One of the interesting things that happens at Windham Christian Academy is that the high school students - most of whom have been in my class and therefore part of LOL- request a chapel progrm done by the current troupe of jugglers who are still in middle school.  Whenever this happens, the middle schoolers resist the idea.  Sometimes this is due to having older siblings in high school, or fear that the high schoolers were better jugglers when they were part of the team.  Never have these problems ever materialized, but the concern is always there until we actually do the show for them.

This happened yesterday morning.  Doing ANYTHING with middle school kids first thing on a Monday morning can be challenging, and the show certainly showed that it was the start of the week.  As Sunny, a dancer in the class put it, "We were not on pointe."  Don't get me wrong, the show was fine, but not 'crisp'.  There were just a few too many blown lines, missed cues and revealed illusions.  Another factor I think was part of this is that we performed the show in the same space where we rehearse, so it didn't really seem like a how to them.  

That said, there were highlights to be sure.  Elsa juggled three balls while riding a rip-stick, and also juggled three basketballs.  Not to be outdone, Eva juggled three clubs on a ripstick, and Cooper went over a jump on his.  Eli played his part in "The Good Nerd" (based on the good Samaritan)  better than ever.  Toby, as always, was excellent as both the wise and foolish builders.   The entire team performed "Me" the best they've done all year.

And the best thing about the morning was, whether we were on pointe or not,  the high schoolers were 100% encouraging and supportive of this year's team.