I have been working on a variety style show with kids ages 3 to 13. It has been really fun. The kids are enthusiastic and willing to learn and the parents are excited and willing to help. Really a great experience. My partner in crime, Melodie, and her daughter Kimi, and my daughter Rhia, have all worked together to create a very entertaining show. The 4 of us haven't worked together in this capacity since Side Show 3 years ago and I have been reminded of why we got into the M+Dx2 direction/production aspect back then. Lately it's been more work than play but with the 4 of us and littler kids it's really been more play. The work.....well, as Kimi says, whenever it gets boring we'll just put Keely (the 3 year old) out on stage and the audience will just cheer her cuteness.
The kids brought to auditions a dance number based on High School Musical which unfortunately, I only watched a bit of before the sappiness factor made me tune out....the movie, not the kids version! The kids are very cute, made the whole thing up themselves (although, I have since been informed that it is an actual dance in the movie but since I can't stomach it, I would not know that.) Anyway, when they did that, we got the bright idea that we should do musicals across the generations, showing how the more things change, the more they stay the same... I'm sure my mother cannot abide "Fame", just as her mother probably couldn't stand "Hair"...you get the picture.
Which leads me to my dilemma. ( I know, about time!) How in the world do you teach kids to dance like the hippie generation without going into why they were so spacey and loving? Without being able to explain the effects of self medication....ummmm.....feeling better when feeling no pain....ummmm...."everybodies doing it!"....ummm. You see the problem? We keep showing them the dance, swirling around, free love and what not, and they just don't get it.
They look like lurching Zombies.
Which, I guess, may not be so far off.
It's very comical. Unintentionally. Sort of Frankenstienish. I turned around at one point to look askance at the parents and they are all up in the background doing the same thing. In strange combinations. Again, not as pretty as I make it sound.
Ummm. Aren't those parents a bit young for that? I know it's well before my time. Ha, I keep telling the kids to ask the parents like they are older than me but considering they have small kids and well, you know my kids...well, I digress.
Let the Sunshine...let the sunshine in..the suuuuuuuunnnnn shinnnnnnne in....
And while I'm at it....How can they not memorize those words? Ai yi yi....
No comments:
Post a Comment