Session One Smirkus Camp is Wrap!
Editor’s Note: This post was written by summer Camp Communications Associate Sojourn Gudorf Johnston 6 days, 77 campers, and countless smiles later, Session One is complete! Each morning began with a group warm-up, then off to morning rotations of: Acro, Clowning, Aerial, and Juggling. After lunch, campers participated in activities/game time, and Trick of the Day (performed by one of the coaches), and choice rotations. Choice rotations changed daily, and included: hula-hooping, water spitting, Chinese pole, trapeze, aerial meditation, clown stunts, tumbling, and more. The campers expressed their personalities through dinner dress-ups, with themes including Hats!, It Came From Under the Bed, When…
What Does Circus Smirkus Mean to You?
Editor’s Note: This post was written by summer Camp Communications Associate Sojourn Gudorf Johnston “Smirkus is the mud and the magic!” “It’s a safe environment to be challenged.” “It’s teamwork.” “Smirkus is magical, joyful, exciting, whimsy, creative, colorful…” “Tradition, generations, timeless” What does Circus Smirkus mean to you? These are some of the ways that Smirkus staff members describe their camp experiences. As the camp staff have been preparing for the camp sessions and fun to begin, they gathered and discussed what Smirkus means to them. Smirkus is an accepting and welcoming environment for everyone and provides an experience to learn the circus…
No Better Way to Spend Summer
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Smirkus Camp Head Coach Doug Stewart And just like that another Smirkus summer has come and gone. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in my living room in Massachusetts assigning pen pals and counselor groups. As I am writing this, I’m looking at the tents, half-way through tear down. It’s hard to believe that just a few days ago was our final show. In some ways, it feels like it was this morning, and in other ways it feels like it was weeks ago. Time always feels strange when leaving Smirkus. At…
Laughter Yoga
Our Lead Clown Coach Chase Culp is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader. Created by The Laughter Guru Dr. Madan Kataria, a medical doctor from India, Laughter Yoga helps people bring more laughter and joy into their lives through the daily practice of Laughter exercises. Check out some snippets from a recent Laughter Yoga class at Smirkus Camp!
History of the Tents at Smirkus Camp
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Smirkus Camp Communications Intern Spencer Hovel You may have heard of the awesome power of “Smirkus magic.” Whether or not you are familiar with Smirkus magic, I am here today to explain that a large part of that magic is often attributed to the magnificent and colorful big top tents here at camp. The four tents at camp this year are named Mama Mia, Natalie, Millie, and Ruby. They each house a specific discipline of circus here at camp: Aerial Arts, Acrobatics, Juggling, and Clowning/Performance respectively. Each tent has their own unique history as well…
Celebrations All Around
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Smirkus Camp Head Coach Doug Stewart Greetings from Smirkus Camp! Today was a day full of celebrations. Not only did we celebrate “Bagpipe Appreciation Day” and “National Stilt Walking Day” but they both happen to fall on the one and only TuTu Tuesday! So it is pretty safe to say we’ve been having a pretty amazing day. In fact, we’ve been having a week full of celebrations! Starting on Sunday, we got to celebrate the good news that all of our Covid tests came back negative. That means as a community, we get to…
An Interview from the Juggling Tent
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Camp Communications Intern Spencer Hovel Hey Pher! Hey Ari!… Hey Ferrari! Let’s get to know a bit more from our juggling coaches Pher Gleason and Ari Slavin. Spencer: What is/ isn’t juggling? Pher/Ari: Every time you come in contact with an object you are juggling. So basically everything is juggling. Every time you take a step, you are foot juggling the world. Theoretically if you are floating naked in space you might not be juggling but only if you don’t think of yourself as an object. Spencer: How long have you been juggling? Ari:…
Smirkus Traditions
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Camp Head Coach Doug Stewart PLAY BALLLLLL Last night campers and staff headed to the squishy field for a game of Smirkus KickBall. What is Smirkus KickBall? Great question. Smirkus kickball is just like any other game of kickball, except completely different. In most games involving bases, there can only be one person on a base at a time, and players have to run every time the ball is kicked. Well in Smirkus kickball, you only have to run when you want to and there is no limit to how many people can be on…
It’s All Fun & Games
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Activities Coordinator Mariah Fraker Hello, grownups! I bet you’re wondering what your campers have been up to during this past week with Smirkus. Well, they’ve definitely been doing lots of circus: juggling, acrobatics, aerials, unicycling, clowning, and all sorts of other things! I’m sure they’ve been learning a ton of cool tricks in all of their circus classes, but as the Activities Coordinator, I’m in charge of the games we play here at camp, and so today I’m going to tell you about some of the fun that we’ve been having so far this session. On Tuesday, we…
A Whirlwind of Circus
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Head Coach Doug Stewart Greetings from Greensboro! This week has been a whirlwind of circus, filming, dinner dress-ups, capture the flag and of course, Halloween. The week began with our “No Beach – Beach Day” on Saturday. After sleeping in until 8:30am we started the day by watching cartoons and lounging in our PJs. (Some people stayed in their PJ’s all day!) After a day filled with phone calls home and resting, we gathered in the Big Tops for Movie Night. Not only did we watch the Smirkus Classic, “The Majestic Yak,” but we…