For 10 years, LOL has been my student juggling troupe at Windham Christian Academy. We have always strived to do at least one show a month, with performances becoming more frequent as the second semester progresses. This year, though, things are different. Instead of having the same middle school class all day, I am teaching some middle school and some high school classes. Consequently, it is harder to "pack up and go" on any given school day. We did our first live show of the year during the third week of school, but shows will be fewer than previous years, and more likey to be on weekends or evenings. On the upside, LOL is now an elective for the high school as well, and this year's team has five high schoolers.
Our first, and to date only, show of the year was at a nursing home in the town of Bridgton. There were only three rehearsals before the show, but this year's team is almost all veterans of LOL, and they were ready. Cailyn juggled three machetes while on the balance board, Brianna juggled three battle axes on her knees, and Caleb was his usual excellence with his diabolo.
Given the limited prep time, we did fewer skits and more juggling and illusions. Gideon, the one new student to the team, did his first illusion: the production of a live dove, and he did it flawlessly. This young man is also an accomplished violinist, playing with the Portland Youth Symphony. It was a nobrainer to ask him to play in this show, and obliged with "America" and "Amazing Grace". Many of the residents sang along.
As usual, after the show, the kids visited with the residents. Caleb did an especially good job with one old gentleman who seemed to enjoy the fact that someone would take the time to listen to his stories. Some of the girls met Dot, a very memorable resident. She stole their hearts, and when I heard she had asked them for an LOL shirt. I brought these girls back to Bridgton the next day to give her an extra one we had in the classroom.
It was fun, doing the show with the kids again, but LOL will look a lot different this year. We are taking this as a challenge rather than a step back. We are currently working on a pilot episode of a television show for the local community access channel. This is a very new venture for us, but there is a lot of energy and creativity. I will update my blog page about this endeavor as things progress.