As Shaenah Matheney prepared to perform for a group of 7- to 17-year-olds, she did not expect to feel butterflies in her stomach.
“I was so nervous,” 24-year-old Matheney said. “I felt pressured. They were looking to us like we’re really cool or something.”
Matheney’s band, Emmenagogue, played a 10-minute set on the first day of Gainesville’s Rock and Roll Camp for Girls on Monday.
The weeklong camp, hosted at Studio Percussion, 2512 NE First Blvd., includes concerts, music lessons and workshops, such as belly dancing instruction.
Jen Vito and Chelsea Carnes, co-directors of the camp, have been planning the project for the past 6 months. The goal, Vito said, is to empower girls through forms of self-expression.
Twenty-seven girls showed up for the first day of camp. For some, it was their first time taking music lessons.
“I want to be able to sing better,” said 14-year-old Leah Elholm, who began learning keyboard on Monday.
Vito, who worked at a similar camp in Jacksonville, said she thinks the one-week format of the program is part of what makes it empowering.
“One of the benefits, I think, from having a short amount of time like that is you really learn how possible things are,” Vito said. “I expect to see a personal transformation from everyone. I think it’s going to be a beautiful experience.”
The girls will be broken up into bands of five to six members and will perform a showcase on Saturday at 1982 Bar, which Vito owns. The girls will perform songs written during the camp as well as covers of classics. Admission will be $5 to $10.
If the Q-and-A session following Monday’s concert is any indication, the girls will be more than ready to rock by then.
When a guitarist said the set was quieter than usual, the girls looked around excitedly.
“Awesome!” the girls said. “Play it loud!”
