A week and a half into the new calendar year, LOL had its first show since coming back from a 12 day Christmas vacation.  Often times it is a slow process of getting the team back on track after such a long break, but I knew after our first 2025 rehearsal that this team hadn't lost a step.  So when we loaded up some vans with props on a cold Maine morning, I had full confidence in my students; and they did not let me or themselves down.

Cape Memory Care is a new venue for LOL, and I have only performed their once myself.  It is a beautiful facility for people in the beginning and middle stages of memory loss.  This makes for an audience who is completely aware of what is happening in the present.  The audience, unlike a nursing home, are all ambulatory.  It was like performing for a room full of grandparents, which I guess it pretty much was.  

We performed on the second floor of the facility, which meant hauling a lot of equipment through the building to the elevator, then taking several trips up and down to get everything and everyone to the common room where the show would be held.  Thank God for eleven enthusiastic and high energy teens who made this task much simpler than one might think.

The show, as alluded to earlier, was as good as any they had done prior to vacation, and some things were even better.  Three students make entrances on ripsticks - Elsa, Eva and Andrew- and they all had to adjust to using them on carpet for the first time.  They were flawless.  Elsa performed juggling three basketballs for her first tie ever, and did so without a single drop.  Eva juggled three machetes better than she ever has- it was as if she could go on forever.  

But the biggest positives of the day's show was how well they adjusted to being in a smaller space than they've ever performed this year.  Every juggler controled their props and maintained the line between stage and audience.  Andrew and Elsa did some on the spot problem solving when they had limited space for the rabbit production, and Sunny had to do the same with her tumbling.  

After the show, we made sure there was time for the kids to meet the audience, and this, perhaps, was an even bigger moment for both groups than the show itself.  There was lots of chatter, laughter, and on the spot prayer happening before it was time to get all the props down the elevator, through the building and back into the vehicles.  Again,  thank God for eleven enthusiastic and high energy teens who made this task much simpler than one might think.