Archive: Around Town

Lansing Youth Services is in full swing this summer with programs as diverse as gardening, photography, furniture refinishing, and studying cultures.  Last week ten Lansing kids built their own stilts and learned to walk on them.  "They're doing great," says instructor Dan Klein.  "There is a certain number of kids that gets it right away.  There are others that it just takes them longer."

The program took place behind Lansing Middle School where the playground has bars perfect for new stilt walkers to hold onto.  They spent the first thee days building their stilts, then Thursday they were ready to launch.  "It's like riding a bicycle," Klein says.  "It's like magic, because when you first start riding a bicycle it seems like it's impossible.  But suddenly your body just gets it, and that's how this is."


Lansing Youth Services Program Manager Isabel Bazaldua also got into the act.  "Dan asked me if I would like to make my own pair of stilts and I said yes," she said Friday.  "But in the back of my mind I was thinking, 'wait a second... do I really want to do this?'  I got a chance to get up today for the first time.  I took 13 unassisted steps and I'm going to practice some more."

By Friday some were walking like pros while others were still working out how to keep their balance.  But all were enthusiastic and seemingly fearless, taking steps, perhaps falling, but getting right back up and trying again.  Klein says that by Friday about 3/4 of the group had caught on.  "Unfortunately we don't have unlimited time here," he says.  "Some of them won't get it by the end of this week.  But they'll have their stilts, they'll have the basics, and hopefully someone can spot them until they figure it out."


Bazaldua is also having a great time managing the summer programs.  "I had such a good time at Green Thumb," she says.  "Everyone picked out their own plant from Bakers Acres and planted it behind the Middle School.  We got to plant some strawberries and some squash.  We plan to harvest when school starts again.  So that one was fun, but now I love stilt walking!"

This week Lansing Youth Services is offering Culture Club.  "We're going to be exploring different cultures through their food, games, movies," Bazaldua  says.  "Then we're doing Funky Furniture, a furniture refinishing program.  Sanding, staining, painting, decorating, and decoupaging, things like that.  At the end of August there will be a photography program."

She is also offering a special session of the always popular Primitive Pursuits.  "We're having four days with a one-night overnight," she says.  "That is invitation only.  I am choosing kids who have done the program in the past that I feel are at a level where they can feel successful and also be an integral part of the group.  It's really hard work."


Meanwhile, the stilt walkers get to keep the stilts they made and practice at home.  Klein says there are many opportunities for them to use their new skill.  Ithaca has The League of Stilt Walkers, which participates in the Ithaca Festival parade and Apple Harvest Festival.

Klein, who has been stilt walking in the Ithaca area for a dozen years, says he likes the one-week class because of the diversity of skills and accomplishments.  "First of all it's a carpentry project," he says.  "The kids learn some basic skills about drilling and screws and using a hand saw.  Then they learn to stilt walk.  There is this moment when they learn to walk when they first get it.  You see this little smile come on their face.  It is very gratifying to me, because it's a great feeling when you learn it."

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