Cotton Eyed Joe!

You just won’t believe this! Toward the end of that first week, we were asked to participate in their International Day. This theme day had several activities including a show that would be put on. We were asked to put on a show of American Dance! We were asked at the counselors’ meeting that morning and the event would occur the next day! Oh Boy! How am I going to come up with a dance routine for our group in less than a day!

Well, I didn’t know the first thing about dancing let alone choreographing a group that included us Americans, three translators, and six kids they “loaned” us to be part of the American delegation! I knew I was way out of my league and comfort zone… so I asked for advice! I went to the counselor of the group that was the professional dancers that had come to camp. I asked her if she could teach us how to dance “American”. After she finished laughing, she agreed and we met later that afternoon with everyone to be led.

During that first practice, she showed us several moves and routines that we could put together and use. She only had 20 minutes with us before she had to leave. This gave us enough ideas to put together a routine to the dance music I heard girls perform to earlier in the week. It was the Cotton-Eyed Joe! On the morning of the performance we had another hour to practice before “try outs”. I didn’t fully understand until that morning that our team had to try out for this performance and get approval before the actual performance later that afternoon.

Sometimes I don’t see the ministry purpose of our team getting out and performing a dance, but that routine quickly broke down any barriers and wove a relationship that broke any ice that might have prevented us from sharing. The head counselor was so excited at our routine during the try-out that she wanted to dance with us! She also put us last on the show so we could end on a great note. That was such a compliment!

All I can say is that you need to see the video of this. I don’t believe it myself that we were able to put a dance routine together so quickly and be enjoyed by all. It really broke down any barriers and made a lasting great impression on the camp staff that we were willing to fully dive into the life of Camp Greentown. This one thing probably more than anything else we did, paved the way for a long lasting good relationship with the staff that will allows our teams to return in the future!