Balliblog: A Performing Arts Camp Blog

WHAT HAPPENS AT BALLIBAY DURING THE OFF-SEASON?

April 11, 2022By sarah galante

What happens at Ballibay during the off-season? Well, for one thing, we make movies!

We’re delighted to announce that the new feature film Person Woman Man Camera TV is available to watch now through April 17 at the CINEQUEST Film and Creativity Festival online.

Strange, funny, and a little sad, it’s a quick romp at just 77 minutes - we hope you can watch it. Although produced by a summer camp, it is personal artistic work and is not necessarily a film for kids - it has adult themes and strong language. Please watch the trailer before deciding to view as a family.

This is the second feature executive produced by the camp, shot and directed by Ballibay’s head of media: award-winning filmmaker Niav Conty. Ballibay director John Jannone produced the film and composed the score.

Person Woman Man Camera TV is a tragicomedy about romance, race, and remembering shot at camp in quarantine in the Fall of 2020. The wonderful Jay Ward and amazing Estelle Bajou enact the first and last days of a couple’s 7-year relationship: meeting during Ebola and Obama, breaking up during Covid and Trump.

Camp dad Mish Hassidim did the color grade, and camp mom Emily Zeitlyn is featured in the soundtrack on several songs with her band Arc Divers. The great bands Operators, Handsome Furs, and Divine Fits are also featured in the soundtrack alongside John’s original score.

Our previous film, Small Time, is available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play. Winner of numerous awards internationally, including five awards for Best Feature, Small Time is a dark tale of rural poverty and addiction as seen through the eyes of a young girl played by Audrey Grace Marshall (The Flight Attendant, The Fairly OddParents).

Small Time is also not necessarily a film for kids - it deals with harsh realities of growing up in the shadow of the opioid crisis. Please watch the trailer before deciding to view as a family.

Small Time was written, shot, and directed by Ballibay’s head of media Niav Conty, produced and with an an original score by camp director John Jannone. Executive producers were Camp Ballibay and Academy Award nominee Oren Moverman. David Edelstein, long time film critic for New York magazine and CBS Sunday Morning, says of Small Time, "every frame carries wonder and dread… [a film] worthy of our finest humanist directors."

RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW.

December 21, 2021By sarah galante

Almost 15 years ago, our managing director Kristin Alexander established an annual residency at Ballibay with Annex Dance Company, her professional modern dance company located in Charleston, South Carolina. Each summer she brings a company member(s) to teach in our dance department and perform alongside the campers in the dance concert. This summer, Ballibay was fortunate enough to have Taylor Bennett, an Annex Dance Company apprentice and College of Charleston student all summer long. Taylor taught modern, jazz and hip-hop, and brought so much creativity, joy, and collaboration to our dance department. We hope we will be fortunate enough to continue to work with her for many summers to come.

During the second dance intensive, Kristin choreographed a new piece entitled Right Here. Right Now. Kristin, Taylor and the campers performed the piece to a score composed by camp director John Jannone, making it a succinct and lovely Ballibay collaboration for our final dance concert of the 2021 season. About five months after the Ballibay debut, Annex Dance Company premiered Right Here. Right Now. in Charleston. I spoke with Taylor and Kristin to discuss the differences and similarities between the two performances, and how it felt growing alongside a new and expanding piece of choreography.

How does a piece like Right Here. Right Now. become a part of the Annex Dance Company season?
Kristin: Every summer while the company is in-residence, I either set company repertory or create new work for us to perform with the campers in the dance concert. When I create new choreography, I bring it back to Charleston to workshop with my company. This season we had a performance planned in December that I knew would be the perfect concert to premiere Right Here. Right Now. in Charleston.

Can you tell me what it was like to begin the process of Right Here. Right Now. at Camp Ballibay this summer?
Kristin: I really wanted to collaborate with John, so I was excited he wanted to work on a composition for the piece. The music definitely influenced the creative direction, especially the movement vocabulary.

Taylor: Kristin created choreography phrases for us to work with in rehearsal. We tried them as a group, in duets, and even transformed them into moments of connection and partnering. She had a vision for the piece, but as she always does, allowed the creative process to be authentic and open to new ideas.

What was it like performing this piece for the second time, this time without camper involvement, but with Annex Dance Company?
Kristin: It is always incredible to me how much we are able to accomplish at camp. Creating a new work and performing it with the campers in less than two weeks is challenging…and very rewarding. Once back in Charleston we spent over a month working with the choreography, exploring the partnering, and finding new ways to be connected to one another and the music.

Taylor: The biggest difference was the playfulness we found as a company, which may have made it even more inviting for the audience. I love this piece, so I was all smiling the whole time while performing it this time around.

Was there anything from camp that you took with you into your most recent performance?
Kristin: Even with all the changes, I still felt very connected to the campers as I workshopped the piece and performed it with the company.

Taylor: I took the joy from camp and used it in the most recent performance. At Camp Ballibay the campers were always having fun and enjoying their craft. I was doing the same while I performed this piece.

We are so looking forward to the work Annex Dance Company will bring to Camp Ballibay in 2022! If you have a project you started at Ballibay that has continued and transformed during the off-season, please reach out to us! We would love to feature you on our next Balli-blog.
Taylor: The biggest difference was the playfulness we found as a company, which may have made it even more inviting for the audience. I love this piece, so I was all smiling the whole time while performing it this time around.

WELCOME, 2021 CAMP BALLIBAY STAFF!

May 11, 2021By sarah galante

We are so excited to welcome both new and returning counselors for our 2021 season at Ballibay. The staff who join us every summer are passionate educators and gifted artists who are excited to both learn from and guide Ballibay campers. We’ve cultivated an exceptional team of professional artists, undergraduate, and graduate students who look forward to sharing their unique skills and experiences with every child this summer. I reached out to a few of our amazing staff members this summer to share about what they’ve been working on this year and what they are most looking forward to this summer!

We are highlighting a few of our staff members here, but make sure to head to our Staff Directory on the camp website to learn more about all Camp Ballibay’s 2021 Staff!

What artistic projects have you been working on this year?
Though I haven’t been performing nearly as much as I would like to (thanks, Covid), I have been using this time to work on my vocal technique and building my classical repertoire with my voice teacher. Since I do not have the usual added pressure of constantly preparing new material for concerts/showcases/recitals/etc, I have really been able to focus on things that I usually don’t get to spend much time on! I also have been rehearsing with a singing group that I am a part of called The Knights on Broadway. We have been preparing our first Covid friendly, masked, and socially distanced performance! Our show’s theme is focused on overcoming adversity, the importance of kindness, and mental illness. These are very important topics, especially in today’s world, and I am very excited to perform again!

What are you most excited about as a first-year staff member?
I am so excited about being around such talented, motivated, and friendly people! Ballibay has always been my home away from home and I am so excited to go back this time as a member of the staff rather than as a camper.

What artistic projects have you been working on this year?
This past year I have been working closely with Sparks Theatre 4 Youth. Typically we take our shows on the road and perform during school assemblies, but with COVID guidelines we have to change it up. So instead of traveling, we filmed our shows and sent them out to different schools. In my free time I’ve been doing a lot of water coloring and sewing!

What are you most looking forward to as a returning staff member?
After a year of isolation, I’m super excited to create alongside the campers and counselors.

What artistic projects have you been working on this year?
So far this year, I’ve worked freelance and volunteered on many independent projects. Recently, my editing team just finished post-production on a play our university virtually performed, and I’ve also helped other students animate or edit their own finals and personal videos. In my free time, I develop and write scripts for a potential TV series with my partner.

What are you most excited about as a first-year staff member?
After a year of quarantining and isolation, what sounds better than a summer filled with fresh air surrounded by fellow artists? I’m most excited about the overall experience to be had at Camp Ballibay, and to see all the unique and individual art everyone will create! Working in Film & Media, I’m eager to return to a backstage setting and to supervise campers in multi-camera live productions.

What artistic projects have you been working on this year?
Due to limited close-quarter playing opportunities this past year much of my collaboration with other artists and musicians have been pre-recorded at home and presented virtually. I purchased various pieces of audio equipment for the purpose of recording and familiarized myself with different DAWs. I haven’t created any projects of my own, but I’ve been part of other recording projects for online release which included a few brass ensembles, a trombone quartet, a piece with former teachers and colleagues of mine with the DC Youth Orchestra, and a few others.

What are you most excited about as a first-year staff member?
I am most excited to explore the camp sight. I love nature and I love traveling so any opportunity I have to learn about an area I’m visiting for the very first time is one that I appreciate.

What artistic projects have you been working on this year?
Oh jeez, was this a tough year to continue making art but I launched a new ceramic line where the proceeds are donated to supporting non-profits and activist groups advocating for BLM, human rights, and protecting our planet.

What are you most excited about as a first-year staff member?
So many things!! Getting my hands dirty as much as possible, looking for shooting stars and fireflies, checking out the weaving studio, but most importantly collaborating with all the brilliant minds coming together at Ballibay

THE SONG INSIDE

March 29, 2021By sarah galante

As we have officially hit the one-year mark of the pandemic, I am continually amazed by the inventiveness and creativity within the Ballibay community. This month’s Balliblog is all about one of Ballibay’s music directors and camp moms Deidre Struck. I had the opportunity to speak with Deidre this week to talk to her about her new music business: The Song Inside. As a professional musician, educator, and songwriter, Deidre has begun this business to show musicians and novices alike, that they too can write the song they always dreamed of. Deidre teaches songwriting, voice, and piano at Ballibay and is a music director for some of our musicals each summer.

The Song Inside will include private coaching sessions with Deidre to work closely to create your own original song, group sessions to collaborate with other songwriters, and an online community for support and connection. Whether you are an experienced lyricist or musician

struggling to work past writer’s block, or a beginner with a desire to write your very first song - Deidre is here to guide you through your songwriting journey. Deidre’s goals within her sessions are to bring joy and depth of emotion into the writing process, and to, ultimately, bring more original songs into the world!

Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Hi! I'm a Brooklyn-based pianist/singer/songwriter and Mom of two Ballibay kids. I'm originally from Idaho and moved to NYC to play keyboards for The Big Apple Circus in 1997. I never left! Since then, I've played a zillion gigs, released three jazz CDs on the Sunnyside Label, and spent a lot of time as a Teaching Artist for Carnegie Hall, specifically for The Lullaby Project. The Lullaby Project provides moms and dads in shelters, prisons, and hospitals a chance to partner with us to write lullabies for their kids. We then record the lullabies and have celebration concerts. It's ridiculously fun and rewarding.

How did you come to know (and love) Ballibay?

I learned about Ballilbay a few years ago through one of my piano students. That same summer, a friend of mine was a parent artist at Ballibay and told me what a great opportunity it was. Last summer was my first summer at Ballibay and I immediately knew: this place is exactly what I need, and what my kids need. It's like a family, but with art and meadows and shows! I played and coached for musicals, wrote the music and performed with the kids, and generally enjoyed life!

What inspired you to begin The Song Inside?

Since covid hit, I've thought a lot about what I think my calling is in the world. This deep dive inspired me to launch my dream business, The Song Inside!

The Song Inside draws on my many years at Carnegie helping people tap into their inner songwriter. Most people don't believe they even have an inner songwriter, but I know differently!

I help individuals and groups write songs from the heart which were always there, but needed some coaxing to come out into light.

What do you expect the process to look like?

Eventually, The Song Inside will consist of four parts: one-on-one coaching to A) help songwriters break through blocks they have around current songs or B) start from scratch to create a new song, group workshops for collaboration, an online community, and a membership for support and fellowship, and a longer songwriting course. What makes it different from other songwriting coaching businesses is that I'm coming at it from a soul-centered perspective. I want people to find the joy, beauty, and healing that comes from creating original songs!

What does it mean to you to express yourself through music?

If there's one thing I've learned over my life, it's that music really is the universal language, and it's one that we all have inside us. Sometimes music can express things when words fail. Sometimes, words put with music make the words that much better. I look forward to my second magical summer at Ballibay. Who knows what music and songs this summer will bring?

While speaking with Deidre and continuing to write these Balliblogs each month, I never cease to be absolutely blown away by my coworkers. Amidst my peers, there is a constant urge to create with innovation, openness, and collaboration - and while that is so clearly seen during our time at Ballibay it has been such a unique joy to explore it during this past year. You can learn more about Deidre, listen to some of her music (including one of my favorites written during the height of the pandemic Hug You), and contact her by visiting her website: www.pianogoddess.com

SHARED SPACES/SEPARATE PLACES: COLLABORATION THROUGH THE YEARS AT BALLIBAY

February 16, 2021By sarah galante

As artists, this strange year has brought about innumerable challenges. New and complicated questions are constantly arising as we attempt to create work in 2020-2021. Questions like, how do we continue to showcase our work when venues and galleries are closed to the public? How do we transition to virtual artmaking? And most importantly, how do we continue to be collaborative – a facet of art-making and of creativity that is essential to its growth and survival – when we are forced to be in isolation? Camp director Kristin Alexander is no stranger to collaborative art-making. While not at camp she is the artistic director of Annex Dance Company – a professional modern dance company dedicated to performance, collaboration, and education rooted in her home, Charleston, South Carolina. Kristin and her company have worked in new and imaginative ways throughout their 2020-2021 season to not only bring dance to their community (and beyond) but to stay true to their philosophies of performance, collaboration, and education.

A new series presented by Annex this year is entitled, Shared Spaces/Separate Places, pairing company members up with dance artists from around the country for a shared improvisation. Kristin immediately wanted to reach out to dancer and former Camp Ballibay camper, Lisa Kwak!

Lisa, a Dance Intensive camper at Ballibay from 2009-2011, is now a professional dancer living in Seattle, Washington. She works with Dani Tirrell and the Congregation, The Guild Dance Company, and PRICEArts N.E.W. When not in rehearsal or taking dance classes, Lisa works at the University of Washington’s Department of Dance as their Operations and Media Specialist.

When asked about the inspiration for the improvisation with former camper Lisa, Kristin said:

“We chose REMINISCE and NOSTALGIA as our prompts. Having a place like Ballibay as our connection reminded us of physical places like the studios, the hillside, the theatre as well as people and experiences over the summers we shared. After we improvised, we talked about the similarity of our experience in being present in our own space, aware of our shared virtual space and each other’s environment, and feeling connected to spaces at Ballibay.”

I got a chance to speak with Kristin and Lisa about the improvisation, their collaboration, and their shared experience at Ballibay. After so many years apart, (and this last year apart from regular social and collaborative connection) it was clear that Lisa and Kristin really enjoyed this time together. In speaking about her experience at Ballibay many summers ago, Lisa said:

“When I was collaborating with Kristin I felt reminded of the feelings and sounds, scents-- sensations that I felt at Ballibay, more than specific memories. At the same time, I felt pulled into the 15-inch computer screen where Kristin was dancing, while also being aware of my current physical surroundings and body. So, it was sort of a bizarre mix of being present with myself, being present in Zoom with Kristin and also accessing some forgotten crumbs of memories that you can feel but not quite envision - all at the same time.”

It was clearly a special moment for Kristin, as well. Lisa had collaborated with Annex Dance company as a camper, and those special moments of collaboration and strong feelings of reminiscing clearly fueled their latest socially distanced duet.

“It was amazing to feel a connection with someone after so many years with so many miles between us. The last Annex Dance Company piece Lisa performed as a camper started with a solo that I had originally performed. Even though the work has been performed a few times since then, I don't think anyone besides the two of us have danced that solo. For me, the feelings of that piece rushed back when Lisa's smiling face popped up on Zoom.”

Those special moments were not forgotten by Lisa either. She continued to speak of her experiences as a camper at Ballibay saying,

“I think more than anything Ballibay gave me confidence in myself and in my art. That was one of the first places I can remember where adults didn’t talk down to me, and where I felt really seen and respected and supported as a growing human being. I think that was huge for me as a teenager. And I don’t think that I would have had the guts to pursue dance again in college had I not had those formative experiences at Ballibay.”

Collaborating on this piece was also a reminder of the important work created at Ballibay by Kristin every summer. An important reminder that camp holds such a special place in her heart, not just as a camp director, but as an artist.

My summers at Ballibay fuel my creative and collaborative spirit. So much happens day-to-day as a camp director, but I also walk away with meaningful moments shared with campers and staff in the studio and on the stage. I love the creative process, and each summer I either start new work on the campers that eventually becomes a part of the company repertory or take a piece of existing repertory and set it on the campers. Either way, new doors of possibility are opening up and informing my choreographic voice.

You can watch Kristin and Lisa’s performance of Shared Spaces/Separate Places, here. After a long year of being apart, it is so immensely inspirational to watch members of the Ballibay community find new and innovative ways to collaborate alongside one another. It is proof, that even in these trying times, our community is resilient, dedicated, and innovative. Watching this gorgeous duet makes me not only excited for the inevitability of more collaborative pieces to arise in Summer 2021, but incredibly proud of the staff and alumni that I have the privilege of continuing to watch perform, create, and grow.

MY FIRST HOME AWAY FROM HOME

January 14, 2021By sarah galante

My sister was recently digging through the attic in my mother’s home in suburban Pennsylvania. While searching through dusty and untouched cardboard boxes for extra Christmas ornaments to perfect the tree, she came across an old box of art projects and essays I had written while in elementary school. Mementos that my mother had stored to, I imagine, revisit treasured memories in times exactly like these. Amidst the macaroni art and finger paintings, she came across a memoir project I had written in the sixth grade. Even then, it was apparent I liked writing. The project was nearly fifty pages long and filled with run-on sentences and gusto. My sister texted me photos of a chapter I had written on my favorite place in the world. It was titled: Chapter 11: Ballibay.

In reading these words I had written about a place that has now become such a permanent fixture in my adult life, I realized I didn’t remember the memoir assignment. I didn’t remember which teacher assigned the project, or what grade I received. But what I did remember was what I felt being a camper at Ballibay for the first time, over fifteen years ago. I had always struggled in school. I spent a lot of recess reading books of poetry my mother had tucked away in my neon orange backpack or trying (and mostly failing) to convince the other kids in my class to put on Harry Potter plays I’d written in my composition notebooks. I excelled in academics, but only managed to make one or two friends. If you can believe it, kids weren’t exactly lining up to watch Steel Magnolias during Friday night slumber parties.

Then, when I was eleven years old, my parents registered me for two weeks at Ballibay. I remember having stomachaches in the days leading up to my arrival. I was certain that camp would be just like school. I’d be unable to make friends and would spend the majority of my time reading alone – only here, I wouldn’t be able to go home at the end of the day. What it instead turned out to be, as is so eloquently stated in my sixth-grade memoir, was my absolute favorite thing in the world. A place where I could finally truly be myself. A place where making friends didn’t feel like a chore, but rather a simple and smooth adjustment. An environment where suddenly my fascination with creating my own plays and making up my own songs wasn’t a punchline at recess – but was part of my daily routine. It was my first home away from home. That following Christmas the only thing on my list of gifts was returning to Ballibay.

Rereading the words I had written at age twelve flooded me with memories. I’ve been lucky to have had a few other places that have felt like home since that time. Attending an arts university, apprenticing at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, and eventually after a few rocky months, New York City. But Ballibay was the first. It was the first environment where I felt like I was not only allowed to be the slightly strange and quirky child I was - it was encouraged. It was a place I longed for all school year long, counting down the days (literally) until I could return to be with “my people.”

If you had told eleven-year-old Sarah that Ballibay would still be an enormous part of her life, seventeen years later, I think she would be elated – but not surprised. Ballibay has transformed me in so many different ways over my nine summers spent there. But whether it was as a camper, a staff member, or as the Associate Director, it has consistently been a place where I can trust my instincts, make new friends, and truly be myself. It is a place that even now fills me with warmth and comfort when I pull up that long dirt road. It is the first place to believe in my artistic ability and offer me a job when I was an undergraduate student. The place where I first met my husband – in the Ballibay theater where I performed as a child. It is now the place where I have the privilege to watch so many young people find their first home away from home. Their safe haven. The place where they can truly be themselves.

HOW THE BALLIBAY COMMUNITY IS STAYING CREATIVE AND CONNECTED

October 23, 2020By sarah galante

For the last seven months, it felt as if the world has been on pause. Simple things we took for granted like deciding last minute to pop into a Sunday matinee at our neighborhood movie theater, or sitting for a bit too long on your laptop in your favorite coffee shop have become treasured memories. Things we did in the before Covid times. While we, of course, care more about the safety of our communities than these small simple pleasures, that feeling of longing for any semblance of normalcy lingers. And as a community of artists, not being able to join together this summer to do what we do best - collaborate and create with joy and fearlessness, was a real blow. However, just because we were unable to be physically together this summer, our inherent creativity and need to develop new artistic practices did not disappear. Despite the world being on pause, despite the fear and anxiety of living in the world in 2020 - we had to do what we were made to do. Make art. We reached out to some members of the Ballibay community to see the kind of art they had been making this year, and where their inspiration to create was stemming from during these unprecedented times.

The head of our visual arts program, Sara Galkin, decided, like so many of us to leave New York City temporarily. She relocated with her family to Vermont to have a little bit more space. While they were given more physical living space, Sara’s art-making space had suddenly become much smaller, especially in the colder months when she was unable to work outside. While in Vermont, she reexamined her own artistic practices amidst the pandemic.

“It has been more challenging than I thought it would be to keep the connection to my creativity. I was working smaller because my space to create was smaller, with more restrictions. I was finding that this smaller space was not only limited to the size of canvas I was working on but the way in which I work. Generally, I am very messy. Getting lost in the moment has always been a fundamental part of my process. This freedom of open expression is critical to my practice. In this smaller space, I felt constricted, but new work was being created because of it. I was able to set up a workspace in the basement in April, with very little natural light and I made a few pieces using and ink. In the warmer months of July, I set up space outdoors in a barn adjacent to the house with natural light where I could work with oils. You can see the difference in the artwork created between April and July. It was an interesting and exciting new exploratory phase.”

Our head of Technical Theater, Dustin Druckman, also kept himself busy during the shutdown. Dustin is currently the Technical Coordinator at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts which, like so many live performance spaces around the world, had to unexpectedly cancel the remainder of their season. But Dustin was still able to think outside of the box to continue his creative practices.

“A lot has changed for me since March. With my work at Marathon put on hold, it just so happened that the University of Findlay needed a technical director and someone to teach an intro to stage technology class, and all of a sudden I had more free time. With the university, we are doing two shows this semester. The first was an improv show that we streamed. The performers all wore masks and the staged was marked off at 6ft increments and was played as another game making all the performers stay apart from each other. It was very funny. The second show is a staged radio drama of It’s a Wonderful Life. I am doing the set and lighting design. Radio Dramas are perfect for this Covid time since they were performed without a live audience anyway!”

Dustin has also been working on some visual art in his time away from the University of Findlay, inspired by work he created with campers in 2019 at Ballibay!

“I have been working on some more of my light painting which was a project I actually started at camp last summer with some of the campers on jam night. I honestly think the biggest thing I’ve learned about my craft this year is how much I need it in my life. I’m not going to say I was going crazy without a good artistic outlet but at times it felt like I was. It was an excellent reminder that I love what I do every day and that I can’t wait to get back to it no matter how stressful and how many long hours I have”

CELEBRATING OUR DIVERSITY AND SHARED HUMANITY

February 1, 2019By Kerin

There are two books that were recently published, both of which address a growing societal problem here in the US. The two books are “The Splintering of the American Mind” by William Egginton, and “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Both use slightly different language to address the unfortunate loss of the “commons” – that is, the principle that although we may have our differences, ultimately, we all belong to the same country and share in its most fundamental principles. This has been the bedrock of the United States since its conception.

What each author notes, however, is that in a significant way, there may not even be any such thing as “being an American” anymore. Rather, we appear to have become “Balkanized” or splintered into a myriad of tightly circumscribed, oppositional subgroups (or “tribes” if you will) sharply divided along racial, socio-economic, gender, ability/disability and other lines. It’s a fracturing and perhaps demolishing of what used to be the American commons or shared identity.

Further, the book authors discuss the iGen’s (the generation following the Millennials) obsession with “emotional safety”, meaning that they are used to being hyper-protected from life’s difficulties, hurts, and differences of belief and opinion. They are hyper-sensitive to perceived “trauma”, which has become nearly synonymous with any and all emotional discomfort, hurt or pain, no matter how small or trivial. That is the “coddling” of the mind the book authors address.

This focus on pervasive (but ultimately trivial) emotional wounding (“trauma”) has even extended itself to the extent of being hurt by someone else’s inadvertent use of language deemed as offensive by the “traumatized” party. The basic problem here is that these societal developments have made it enormously difficult to carry on with any kind of discourse that may potentially become conflictual (and thus “traumatizing”). We remain in our protective bubbles or confirmatory tribes, unwilling and/or unable to reach across the ultimately small differences to discover our shared humanity and shared American-ness.

Finally, “When adult-supervised activities crowd out free play, children are less likely to develop the art of association,” Lukianoff and Haidt write, along with other social skills central to the making of good citizens capable of healthy compromise. Worse, the consequences of a generation unable or disinclined to engage with ideas and interlocutors that make them uncomfortable are dire for society.

Here at Ballibay Arts Camp, we work against this trend directly, by having lots of unsupervised play and lots of conversations to work things out. Young people have the opportunity – indeed the necessity – of developing the “art of association” and the other social skills “central to the making of good citizens capable of healthy compromise.” Paradoxically, we create a safe space to have dialogue and discomfort coexist, and to “neither play down nor fetishize identity grievances.” We accept diversity as simply different facets of being human.

THE JOY IS IN THE JOURNEY (NOT THE DESTINATION!)

November 12, 2018By Kerin

Not to spread too much shade, but American culture just loves “cash and prizes.” That is, we are a meritocracy: results are what matters. Winners are “winners;” losers are “losers.” This philosophy underlies the basic “rating and ranking” system of large corporations, which is used to determine who gets promoted and who gets a raise. Somebody rises to the very top of the pile; somebody must also sink to the very bottom. It is foundational to competitive television shows such as “Dancing With The Stars” and “America’s Got Talent.” Out of thousands, only one single “winner” can emerge, survive, and go on to great things. Or so we like to believe.

While this Darwinist philosophy might drive business success (although we have our doubts about even that), we believe that in the realms of creative art and personal growth (maturation), this philosophy results in something approaching disaster. The arts – of all kinds – are avenues of unrestricted creativity, exploration and personal expression, not arenas of gladiatorial combat.

We believe that American culture’s heavy focus on “results” (with attendant “success” and “failure”) leads to perfectionism and a claustrophobic focus on “getting it absolutely correct.” Paradoxically, this attitude does NOT stimulate greater creativity, experimentation and learning. In fact, it achieves the exact opposite: a life-choking constriction (narrowing) of focus, and jettisoning of experimentation, exploration and learning, in the utterly futile effort to create that one, single, absolutely-perfect in-every-conceivable-way outcome. Here at Camp Ballibay, we believe that learning MEANS, by definition, doing something “not-quite-right,” over and over and over again, in a very long, slow process of gradually doing it better and better, WITHOUT any end-point.

There is a funny but true story in this regard. The alto saxophone jazz master Sonny Fortune, who is in his late 70’s, and who has been performing for over 50 years, said in a recent interview something along the lines of “Someday I’m going to learn this horn!” ‘Nuff said. Apparently, he is still exploring, still learning, still opening up new avenues of personal expression.

The ”cash and prizes” attitude also fosters a competitive spirit, which while it may be useful in a business endeavor, spells disaster for creative arts and human development. Suddenly, instead of being about an unending, free-flowing stream of individual expression and experimentation and creativity, which are internal processes that are unique to each and every individual, the focus suddenly gets shifted toward working to meet an externally-defined outcome that generally has nothing to do with the individual, and nothing to do with expression and creativity. No – suddenly the atmosphere becomes more akin to a series of production lines, where each individual is following all the rules to create roughly the same outcome as their peer, but “a little bit better” than them. So they can win. This is the complete opposite of internally generated motivation. Instead, it shifts toward external motivation and the death of personal expression.

The actual “doing” (i.e. the process) of artistic creation is the true reward of art – not the outcome. Experimentation, expression, creativity and learning (and fun) happen during the process of creation. The ultimate product, while nice to have, isn’t really the point of art. Particularly for the performing arts, once the performance happens, it disappears! It no longer exists. In the performing arts, the art lies quite literally, in the PROCESS! We regard the creative arts as continual, unbroken, unending “rehearsal.” The arts are simply an ongoing, unending process of expression, experimentation, creativity and learning. There is no end-point, and no such thing as “mastery.”

UNSTRUCTED/CREATIVE TIME VS. STRUCTURED/PLANNED TIME

October 17, 2018By Kerin

A recent NY Times book review[1] laments that “this is a generation engaged in a meritocratic “arms race” of epic proportions, that has racked up the most hours of homework (and screen time) in history but also the fewest ever of something so simple as unsupervised outdoor play. If that sounds trivial, it shouldn’t. “When adult-supervised activities crowd out free play, children are less likely to develop the art of association, …along with other social skills central to the making of good citizens capable of healthy compromise.”

In simpler terms, it is saying that here in the United States, the balance between structured/planned time and unstructured/creative/play time has tilted – radically – toward the former, crowding out nearly any vestige of the latter. Here at Camp Ballibay, we share that deep concern; however, we are completely committed to doing something about it, to help restore the balance.

This harkens back to the old metaphor between the functions/capabilities of the left vs. right brain. While science has determined that the connection between those differing capabilities and the hemispheres of the brain is not quite so straightforward, the metaphor still works for helping illuminate some fundamental, complementary mental capabilities.

So-called “left-brain” capabilities focus on language, logic, linearity, analysis, detail, objectivity, facts and mathematics. So-called “right-brain” capabilities are focused on imagination, daydreaming, holistic thinking, intuition, arts, rhythm, relationships, and feelings visualization. As may be clear to you, our science and technology focused culture has sort of “deified” the left-brain functions, and kind of banished (or strongly deprecated) the right-brained ones.

For instance, public schools are having significant struggles in trying to get funding for any arts-related programs like music, visual arts, and theater. STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) drives core curriculum, and indeed, pretty much the sole focus of the current job market. Children and young people spend more and more and more time on highly structured (left-brain) activities (which includes all-day-long interacting with their technological media (smart phones, tablets)). Actual unstructured, creative, free, playful, imaginative, social (i.e. face-to-face, not texting) activities have shrunk almost to the vanishing point.

Again, here at Camp Ballibay, we are committed to restoring the balance. In fact, we have discovered a clever way to combine the two complementary functions into a single, integrated whole: children are responsible for structuring their day (left-brain) to include pre-planned times for creative play and socializing (right-brain)! We are, after all, an arts camp, with all that entails, but we require campers to plan their own day, and then to stick to that plan.

We don’t want to over-correct the current imbalance by denying, suppressing or denigrating the left-brain; after all, it is 50% of our brain! All we want to do is to restore the balance to something closer to 50/50, and to get the two sides of the brain to communicate and to integrate, which we strongly believe was the purpose of the original design and functioning of the brain in the first place.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/books/review/splintering-william-egginton-coddling-greg-lukianoff-jonathan-haidt.html

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