It was serendipity. There is little I love more in this world than primary school programs that include singing and dancing. This one did not disappoint. The theme was Surfin' Safari and it had everything ... hula girls in grass (plastic) skirts, sharks, straw hats, cardboard surfboards, leis, tropical flowers, limbo dancers and a few other things I probably don't remember.
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| Fish |
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| Leis, flowers & sunglasses |
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| Hula dancers in grass skirts |
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| Cardboard surfboards |
The director of this musical extravaganza was Betty Murphy. Betty has been a PE teacher at our school district since my kids were in elementary school. You can just see her in the photo below leading the audience participation section of the program. She has been involved in these programs at least since My Favorite Christmas Pageant Ever which would have been sometime around 1986.
My favorite part of the program was Ms. Murphy's instructions to the students in the audience who were all primary school students. She spent the first few minutes explaining to them how an audience behaves. Her instructions included how to applaud properly, the importance of staying in your seat, and being respectful to the performers. She touched on how it's not polite to laugh if a performer makes a mistake and how proper audiences don't hoot and holler. I was very impressed.
She also took a moment to speak to the performers about the example they were setting for the other students. She explained that the kindergarteners and first graders would be learning how to put on a performance from watching them.
Grandad and I regularly attend live theater performances in Corpus Christi and occasionally in San Antonio. I am often appalled at the lack of proper etiquette exhibited by audience members. I can only hope that these young people grow up to be proper theater patrons.
These photos were all taken with my HTC Evo Shift phone. Considering that I was sitting at the very back of the cafeteria, they're not too bad.
