Sign Language by singing and signing the “Princess Pat Song,” which Miss Anna described as “a repeat-along, do-what-I-do song.”
Then, just before the program ended with the sketch “Where the Wild Things Are,” there were dances.
One group performed a song called “I Don’t Dance,” which was ironic, Miss Anna noted. “Because they dance.”
Another group danced to the song “Upside Down,” which includes the line “When my mind begins to spread its wings, my curiosity can’t be stopped.”
Perhaps this could be a tribute to Arts in Motion Camp, where parents said Friday they were pleased with how their children spent the summer.
“He loved it,” Bridget Giunta Husted said of her 7-year-old son Henry. “The best thing about camp is that you get to experience so many different things.”
“He really loves this,” Susan Thackara of Wyoming said of her 6-year-old son, Alexander. “He’s very artistic and this program is a great alternative to sports camps and being out in the hot sun.”
And mom Sue Barnes of Kingston had two 7-year-olds who enjoyed their time at camp. Her twin sons, Sam and Ben, gained “a lot of confidence and creativity in their art; they had fun and learned so much about different art styles,” she said as her boys packed up their “pizza box folders” to take home the artwork they had made.
