It was the annula day of my niece’s school and she was to perform on the stage. More so, it was the maiden performance of this playschool kid.
I went there without much of expectation as i knew the kids are too small to really understand and perform. But then there was lot of surprise and lot of fun.
The performance of the kids were much better than expected. They danced to the tunes of their masters (or mistresses) and even though sometimes lost, they coped up quite easily with the steps. looking at their teachers for guidance and steps to be followed, they sang and danced together and created a good aura around the stage.
However some children were stressed in front of the crowd and suffered performance anxiety. But best part was their reactions when they used to look at their parents while performing. Some of the kids were performing so well unteill they happen to get glimpse of their parents. Once their parents came into their focus, they used to leave the dance in between and rush towards their parents and teachers had tough time in bringing them back to the stage to dance. Some kids would continue dancing but would move towards the part of the stage, closer to their parents. Some woudl start crying after they get glimpse of their parents.
One particular incident was when a Krishna-gopi dance sequence was to be staged. On the first curtain rise, the kid who was to play Krishna, started crying and the curtain was to be fell down. After some time, the same act was staged again and Krishna stood in between all the gopis, enjoying the attention till the time he flt like walking off. Oblivious to the fact that he was the centre of attention, he just walked off the stage and let the gopis dance without their focal point. Teachers tried to rbing him back to the stage but he did not deter and kept on walking off-stage. The approach generated out of his innocence generated quite a laughter.
Whatever reeaction or action, it may be, it used to send a good wave of laughter and smile across the crowd and that left no one who did not cheer the little performers.
The last program was by one of the teachers where she danced on the song from Taare Zameen par’ and all students were called on stage. That time, no child showed a single trace of stage fear and the collusion of all made them forget that they were onstage. Only thing they could remember was jumping and rejoicing.
At the end all one could take out from there was a good rememberance and smil.
