The end-of-year show is far from being the work of one evening. The children mature during rehearsals at an astonishing rate. They learn to understand lessons of perseverence, self-motivation, empathy and determination. They work together as a team, they encourage each other when they are tired, they congratulate each other when they have done a good job and they gain confidence in themselves and their abilities.
…And on the 17th of June, Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, WE DID IT ! And the children were amazing !!
The past few months of fun, hard work, patience, understanding, laughter, tears and joy culminated in a spectacular show of which the children were very proud !
The Grande Section and Moyenne Section set the mood with their dance to Billie Jean, equipped with sequined glove, hat and bespoke jacket hand-crafted with love by Pauline, one of our very generous mums! After much trial and error, we managed to set the scene with a disco ball and lighting, much to the enthusiasm of our little « Michaels ».
The Prématernelle and Petite Section ‘wowed’ us with their choreographed rendition of Bad ! They were hilarious in their New York City gang member costumes. You would never guess they were so young just by their dancing. The little ones have the gift of being able to ‘dance like no-one’s watching’ ! They had mastered Michael Jackson’s attitude and danced away right until the end, despite the heat under the lights!
The children sang I’ll Be There accompanied by Kevin, a dad and professional musician, Heal the World, Earth Song and We Are the World. We had practiced Earth song until we knew it inside out, but the children performed it that night with as much enthusiasm as when they sang along with the disc ! We rehearsed Earth Song so many times I was singing it in my sleep and, though I’m sure the children were fed up of it at times, they carried on- they were able to focus on the ‘hear and now’, to concentrate on their goal and keep working to achieve it together! We jumped and danced when we finally got the end of Earth Song right!! The children were so happy because their collective hours of hard work had paid off. When one child had difficulty remembering their line, we asked everyone what we could do as a team to help them. The children found solutions by thinking together and empathising with each other.
Thriller was a particular favourite of children’s. They had enjoyed ripping up their parents’ old t-shirts and painting them in preparation for their roles as scary ghouls on the stage ! To add to the effect, we used carbonated ice and green spotlights as they danced some of the steps from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. They got into character and were focussed on giving their best, as adults would.
We closed with We Are The World and the audience joined in. Some older children, ex-pupils of La Maison de l’Enfant, joined ours on stage to repeat the chorus, which added to the feeling of togetherness !
We were elated at the end of the show. We were offered beautiful flowers and I was very touched to receive a beautiful necklace from the parents of the Grande Section ! Thank you so much!
