winter wonderland

this past friday was my directorial debut. oh, yes. the program was titled "winter wonderland: a holiday program," presented by the talented students of the learning palette preschool.

as music director (a.k.a. song-singer and butt-wiper) of this fine academic institute, i played a big role in preparing the program. after a week of intense dress rehearsals, it went off without nearly as many hitches as we were anticipating. :) one of the littlest ones cried, i forgot to give the youngest group their bow, and there were a couple uncharacteristic clam-ups, but with the proud parents (and grandparents and uncles and cousins and siblings and sitters) sitting three feet away, nothing could stop this juggernaut.

it was a media circus. i knew there would be as many cameras as parents, but i guess some part of me wasn't prepared for the unending flashes and multi-station film crews. hilarious.

so, we started by filing in a few at a time with our snowflakes and sweet snowman hats. the first few numbers were prepared by ms. heather: winter wonderland, snowflake flurry, jolly snowman (which concludes with everyone melting down to the floor), and sing-a-ling with jingle bells.

some minor stage fright

apparently, I LOVE SNOWFLAKES!!!!

you know you want one of these hats

next came my masterfully choreographed frosty the musical. i hope the parents keep track of who they send their videos to - i'm going to be pissed if i see these moves in high school musical 3. then, each age group was showcased: the littlest ones performed jingles bells, the 3's & 4's danced the snowy buffalo dance, and the big kids sang and played rhythm sticks to che che koolay.

jingle bells with a side of christmas tears

buffalo grazing in the snow

then they gather and make a circle

for che che, they're supposed to take tiny steps,
but always end up on top of each other

when the small groups finished showing off, it was time for the yoga demonstration. every wednesday, mrs. fortune does yoga with the kids. originally, she was going to try to fit some yoga poses into 'twas the night before christmas, but that wasn't happening. so, i wrote a "holiday" poem that incorporated about twelve poses. (on a side note: writing the poem made me sincerely think about writing children's books. after doing some research, i've since written that idea off as a tuesday-afternoon tangent.)

mouse pose

several things here: classic clam-up on the left, lingering dog pose
in the middle, and everyone else seems to be doing snake pose

lion pose

the finale was frere jacques sung in a round - a pretty mean feat for your average church choir, let alone a bunch of 2 - 5 year olds. the show received a standing ovation, and then we had dessert while opening a few presents from the pta. not a bad way to end the week.