Today began with the second day of our morning program with Melinda McLain. While yesterday had been mostly about general body awareness, the bulk of today’s session was about hands. First we were invited to move our own hands in a focused, yet free-flowing fashion, as a way of becoming more aware of our own movements. Next, we tried ‘hand dancing’ with a partner: first, just mirroring their movements, then taking turns leading and following. We soon found ourselves in “interplay”– a state in which neither parter is leading, but you’re working together nonetheless. It’s hard to describe without sounding spacey, but it was fascinating.
While the adults were this “hands on” morning session, the youth were employing theirs in a very different way: at a local ropes course. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, a ropes course asks individuals to test the limits of what they can do in terms of climbing, heights, etc. while building a sense of teamwork & self-reliance. Our own MPC youth had a wonderful time, scaling rope ladders and tree trunks, and returned to camp exhausted but happy. Appropriately, the most challenging part was called “The Leap of Faith”: it involved climbing to the top of a 40-foot-high tree trunk and then leaping (with safety harness, of course) to a trapeze 6 feet away. I think that ‘hand dancing’ was more my speed.
We finished the evening with a s’mores-and-storytelling gathering. After we’d had (more than) our fill of marshmallows and chocolate, the floor was opened to anyone who wanted to tell a story. There was quite a range: spooky stories, funny stories, substitute-teacher stories, and even made-up-on-the-spot stories. A great time was had by all.
Side note: in case you’re wondering, playing Capture the Flag in the dark (see yesterday’s post) is exciting, confusing, and fun. It’s a bit like watching glow-in-the-dark deep-sea fish swimming around, except that the fish are screaming and (occasionally) accusing each other of cheating. 🙂
(posted by Steve McKiernan)