When children don costumes, climb on a stage, and compete for your affection, you have yourself an elementary school talent show.
Last Friday was my first. I never performed in one when I was a student. There was this play festival in high school. I played Greg Brady. It’s not the same though. Too old. There’s something about the little ones doing it. These weren’t really little ones. 2nd grade was the youngest I think. Adeline and her partner are 3rd graders. They chose to perform a self-choreographed dance, set to a kid-friendly pop song they found on the internet. Their rainbow sequin pants were particularly eye catching. They were supposed to have matching rainbow sequin jackets but Adeline’s didn’t arrive on time. The lack of the matching jacket wasn’t obvious and they performed their dance routine with all the sweetness you’d expect.
All of the acts did well. The audience was treated to a variety of sensory experiences. Some involved glow in the dark apparatus. There were scooters. And nunchucks. And hooded sweatshirts. All glow in the dark. There were self illuminated capes that reminded you of butterfly wings. They didn’t glow in the dark, in the traditional sense. There was a stand up comedian and two Miley Cyrus songs. All separate acts. There were baton twirlers and a gang of singing orphans. There was also a decent amount of parent participation. You think all that stuff glows in the dark on its own? I even made a contribution by accompanying Meredith in the sale of tickets at the door. I was personable and professional. And they didn’t even put me in the program. But I’m over that now. (Meredith deserves the real credit for volunteering us and taking Adeline back and forth to rehearsals. But I’ll still try to steal the show.)
William even threw on his tuxedo t-shirt and stood in as an usher. Or as he and Adeline prefer to say, “He ushed.”
Friday night’s talent show was the start of a perfect family weekend. The other details that perfected the weekend shall remain ours for now. But it was excellent and it reminded us of the potential of quality time.
