Date
June 10–12, 2022
Starts 6:00 PM · Ends 12:00 PM
Location
Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center
431 N. Main Street, Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734
We're excited to reunite with friends and newcomers at our in-person ECRS June Weekend! Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center is a 20-acre partially wooded campus with a history of over 240 years, boasting an outdoor in-ground salt-water pool, an eleven-circuit labyrinth, and walking trails in a 200-acre wildlife preserve immediately adjacent.
A limited number of air-conditioned, double-occupancy indoor rooms are available, along with campsites for those who want to pitch their own tent (no platform tents this year, unlike Camp Onas).
Meals
Saturday evening dinner.
You bring or purchase off-site all other meals. Please bring cooperative snacks to share that need no kitchen preparation — the kitchen at Murray Grove is unavailable.
Schedule
- Hanging in the Balance —
Inspired by Alexander Calder's mobiles, use needle-nose pliers to twist wire clothing hangers into beautiful mobiles. Bring odd earrings or trinkets to hang from yours. Class size limited.
- Origami for Peace —
Fold cranes of varying sizes and colors — a symbol of peace since a young girl named Sadako Sasaki folded 1,600 hoping her wish would be granted. Other origami forms also available. Class size limited.
- Songful Games —
Word-association games, but with songs instead — fast-paced, with elements of improv and teamwork.
- Songlibs —
Create fill-in-the-blank songs based on popular songs you already know — silliness and creativity within a structured format.
- The Write Stuff —
Write a personal essay drawing from your own life experiences, beginning with warm-up exercises and ending in a group poem. Class size limited. (Age 15+)
- Games —
Games for all ages, with various levels of activity and ability, emphasizing fun and playfulness.
- Informal Dramatics —
Discover your creative dramatic abilities through games and exercises, planning and performing skits in groups.
- The Art of Expression —
A nonstop guided dance/movement improvisation process, starting with guided meditation and incorporating movement meditations, dance, play, and improvisation. (Age 10+)
- Folk Dancing —
Explore folk dances from around the corner to around the world, with a variety of styles, tempos, and dance types. No partner needed.
Policies
Health
Proof of up-to-date vaccination, including a booster, was required with registration. All participants needed to take a rapid home test the day of arrival and present negative results at check-in. Anyone with symptoms was asked to stay home, with a full refund. Masks were optional but encouraged indoors.
Event Staff
- Staff Coordinator: Sharon Underberg
- Staff Coordinator: Heather Klemanski
- Registrar:
Kay Gering
Crafts
Kay first attended ECRS with her family when she was 16. In her 20s she was offered a position as Children's Program Leader where she loved trying to engage the kids with a wide variety of activities. But creating art has always been her passion. So it was inevitable that she find her way to leading Craft classes. Now she is ever on the hunt for new art and craft projects to bring to the welcoming and creative ECRS community.
View full profile →Julie Lipson
Music and Improv
Julie and Miles are music therapists and musicians with more than 3 decades of experience facilitating musical community adventures. The two perform with Ants on a Log, a nationally acclaimed social-justice family music band. As facilitators, Miles and Julie create inclusive spaces for people to express themselves, make genuine connections, and have lots of fun!
View full profile →Beverly Pincus
Creative Writing
Dr. Beverly Pincus is a bilingual Licensed Clinical Psychologist with expertise in trauma treatment and Cross-Cultural Psychology, an award winning author of personal essay and poetry, and a teacher of Creative Writing. She has taught her playshop "The Write Stuff" at ECRS events over the last five years. This year, she is excited to be assisting in the Children's Program. Beverly's Bachelors degree is in Human Development and Family Studies and after completing her doctorate she worked for many years as a Child Psychologist, at NY Presbyterian Children's Hospital and later as Director of Psychology Training at NY Foundling. She is a former camp counselor who remembers all the silly songs more than forty years later!
A proud Colombian-American "Jewtina," Beverly loves to write, read, dance, travel, do yoga, go to live theater, take long walks in nature, enjoy good food (which she likes to cook) with good friends, and cuddle with her furry, funny cat Cole. She lives in New York City with her wonderfully wise elder sage of a mother, and the aforementioned cat.
Arnie Zacharias
Arnie Zacharias volunteered at Friends Hospital from 1970 to 1976, running a program that trained volunteers to lead leisure activities for patients. From 1976 to 1979, he was Assistant Coordinator to Nancy Schmale (an ECRS leader and the mother of leader Marko Schmale, later known as Nancy Penney), the volunteer coordinator at Friends Hospital. As Arnie's boss, Nancy brought a reluctant Arnie to his first ECRS event in 1979, at the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC).
From 1980 to 1995, Arnie was a recreation therapist at Eugenia Hospital. He built his leadership style in ECRS theory classes and practice leading.
Arnie has been leading Folk and Line Dancing, Games, and Informal Dramatics at ECRS since 1985. He currently leads Line Dancing (soul, country, and oldies) at senior centers in Philadelphia.
Heather Klemanski
Well-Being and Self-Compassion
Heather Klemanski is a well-being expert in stress management, mindfulness, and self-compassion. She empowers individuals and groups through transformations that build resilience, self-worth, and compassion. With qualifications in Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), Safe Space Facilitation, and Somatic Practices, Heather supports individuals navigating overwhelm, burnout, and emotional disconnection through a trauma-sensitive approach, gently guiding them back to balance and well-being.
With a love for creativity and play, whether it's making earrings, collaging, or weaving beauty into the everyday, Heather brings warmth, presence, and meaning into all she does. To learn more: heatherklemanski.com
Sharon Underberg
Folk Dancing
Sharon Underberg believes in the power of play and its importance for adults as well as children; her membership in ECRS since the age of 16 is a large foundation of this belief. As a pediatric radiologist, she combines state of the art high tech imaging with being able to sing all the verses of "The Wheels on the Bus," motions included. Her passions include live action role play, singing and acting. Sharon teaches folk dance workshops (ask her about teaching dance in Sweden and Finland) and works as a coordinator at ECRS events.
View full profile →Zsuzsi Nagy
Assistant Business Manager
Zsuzsi has been coming to ECRS since childhood with her family. Following a hiatus during college in Hungary, she returned to ECRS now with her son Daniel, wanting him to also experience the shared joy, freedom, love and community. She has served on the Board and has filled various staff roles at ECRS events. Zsuzsi works as a mental health clinician at a university, in an emergency room and teaches at a Hungarian Saturday school. Biking, hiking, and discovering new things are her joys.
View full profile →