Going On A Magic Carpet Ride

Riley has been taking Musical Theater classes with a group called Razzle Dazzle Kids. It's part of the Collective Soles Group, which is part of the Jansen Dance Project. Confused yet? So many groups, but they are all essentially the same, and they all practice at the same place.

This is her first year with the group, which is actually several groups based on their performance level. She is part of the primary group, which is kindergartners through second graders. The primary group's spring performance was Aladdin Kids, which is based on Disney Aladdin. Riley played Avis, The Magic Carpet, along with being a street vendor.

Since Riley is only five, her reading skills are more on par with Dick and Jane books than Harry Potter. This meant learning songs had to be done differently. I found a performance on You Tube of Aladdin Kids and showed it to her over and over so she could learn the songs. We also recorded Aladdin from the Disney channel which was watched over and over and over and....well, you get the picture. Poor Taylor was so sick of seeing it every night that I would hear her grumbling under her breath. One particular evening Riley started yelling that Aladdin was no longer on the DVR list, although I know I hadn't deleted it. Taylor, however, had this devious smile on her face. Luckily, Disney reshowed the program a couple of days later and Taylor went back to her grumbling.

When it came time for the costume, I was a bit worried. I am definitely not a seamstress, I can barely sew on a button, so I was delighted that we could just pay a costume fee and get a great looking outfit. Plus, with paying the small fee, we were able to keep it. Guess who's going to be a harem girl for Halloween?!?!? Maybe we can pretend she is Jasmine, she does have the look. The carpet costume was actually a real carpet, but that stayed with the director. While I love Persian rugs throughout my home, the big hole in the middle of it didn't appeal to me. 

Riley really enjoyed being on stage, which was actually Room One at Jansen Dance Project. Originally, they had booked one of the theaters at University of South Florida (USF), but the Republican debates took over. The same weekend we should have had the performance, the debates ended up being televised from USF which caused the show to be cancelled. I think it worked out in the end since the kids were allowed more time to rehearse. Plus this was a first time for most of these kids, mine included, to be in front of an audience. Might as well ease them into it rather than putting them on a huge university stage. That will come in a couple of months when all the Musical Theater groups perform Suessical in May. Now onto finding a Who costume. Unfortunately, I'm responsible for that one. Oh great!