Arantxa's Cinderella's Play

Arantxa has been taking a weekly drama class for the past couple of months. Today they had their show.

First, a bit about the class. It was a group of about a dozen girls, aged 4-6. The class lasted 2 hours, and they did some crafts, read Cinderella versions from different countries, painted the stage/scenery and, of course had a snack. That is in addition, naturally, of the acting out the story.

I was very curious about the performance. Arantxa said they all could be whatever character(s) they wanted to be; which makes sense for their ages. In the last few classes, they had to settle on a character, some were allowed/required to play more than one part. Arantxa was going to be one of multiple Cinderellas.

Whenever you see your child performing or doing anything, there is the question of neutrality. Clearly, I will always be biased, but I think I can also be reasonably objective. Arantxa worked for her music class, practiced some, and she is able to read some music and play her Glockenspiel, but she seems OK at it. In her gymnastics class, she has some strengths and she is working hard on mastering some skills; she is better at some areas than others; but she is clearly not one of the top gymnasts. This is all to say, that Arantxa did really great at acting, if I may say so myself.

The teacher introduced them and she acted as the narrator/teleprompter, and also played the Fairy Godmother. The assistant teacher was the prince. There were maybe 5 Cinderellas, at least 6 stepsisters, and a kitty. As the teacher introduced the story, the Cinderellas marched in and announced their special names. Arantxa quickly said her name, her voice loud and clear. Some girls needed more prompting and it was all really funny. You can imagine narrator saying: And the step sisters said.... and the stepsisters said.... (gently touching one).. and the stepsisters said...

So, the story moved along, with the unbearable cuteness of little girls performing. I loved the stepsisters loudly calling in one voice: Cindereeeehla! Arantxa was so in character, never stopped acting, saying her lines (obviously improvised), helping the other girls move along. After the stepsisters make them work extra hard, the Cinderellas quickly get some sashes and Arantxa announces, "Wait for us, we are ready!", or something similar. The stepsisters start taking their sashes one by one. It was super cute to see Arantxa, shielding another Cinderella, and then giving her a hug when they removed it.

The story was funny. The fairy godmother had equipped them all with crowns in lieu of slippers. The prince was tired of being stepped on, but decided to dance with the newcomers, just once. He liked them all so much that he decided to marry them, well, he and his bunch of (absent) brothers. One of the girls was the clock, and they all ran away, forgetting to drop their crowns, so they all had to come back for a bit. When the prince returns the following day, the narrator says even the kitten had to be fitted. This apparently was an inspiration of the moment. Cinderella Ax, quickly helped try the crown on the cat. the narrator then said that the cat would not even want to marry the prince, and Ax thought that was hilarious and laughed aloud.

After the story ended, teacher sang and the girls acted, and sang along in bits. It was really sweet. We will definitely try a new drama class in the future, and Studio East was great. All the girls were really into it, from the shy ones who acted but remained mute; to the ones that seemed to own the stage.

Lorena, for the most part, remained watching the show, or telling the little brother behind her to be quiet. Since she was quiet, I barely looked at her. It was tricky (video camera battery had died, Pablo got one today, left it charging, I came to pick it up, the camera kept giving an error message, etc.), but we managed to tape the whole show. It is really dark, but it will be a great memory!

We have, for a long time, suspected that Arantxa would love to act. She LOVES stories, likes to dress up, is super confident in big groups, etc; but she had not said much of the class. She said she liked it, but she hasn't tried a class she hasn't liked. Last year she took ballet/tap, and she had fun, but never really danced like that outside of class (Lorena can't wait to try that class, she wears the ballet and tap shoes almost every day). However, after the class today, she said she absolutely loved it. She said something like: I had never liked anything so much in my life!

So, I think she has found one real passion (other than reading), and a calling. It is great when their interests coincide with their talents!

That is it for the proud mom. I'll see if I could post some pictures.

In front of the stage...


Argh!I can't post pictures.. I'll try that later. A final funny comment, the teacher is expecting her first child and there are mostly boys in both sides of the family. She mentioned to a mom that at teh beginning she thought it'd be really sweet to have a girl, but by the end of the session, she had changed her mind. She said she was surrounded by all divas!