Last Saturday I was invited to what I thought was a 5 year old's Ballet Class Showcase. Turns out that it was a combined Tumbling and Creative Dance showcase. At any rate, I was dismayed at some of the problems that occurred. First off, the building was quite new and beautifully appointed with several large studios, changing rooms, a play area for little siblings, rest rooms, kitchen, offices, large foyer, and ample parking. They even had tubs of costume leotards and tutus in Christmas colors for the little dancers and tumblers to wear for the class showcases. Clearly, this studio was invested in training young people for performances. However, when I walked in to join my daughter's family, I became acutely aware that where we were sitting would afford us absolutely no hope of seeing ANY of my granddaughter's or any of the other children's performances.
Problem No. 1 - The audience chairs were arranged 10 rows deep on the floor of the studio.
Problem No. 2 - The tumbling mat (and dance space) was not six feet from the first row.
Problem No. 3 - These little pre-school tumblers and dancers were no taller than the chairs and much of the time they would be performing on the mat at floor level.
Didn't the Teachers and Staff people see that these would be big RED FLAGS? Surely, they had done shows there before!
Anyway, the performance got underway, and the audience tried the best they could to adjust so they could see, but even standing up in the back offered no solution. Most of us watched the performance through the grace of the 12 raised iPhones held up by arms of the people on the 2nd row.
After the 1/2 hour showcase, I found myself seeking out the director of the studio and making a suggestion. I introduced myself by saying that I had done a lot of professional Children's Theater. I then told her that if she had arranged the chairs in two rows around the perimeter of the studio floor and had the children tumble and dance in the center, the audience members would have all been able to enjoy the performance. Then we left.
Our little dancer's socks had been dropped on the way out of the studio, so my son-in-law dashed back in to retrieve them. When he found us, he said that there were people madly rearranging the chairs in the studio. Well, I am glad that they took the suggestion and I am glad that our group was the first of many Class Showcases that day. Hopefully the follow-on audiences got a much better vantage point!
Problem No. 1 - The audience chairs were arranged 10 rows deep on the floor of the studio.
Problem No. 2 - The tumbling mat (and dance space) was not six feet from the first row.
Problem No. 3 - These little pre-school tumblers and dancers were no taller than the chairs and much of the time they would be performing on the mat at floor level.
Didn't the Teachers and Staff people see that these would be big RED FLAGS? Surely, they had done shows there before!
Anyway, the performance got underway, and the audience tried the best they could to adjust so they could see, but even standing up in the back offered no solution. Most of us watched the performance through the grace of the 12 raised iPhones held up by arms of the people on the 2nd row.
After the 1/2 hour showcase, I found myself seeking out the director of the studio and making a suggestion. I introduced myself by saying that I had done a lot of professional Children's Theater. I then told her that if she had arranged the chairs in two rows around the perimeter of the studio floor and had the children tumble and dance in the center, the audience members would have all been able to enjoy the performance. Then we left.
Our little dancer's socks had been dropped on the way out of the studio, so my son-in-law dashed back in to retrieve them. When he found us, he said that there were people madly rearranging the chairs in the studio. Well, I am glad that they took the suggestion and I am glad that our group was the first of many Class Showcases that day. Hopefully the follow-on audiences got a much better vantage point!
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