And one, two, three, and one, two, three

Continuing on with our series on our “imported” professors, we move into the world of dance, otherwise known as the banquet room, with Axier and Gabri. Born and raised in Luzaide, these boys are avid dancers. Both dance with the town group, Luzaideko Bolantak, and Gabri even gives Salsa lessons both in Barcelona, where he has just completed his studies to become a physical therapist, and throughout the Basque Country. We professors have had a blast taking advantage of after hours salsa lessons and even some of the campers have picked up a trick or two. As an added bonus, all the girls have developed a dancing frame that would make even Patrick Swayze and Mary Murphy proud.

As for what we do in dance class, well… I suppose if I’m going to be honest, we’re a bit of the drill sergeants of Udaleku. There’s lots of “left, right, left, right, left,” (to be read in your best military voice) and we’re infamous for making kids dance holding their ears if they have their hands in their pockets. You’d be amazed how difficult it is to dance the quadrilles when your partner is holding your ears – on the upside, the pairs are getting to be much more in sync with their steps. (Axier is standing behind me, and would like to inform everyone reading this, that me categorizing them as militant is harsh. He would rather be characterized as nice, good looking, and fun – which, while all true, makes for a less interesting post… although I suppose in Axier’s defense, Gabri is the one that does the yelling, sorry, loud talking)

Along with learning the Kontra Dantzas, Dantza Luzea, and Erdizka-Lauetan from Baxenavarre, Lapurdiko Makil Txiki, and Xiberoko Makil, we’ve also been spending some time learning social dances such as Ryan’s Polka and Polka Pik. This way, next time you visit the Basque Country everyone will be able to jump right into the fêtes, no problem. Even better, your kids will have an awesome excuse to stay late at the picnics as, after all, they’re just practicing what they learned at Udaleku. (We’ll be around all summer if you’d like to thank us for turning your children into late night party animals).

Scroll down to see the kids in action :)

Gabri doing what he does best.

Uh oh Chris, gotta keep those hands out of your pockets!

Ps. Special shout-out to Jacy who turned 12 yesterday! Zorionak!

What they do when we're not drilling them in classes

On Saturday, we said goodbye to our first week kids and hello to our second week group. This group is younger, more numerous, and full of enthusiasm! Before moving on to post about how this week is going, we'd like to take a post to catch up on some of the pictures we missed last week.

On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon bowling.


Alex and Vincent outside the bowling alley










Victoria, Julia, Danielle, and Jenette waiting to get started









waiting for shoes












Ariana taking it easy













Mikaela dominating














In their free time, the campers battled it out in the mus tournament.


Nicole and Jenette having a good time

















Jacqueline helping Maite, Chloe, Cami, and Michael with their mus game
















Victoria, Joleen, Ariana, and Mia sharing a tense moment



















Joko Garbi instructor David playing with Daniel, Etienne, and Gexan
















Some of the girls also started the day Friday coming up with their own dance routines before class.


Friday afternoon was also spent playing games.


ready!










Joelle vs. Cedric












not sure what's going on here...
















One of the more popular games (at least with the instructors!) involved farm animals. The campers were blindfolded, given different face paintings, and divided into four groups: cows, sheep, cats, and dogs. The instructors then spread them out around the kantxa, and the campers had to find the rest of their group using their prescribed animal call (moo, baa, meow, bark). It was HILARIOUS.




Alex, Jesse, Alyssa, Chloe, Julia, and Vincent with their faux facial hair

Euskara with Abarne

Before we picked her up, Abarne taught Spanish in Moscow, Idaho for nine months. We were looking for an Euskara instructor, she heard about it in Idaho, and here we are! After camp ends, she is also looking to work in an Ikastola (Basque language school) in Iparralde (northern provinces of Euskal Herria). She clearly loves Euskara.

Here are some more fun things we've learned about Abarne...
Likes: the Basque language, being Basque, eating Basque food, Lekeitio, being asked where in the Basque Country she's from
Dislikes: cheese, cinnamon, Idaho winters, being asked where in Spain she's from

We've been hearing lots of positive feedback from the kids about how fun her class is. Abarne keeps learning Euskara fun through learning songs and playing (some very active) games. The campers are learning greetings, how to respond to basic questions like "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?", colors, and numbers. Abarne breaks up the fun and games with lessons in reading and pronunciation. To practice, they sing both traditional and more contemporary songs together. Their favorite so far is "Maite Zaitut," a perky song that originated on a children's TV show. On the show, the song is sung by clowns. Hmm... Come to think of it, that's probably why they like it. Solidarity and all...



Joleen, Mathieu, Julia, and Rebecca learning "Hegoak"



Emma, Alex, Manny, Sabrina, and Joleen learning "Lau Teilatu"

Joko Garbi with David

This marks the first in a series of posts highlighting the work of our foreign (we like to call them "imported") instructors. Starting it off is David Navailles, our Joko Garbi instructor.

David came to the Basque Cultural Center in February for the anniversary celebration with a group of Joko Garbi players to do workshops with the San Francisco children. (Joko Garbi is like Jai Alai's cousin.) We were so impressed that David was asked to return for Udaleku. Each hour groups of eight wrap their wrists with tape (we had some nasty almost blisters the first day) and put on their chistera to practice how to catch and throw the ball. A completely different skill set than pala or handball, it’s been fun to see kids discover and excel at a new sport. The language barrier (David speaks French much, much better than he speaks English) makes very interesting and inventive hand gestures necessary providing anyone looking, including the unsuspecting restaurant goers who peek in through the kantxa door window, with some serious entertainment.

The kids love learning this new sport. One camper (shout-out to Vincent!) even asked if his day could consist only of Joko Garbi, Pilota, and Pala classes. They just can’t get enough! Don’t be surprised if your kids come home and start grabbing the bread basket to fling balls against the wall.

Culture Class

Guest post from Anne Marie here, Basque culture connoisseur. Lisa is keeping herself super busy, so I'm taking over for now. This week in Culture Class we've been looking at dance costumes and Basque mythology. Xiberoa's Maskaradak were an important feature, and the costume meanings were explained followed by videos of the famous wine glass dance. Did you know the horse figure might actually be an insect? The campers do! Quiz them when they get home to see if they remember anything.

After this lesson, they practiced tying headscarves and cintas to prepare for the final performance on Saturday. The boys and girls even taught each other, so now everyone should be able to help out with costumes, both at camp and in their dance groups.


Mikaela and Daniel helping Chloe with her cinta

Michael, Etienne, Clement, and Gilen pose for the camera


Dominic shows off his headscarf


Cami and Angelina working together

Even our aides got involved! Matty P was rockin' the pirate look.

Yesterday was the day for mythology skits. We looked at important figures like the Goddess Mari and her entourage of Sorginak (witches), Tartalo the Cyclops, wooly Basajaun the blacksmith and protector of sheep, and the Lamiak (water nymphs) with their long blonde hair and duck feet. After covering the basics, we practiced making up our own myths. Here are some highlights:

1. Buzzy Buzzy the Fuzzy Fuzzy Bee defeated his arch nemesis Harry Bee with the help of the Green Lanterns, the Justice League of Bees, and Chuck Norris.

2. Basajaun got mad because he wasn't invited to the party, so he filled the sky with black birds to make it perpetually night. This plan backfired because the others kept partying for a thousand billion years without him.

3. The Basques asked Mari for help chasing foreigners out of the Basque Country, but she was useless. She couldn't give them weapons and instead sent intense snowstorms to the Basque Country, out of which sprang robots (who were also useless).

4. Tartalo was really born a leprechaun and asked Mari to change him back to his natural state. Instead, she killed him. This worked out for the best though, because Tartalo came back to life as a leprechaun.



After the stories, the campers got into small groups to come up with their own skits based on Basque mythology. They got creative in using the props found around the room. Their skits mostly stuck to the myths, but sheep, ninjas, and the Gexan Ghost snuck in there too!

Victoria, Emma, Daniel, Mia, and Alyssa (above) practicing their skit


Etienne and Gilen in their costumes


Rebecca (as Goddess Mari) was turned into a cat, and Ellande and Cedric try to figure out how to help her


Chloe and Gilen, as one of the Sorginak

And classes are on their way!!

While the kids are all busy, I wanted to take a minute to update you on what we've been doing the past few days.

After a day of playing ice-breakers and getting to know each other, the campers dove into Basque history yesterday with an activity revolving around smuggling! After a brief lesson on the role that the Basques played in helping British Air Force men who had been shot down return to England during WWII, the kids set out on a scavenger hunt to discover their group names. Simulating the culture of smuggling, groups of four followed clues around the center making sure to avoid any "Nazis" or other people whose aim was to put them in prison. As it was Father's Day, the center was brimming with people, which not only helped facilitate the game, but also provided us with many stories about families who had been involved with smuggling people, clothing, and food across the Pyrenees during and after the war. Everybody was able to learn a lot, and it was nice to see the entire community get involved with the education our youngsters.

(Pictured left: A sample of the tiles created today by campers. Aren't they gorgeous?)

With the hustle and bustle of the weekend out of the way, classes officially started this morning. The campers have been rotating between lessons on txistu, dance, basque, culture, and Joko Garbi. As I write this, I've got music coming at me from all sides. Abarne is in the room above me, working on Basque songs and numbers in Basque class. Across the center in the Solarium, (those high notes travel!), Caroline is working on Lapurdiko Makil with the students. In dance, kids are busy working with Gabri and Axier to get the mutxikoak steps down so that they can move on to double clicking and the quadrilles. Hegi is the dance of the moment. In the less noisy corner of the kantxa, Joko Garbi has been a big hit so far. Everyone is enjoying learning the new game, and they're actually pretty good at it! David might have some competition in a few years! :) Hands down, however, culture class has been the most popular class of the day. Yvonne Goyhenetche graciously donated her time to teach the students about the pottery of Ciboure and each child decorated a tile using Basque symbols and themes. We've got some wonderful artists on our hands and really now, who doesn't love playing with paint? (P.S. Peio loved it too. We've got lots of paintings to decorate the ballroom with!)

Next up: A dance workshop on double clicking and the fandango and tonight starts our Mus Tournament. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures!

Manny H. of Chino getting a lesson on Joko Garbi from David.

Basque class with Abarne.

Taking a break from dancing as Axier explains the next set of steps.

Hard at work in txistu.

Meet the staff!

As the first week of camp is quickly approaching, I want to take a minute to introduce you all to our phenomenal group of instructors.

Axier Camino

From: Luzaide, Nafarroa

Teaching: Dance

Anne Marie Chiramberro

From: San Francisco, CA (and formerly of Manchester, England!)

Teaching: Culture, Txistu, Dance -- an anne-marie-of-all-trades

Caroline Izoco Chiramberro

From: San Francisco, CA

Teaching: Txistu

Lisa Etchepare

From: San Francisco, CA

Teaching: Culture, Txistu, Dance, general task master

Abarne Garmendia

From: Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa

Teaching: Euskaraz, Singing

Jacqueline Gaton

From: Chino, CA

Teaching: Culture, Txistu, Dance

David Navailles

From: Ustaritz, Lapurdi

Teaching: Joko Garbi!!! (An Udaleku first!)

Gabri Urtasun

From: Luzaide, Nafarroa

Teaching: Dance

Our aides: Joelle Ourtiague, Jesse Kvarna, JJ Indaburu, Daniel Gaton, Andrew Goyhenetche, Montse San Mames, Matt Etcheverry (Fosse), Elise Etcheverry, Kiki Etcheverry, Amaia Etcheverry, (it kinda evolves into an attack of the Etcheverrys... in fact I'm sure the rest of the photo is full of Etcheverrys)

From: All over California

Teaching: ... and learning to teach!

and last but not least ......

Valerie Etcharren Arrechea

From: San Francisco, CA

Teaching: Dance, and well, she's kinda the big boss

Also introducing Peio, our teacher in training. We start them young in San Francisco :)