Stage Time & Juice Winter Camp I

Carol Yao is a whiz-kid. When she decides to do something, you can bet that it will get done.
Carol has been making Stage Time and Juice a destination for families
for over four years. What is Stage Time and Juice…?

An adapted version of Stage Time and Wine, ST&J is an exciting monthly event collaborating with Taipei City Playgroup focused on encouraging children of all ages to discover and express themselves creatively in a performance/audience venue.

Less than a month before the public-school winter holiday, Carol decided to organize a winter camp for elementary school children to take place for the first few days.
She may’ve started relatively late but she hit the ground running and got results.
She sat with Ruth Giordano and Sharon Landon, two performance arts workshop leaders and wrote up a draft of an idea: Three days, 10 AM – 4 PM. Lunch included. She gathered three additional artist/teachers to lead a variety of arts-related workshops: Hip-Hop Dance, Up-cycle Crafting, Tie Dye with Natural Materials, Improvisation and Story Theatre.
Our minimum number for attendees was six and, at the nth hour, we had five confirmed plus one uncertain. We went with five.
Rose Huang oversaw the day: greeting the kids, saying hi and bye to the parents and taking care of details in between. The age range was 6 – 8 so there was no separation anxiety.
Rose, herself, led the Up-cycling Workshop where she helped the kids personalize and assemble battery powered nightlights. She also led a tie-dying workshop, using turmeric for a brilliant yellow and, later, for a yummy egg salad.
Hip-hop dance classes were led by our intern Eann Yueh-an Chang. The kids absorbed generous helpings of Cool.
Artist Eva Lo led an hour of collective storytelling. After the story was created, each child drew illustrations for parts of the story. Then they told it all back.
Then Lunch.
After lunch, Rose Huang led the small group in a brief guided meditation.
She writes: “Meditation on the carpet – We focused on listening to what was going on around the room and within ourselves: our breathing and heartbeat. We used visualization and affirmed our gratitude for all things around the room, for the gift of being at the camp, gratitude towards our parents and camp friends and ourselves.”
She adds, “I believe it was successful.
I felt that, overall, the energy was pleasant and calm and they were very engaged, (surprisingly).”

In the afternoon, the group met with two workshop leaders whose focus falls under the heading of Dramatic Arts.
Ruth Giordano lead the children in Story Telling and Showing. The children told commonly known stories using words and then developed skits using their bodies and voices. They learned the meaning of the words Gesture, Body Language and Mime.
Sharon Landon’s focus is Improv. Sharon runs a series of Improv classes for children and teens. Sharon writes –
Practicing improv techniques:
– Nurtures developing personality and enhances memory.
– Improves imagination and storytelling abilities.
– Focuses attention and builds confidence.
– Improves listening skills
– Promotes teamwork.
– Allows for new friendships to develop in a safe and welcoming environment.
– Provides a supportive and positive outlet for creative energy.

At the end of the third and final day of Winter Camp, parents were invited to see the results of the three-day experience. The up-cycled nightlights and the turmeric tie-dye were on display and the kids demonstrated their improv sills and presented their rehearsed story-skits.

After the First Annual Winter Break Camp at Stage Time and Juice, it was agreed that an extraordinary experience was enjoyed by everyone!