GIRLS KICK UP HEELS AT CAMP; AREA GROUPS LEARN ROUTINES FOR SCHOOL EVENTS

How do you quickly teach 12 girls what a high school flag corps performance is all about? Send them to camp, of course.

That's what Kathleen Crader did when Sikeston High School in Sikeston, Mo., formed a flag corps. She had taught the girls basic movements and techniques for auditions in early spring, but the group needed more instruction before a full-blown performance.

So they headed off to a three-day camp at Southeast Missouri State University put on by MA Dance and Auxiliaries, a Texas-based company. The camp concludes today with performances at 1:30 p.m. and awards at 3:30 p.m. at the university's student recreation center.

While the students twirled flags -- in a rainbow of colors -- over their heads, behind their backs, tossed them into the air and spun around, Crader scribbled notes and pointers for future reference.

A Spanish teacher in the district, Crader also sponsors the flag corps. She was a flag corps member in college. Sitting in the bleachers at the Show Me Center Sunday afternoon, she leaned over a railing to write notes on a yellow legal pad.

The group has been absorbing as much as possible from the instructors," she said. "They've been wonderful because several of my girls had never touched a flag or really had any experience" when auditions were held.

The camp gives them the experience to perform in the fall, and the 12 members are learning everything they can this summer.

By the end of the first day at camp, Crader could already see a difference, she said. Several of her students had earned ribbons for their performances.

During the three-day camp, the 200 students enrolled break up into different sessions. Classes are held for drum majors, majorettes, dancers and flag corps teams.

While the Sikeston flag corps twirled and spun in step as part of its routine, another group of girls worked on a baton-twirling routine across the gymnasium. Tossing batons into the air with serious concentration, the girls spun around and held out a hand to catch the falling object.

Upstairs in a dance studio with mirrored walls, another group went over steps and routines. Later in the evening, Andrea Dirnberger and Sarah Arnold worked out the finishing touches on their routine to "Oh Eh Eh."

The pair from Chaffee High School in Chaffee, Mo., waved red pom-poms in the air as they spun and slid across the floor. With two team members injured and another away on vacation, they were just trying to learn "something new for football and that we can do throughout the year," Dirnberger said.

Camp staff perform all the flag corps, batons and dance routines at the beginning of the camp and then work through the steps during lesson times.

Ribbons are awarded during each class of the camp. Students earn ribbons for being helpful during lessons, showing spirit or encouraging other students. Each white ribbon recipient is then invited to attend the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., in December. More than 1,000 students attended last year's game, said Michael Long, vice president of the dance company.

The camps are designed to build positive attitudes in the students but also to help them bond as a team. The camp lessons show working together is effective and necessary for the routines to be accomplished, Long said.

The routines vary by level of difficulty, and the teams are able to choose what level and what routine they'd like to learn during the camp.

"It could be songs for their half-time routine during football or something for the pep rally when school starts," he said.

Long has been leading the camps for 15 years. Camps are held on college campuses around the country and also for private schools and groups. Enrollment ranges from 200 to 800 students at the camps, most of which are four-day events.