Today Kristen and I took Miles and Emery to Columbia College in Chicago to see the Delfos Danza Contemporanea perform a matinee for children and families. Before the 3 PM dance recital families had an opportunity to participate in a 'movement workshop.' Emery was way into this; Miles not so much.
The leaders of the dance ensemble taught the children (and some parents) a few of the dance moves that we would later see in the performance.
(Click here, for a short video of Emery learning some new dance moves. Click on the picture for a larger version of the same image.)
The performance was somewhat politically charged, with the subject of the piece being the plight of street children in Mexico. But I thought the dancers did a great job in the post-performance Q&A helping all of us (especially the children) make connections with the dance and the intended connections.
At the beginning of the Q&A the dance leader asked the audience, "Does anyone have any questions to start us off?" Not a single audience member raised their hand. Then he said "Does anyone have a comment about what they saw?" At that point, Miles - who was sitting in the front row - raised his hand confidently. The leader looked at him and said, "Yes, what would you like to say?" Miles began with, "I have just three words for you." At this point, my heart sank because Miles had been none too happy with having to go to the dance recital today, and then refused to participate in the movement workshop when it began. So I had NO idea what was coming next. But not to worry, he continued with a very emphatic, "THAT ... WAS ... AWESOME!!!" which drew a lot of smiles from the dance company and applause from the audience. And then Dad breathed a big sigh of relief.
