Since the beginning of January, Sophie has been attending a theater course every Monday after school. It was started by the mom of Sarah's friend, Maheshi, and Sarah was sad not to be able to go, but it conflicted with her ballet course. I think it was good that Sophie was able to attend on her own, though. It gave her a confidence boost and forced her out from behind Sarah's shadow. At first, Sophie was a bit frustrated because it didn't seem to her like they were doing anything related to acting. But then they began to do a bit of improvisation and she really started to love the class.
Eventually, the kids all wanted to do a play for their parents, so together with Nirmala, the teacher, they chose an appropriate fairy tale to act out for us. Sophie would come home each week full of excitement, telling me all about choosing her costume, that she had her lines almost memorized, and informing me that she needed to bring "a cute bag' as a prop for the play. Finally, finally, they were ready to perform in front of a live audience. The Monday night before spring break, we all went down to the school to see the play.
Sophie is the girl with the sunflower hat on. 🙂
There was a teacher meeting that night, but the principal kindly excused several of the them early so they could go watch the kids from their classroom perform. We hadn't seen Sophie since lunchtime, as she had stayed at the school to practice, and then had gone to Nirmala's house for a snack afterward. We were probably just as excited and nervous as she was. I always love to see my children do things outside their comfort zone, but at the same time, I am always worried that it won't go as well as they want it to and they will be crushed or humiliated. It hasn't ever happened that way, but I still always worry.
I should have saved myself the trouble. :) Sophie, and all the other kids as well, did a fantastic job. It was the cutest little story about the Swabedoo people. http://www.iovialis.org/download/Swabedoo_eng.pdf If you are interested in reading the whole story, go to that address. Although, the story Sophie and her friends told had 3 Kobolds, and a much happier ending. :)
It was so fun watching them all, and Sophie even kept her cool while half of her costume fell off during the dancing sequence. They sang a couple songs as well, and it seemed to me that no one forgot their lines or said something out of place. There was genuine and enthusiastic applause when it was over.
Nirmala handed the children each a rolled up thank you note, adorned with a butterfly hairclip for the girls and something else for the one boy in the class.
All the kids were just beaming when it was over, and I am so glad Nirmala has already said she will do another course after fall vacation this year.